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Capturing groudn water for sprinkler dnoyeB 06-04-2008
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Posted by on June 5, 2008, 4:58 pm
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:27:30 -0700, Bob F wrote:
>
> >>> Anyone have information on how to capture ground water for use on my
> >>> lawn. =A0I have a small stream that flows next to my house. =A0I also =
have
> >>> a sump in my basement which I calculated to pass about 24K gallons per=

> >>> day. Its probably a bit less than that, but it seems sufficient to wor=
k
> >>> with.
>
> >>> I calculated that I can water a section of my lawn with about
> >>> 3600gallons. =A0So I figure a 4000g tank should be good. =A0Or even 20=
00g
> >>> for starters.
>
> >>> Anyone know where I should look to get started on a project like this!=
?
>
> >> It sounds like you have a nice sandy layer carrying water below you
> >> yard. You could consider =A0"sand point"s, either "drivnks en" or
> >>http://www.bradyproducts.com/documents/wellinstallation.pdf. The Brady
> >> units are amazingly cheap.
>
> >> If you really have 1000 gallons/hour passing through your sump, a pump
> >> intake there could supply a properly designed sprinkler system. Just
> >> make sure the sprinkler water demand stays under the minimum water flow=
.
>
> >> Sprinkler pumps ar easily available.
>
> > Thanks for that website. =A0It may be easier to just take water from the=

> > stream running next to my hhouse with one of those sand thingies.
>
> If that is legit to do.- Hide quoted text -
>

That's what I was thinking to. In most places there are fairly tight
restrictions on taking water from natural streams. If it is allowed,
that sounds like the easy solution.

I'd also be amazed if his sump pump is pumping anywhere near 1000
gallons an hour. That's an incredible amount of water. And unless
it's available year round at a substantial rate, it can't always be
used for irrigation.

While it might be nice to collect and use rainwater, from a practical
standpoint, I doubt it's practical compared to drilling a well. With
a well, you have water available regardless of the weather and lots of
it. As the OP noted, to water a reasonable size lawn can easily
take several thousand gallons. If you compare the cost of the tank,
installation, the piping/ trenching, etc necessary to collect the
water from the gutters, etc to the simplicity of a well, I think the
well will easily win out. Especially when you consider the tank gets
filled up when it rains, which is when the lawn is already getting
watered. Then, you have one watering from the tank, after that,
you're back to waiting for rain. Seems of very little use for all the
trouble.

Plumbing 468x60
Posted by dnoyeB on June 6, 2008, 12:53 pm
On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:58:38 -0700, trader4 wrote:

>>
>> If that is legit to do.- Hide quoted text -
>>
>>
> That's what I was thinking to. In most places there are fairly tight
> restrictions on taking water from natural streams. If it is allowed,
> that sounds like the easy solution.

I wouldn't be taking anymore than I am putting into it. I will have to
check with the city. But is VERY small. Its mostly just water ejected
from the local homes. there is a constant source somewhere around here
though. Its only about 3" deep. Not a proper stream I guess. but its
big enough that the side of my house cant be used for anything because
there is always 3" of water passing across the ground...

>
> I'd also be amazed if his sump pump is pumping anywhere near 1000
> gallons an hour. That's an incredible amount of water. And unless
> it's available year round at a substantial rate, it can't always be used
> for irrigation.
>

I'm in Michigan so I don't need the water year around. Only in the summer
months. I think my numbers are accurate. Well my sprinkler numbers were
off. Each head is only 3gpm, not 30gpm, so a ~350gallon tank would
suffice.

In fact, with my heads only requiring about 18GPM, I should be able to
come right off the sump pit with maybe a small 15 gallon resovoir so there
is always water available for my sprinkler pump.

> While it might be nice to collect and use rainwater, from a practical
> standpoint, I doubt it's practical compared to drilling a well. With a
> well, you have water available regardless of the weather and lots of it.
> As the OP noted, to water a reasonable size lawn can easily take
> several thousand gallons. If you compare the cost of the tank,
> installation, the piping/ trenching, etc necessary to collect the water
> from the gutters, etc to the simplicity of a well, I think the well will
> easily win out. Especially when you consider the tank gets filled up
> when it rains, which is when the lawn is already getting watered. Then,
> you have one watering from the tank, after that, you're back to waiting
> for rain. Seems of very little use for all the trouble.

Not looking for rain water. Like I said, I have a small stream running
next to my house. That should be an indication of the level of water in
the ground here. My sump runs about every 10 minutes.

After correcting my sprinkler head mistake I believe I will switch back to
using the water from my sump pit. I will add a temporary storage tank
outside, and a 2nd pump. Should be fun :)



Thanks,


CL



Posted by dnoyeB on June 6, 2008, 1:16 pm
On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:58:38 -0700, trader4 wrote:

>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:27:30 -0700, Bob F wrote:
>>
>> >>> Anyone have information on how to capture ground water for use on
>> >>> my lawn.  I have a small stream that flows next to my house.  I
>> >>> also have a sump in my basement which I calculated to pass about
>> >>> 24K gallons per day. Its probably a bit less than that, but it
>> >>> seems sufficient to work with.
>>
>> >>> I calculated that I can water a section of my lawn with about
>> >>> 3600gallons.  So I figure a 4000g tank should be good.  Or even
>> >>> 2000g for starters.
>>
>> >>> Anyone know where I should look to get started on a project like
>> >>> this!?
>>
>> >> It sounds like you have a nice sandy layer carrying water below you
>> >> yard. You could consider  "sand point"s, either "drivnks en" or
>> >>http://www.bradyproducts.com/documents/wellinstallation.pdf. The
>> >>Brady
>> >> units are amazingly cheap.
>>
>> >> If you really have 1000 gallons/hour passing through your sump, a
>> >> pump intake there could supply a properly designed sprinkler system.
>> >> Just make sure the sprinkler water demand stays under the minimum
>> >> water flow.
>>
>> >> Sprinkler pumps ar easily available.
>>
>> > Thanks for that website.  It may be easier to just take water from
>> > the stream running next to my hhouse with one of those sand thingies.
>>
>> If that is legit to do.- Hide quoted text -
>>
>>
> That's what I was thinking to. In most places there are fairly tight
> restrictions on taking water from natural streams. If it is allowed,
> that sounds like the easy solution.
>
> I'd also be amazed if his sump pump is pumping anywhere near 1000
> gallons an hour. That's an incredible amount of water. And unless
> it's available year round at a substantial rate, it can't always be used
> for irrigation.
>

I recalculated based on volume of water displaced. Still an estimate. My
new value is 14,230 gallons per day. So you were correct in this. This
number is more accurate.


CL

Posted by Bob F on June 6, 2008, 11:20 pm


> I recalculated based on volume of water displaced. Still an estimate. My
> new value is 14,230 gallons per day. So you were correct in this. This
> number is more accurate.

That's still a lot of water, if it is during the dry months. I would suggest a
sprinkler pump with the pickup in the sump. Limit the number of heads on each
zone to keep the water needs less than the sump flow. Use a pressure tank and
switch to control the pump so that it shuts off when the pressure gets high,
unless the flow needed is near what the pump can provide. The sump pumps
probably do not provide enough pressure to run sprinklers properly.



Posted by on June 7, 2008, 3:02 am
>
>
> > I recalculated based on volume of water displaced. =A0Still an estimate.=
=A0My
> > new value is 14,230 gallons per day. =A0So you were correct in this. =A0=
This
> > number is more accurate.
>
> That's still a lot of water, if it is during the dry months.

It sure is a lot of water for a sump pump to be running constantly.



I would suggest a
> sprinkler pump with the pickup in the sump. Limit the number of heads on e=
ach
> zone to keep the water needs less than the sump flow. Use =A0a pressure ta=
nk and
> switch to control the pump so that it shuts off when the pressure gets hig=
h,
> unless the flow needed is near what the pump can provide. The sump pumps
> probably do not provide enough pressure to run sprinklers properly.


I'd also recalculate the amount of water needed to irrigate the
lawn. A lawn needs about an inch of water to do a good watering
For any reasonable size lawn, that translates into something more like
your original number of 3600 gallons, not 350, which would be OK for
watering a garden. To put an inch down on 5,000 sq ft, requires 3100
gallons.

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