Floating pump

[Shimmy1]

Anyone have any experience with these? I'm wondering how they pump 800 gpm with only 5 HP? My 3" pump pulls down when moving 400 gpm. Here is the pump I'm looking at.

Watermaster Floating Pump Package - Agri Drain

www.agridrain.com

 

[Lsaconroe87]

Transmission is a 4 to 1 gear reduction, with a screw on 12.5" impeller.

Horsepower for driving a pump: For every 1 HP of drive, the equivalent of 1 GPM @ 1500 PSI can be produced. Horsepower for idling a pump: To idle a pump when it is unloaded will require about 5% of its full rated horsepower.

 

[cfherrman]

Cherry picking

Ask for a head chart

 

[Shimmy1]

Cherry picking

Ask for a head chart

 

[cfherrman]

How long is the 3" line are you using along with any 90°s

 

[cfherrman]

That pump is very low pressure at only 31 ft hd total, I do t understand what their on level means.

200-300' of 3" pipe will turn the flow to a trickle.

 

[Shimmy1]

That pump is very low pressure at only 31 ft hd total, I do t understand what their on level means.

200-300' of 3" pipe will turn the flow to a trickle.

6" lay-flat hose

 

[cfherrman]

How long?

 

[terex herder]

Sorry, I have to call BS on that head chart.

The pocket reference I have at my desk claims 9.1ft head loss/100 ft with 800gal/minute in steel pipe. I expect lay flat to be worse. So the listed 400' would be over 36' head loss, when its only rated for 31' TDH.

I think their level/no head means the discharge is at the same elevation as the water level, and hose has zero grade change along length.

 

[Delmer]

Those charts all add up just fine. The pump has a remarkably flat efficiency between 10 and 20 feet of head on the chart, but that's still barely 2HP for an efficiency of 40% which isn't anything special. Could be the engine is running at 3HP and has a better efficiency also. Generally when a pump is supplied with charts like that, they're accurate. Or when a pump is advertised at xx max pressure and xx max flow, that is accurate, but NOT AT THE SAME TIME, typically you'll get half of each at the same time. On the level means just that, zero head. Those hose flows are optimistic maybe, but I'd expect at least half of that if the hose can be relatively flat and straight.

 

[cfherrman]

There is always head losses from the hose, that pump will never see 1000' hose

 

[Welder Dave]

I have a Watermaster pump. It moves a lot of water. They say on flat ground will pump an inch of water off an acre in an hour. At 75lbs. is a pain for 1 person to carry but can be done. I tied a long loop of starter cord type rope on mine so I could drag it on grass or dirt that was relatively smooth with no rocks. You need to make sure you slide the hose at least 4ft. over the next section or the water will push them apart. 5 or 6ft. is better. You can get couplers or just use short pieces irrigation pipe or even PVC and use simple hose clamps. The biggest problem with the pump is the gas tank is too small. Mine only runs about 45 minutes on a tank of gas. What they recommend is to use a remote gas tank with a long fuel line. I've thought about getting about a 2 gallon tank and making a bracket and using epoxy to mount it on the pump. The rope I attached to drag it also serves another important function. It's stops the pump from taking off into the pond if the hose comes disconnected. I pound a stake in the ground or use a shovel and loop the rope over it. Always make sure the hose and rubber ring that holds it is fully secured in the pump. I always give the hose a good tug before putting the pump in the water or starting it. I've had the pump take off across a pond and tip over upside down. I had to use a long dead tree to retrieve it. One nice thing is the pump can be started without being in water. You can start the pump to let it warm up, then shut it off to put in the water and it starts easier. Sometimes you can make a loop in the hose and just push the pump in the water. If the area you're pumping isn't too big you will see the water level go down. I dug a trench like the 2nd pic. below at each end of my oval track for water to drain into. I had to move the pump from one trench to the next but could drain the water in the 1st pic. in about 2 1/2-3 hours. Using a 3" standard water pump would take forever.

 

[Welder Dave]

Forgot to mention on level ground will pump 3000 feet. It's not really a pump but just a big impeller that pushes water. I've pumped 400ft. up about 10ft. and it didn't appear to slow the flow down at all. The 6" hose is what allows it to push water long distances. These pumps were designed in Saskatchewan for pumping off low area's of farm land. You can believe the specs. they put out. The pumps have been made for decades. Probably the most efficient pump you can buy. They have some drawbacks but if you need to move a lot of water they can't be beat.

 

[colson04]

I have a Watermaster pump. It moves a lot of water. They say on flat ground will pump an inch of water off an acre in an hour. At 75lbs. is a pain for 1 person to carry but can be done. I tied a long loop of starter cord type rope on mine so I could drag it on grass or dirt that was relatively smooth with no rocks. You need to make sure you slide the hose at least 4ft. over the next section or the water will push them apart. 5 or 6ft. is better. You can get couplers or just use short pieces irrigation pipe or even PVC and use simple hose clamps. The biggest problem with the pump is the gas tank is too small. Mine only runs about 45 minutes on a tank of gas. What they recommend is to use a remote gas tank with a long fuel line. I've thought about getting about a 2 gallon tank and making a bracket and using epoxy to mount it on the pump. The rope I attached to drag it also serves another important function. It's stops the pump from taking off into the pond if the hose comes disconnected. I pound a stake in the ground or use a shovel and loop the rope over it. Always make sure the hose and rubber ring that holds it is fully secured in the pump. I always give the hose a good tug before putting the pump in the water or starting it. I've had the pump take off across a pond and tip over upside down. I had to use a long dead tree to retrieve it. One nice thing is the pump can be started without being in water. You can start the pump to let it warm up, then shut it off to put in the water and it starts easier. Sometimes you can make a loop in the hose and just push the pump in the water. If the area you're pumping isn't too big you will see the water level go down. I dug a trench like the 2nd pic. below at each end of my oval track for water to drain into. I had to move the pump from one trench to the next but could drain the water in the 1st pic. in about 2 1/2-3 hours. Using a 3" standard water pump would take forever.

Impressive pump. I had to look them up for reference. 5.5hp, 840gpm at low head is pretty solid output.

We have a 3" trash pump for dewatering when we need it. Nothing special, 3hp Briggs. Always get the job done for us.

If we really, really needed to pump out a large area fast, we have a Cornell pump on a 100hp John Deere diesel engine with 130gallon fuel tank. It will sustain 500gpm @ 160psi as long as there is enough fluid to keep the suction line full. We have used it to irrigate out of a horizontal trench well for almost 20 years, and also used it to draw down our lagoon when the dragline crew wasn't going to make it out in time. Some years, it'll log 5-600 hours, this year we didn't run it 100 hours. The rains were spaced out just perfect to not need it after June.

 

[Welder Dave]

42,000 gallons an hour on flat ground. I think imp. gallons but regardless you'd need a huge standard pump and a lot of real expensive hose to get anywhere close to that. My 3" trash pump is about 16,000 gal./hr. with no head. You'd also need to get the pump close enough. Pretty hard if the area is muddy. 42,000 gal./hr. from 6HP is pretty impressive. If you need to pump huge amounts, then hook up a 5 gal. boat tank and let it run for hours. It's a really efficient pump when it can be utilized. The lay flat hose is easy to handle and roll up. I just fold it over about every 10". I cut the 400' hose in smaller sections to make it easier and rarely need more than about 75'. The pump is really easy to pull if there's 6" of water on the ground. What's a bit of a pain is when you need to pump out a pond with straight sides and no taper. In such a case you need to allow enough hose to let the pump go out into the pond and allow for when the pond level goes down. You'd need to either start the pump on dry ground and push it in the water or put it in the water close to the edge so you could start it. If you had an excavator or backhoe you could use it to put the pump in and out of pond or low area.