Annie a long time it is too how are you...And how are things North of Brissie..

We have a 22,700litre tank and it was full till I watered and fed all the roses yesterday, Annie I have no idea what power our one is but we have 2 1/2 hoses on ours that way we can bring is around the side of the house...The back gets watered from the smaller tank connected to the very large garage/shed roof..

Have a look at the link below it has the power there, and it throws out 50 lts a minute plenty for my big garden Its a Smoothflo and we have the XJM80LB Model of course its made in China but has a one year warranty cost $254.55 six months ago. We were going for the Onga as we already have one of those but the price of them is mind-boggling same as the Davey and watch it as all these so called AU brand made pumps may not be made here.

Make sure you get a self priming pump that way you only have to switch it on. Hope this helps a little I am sure others will be along to give you more advice..Have you thought of emailing some of the pump companies they would be able to tell you what you need.

Cheers...Misty

Here is a link that might be useful: Pumps

You need to consider the vertical height you will be pumping, ie if your block is sloping. If the tank is at the highest point, you probably need little or any pumping.

The second thing you need to consider is the pressure at the end of the hose. If you take this information to a reputable pump supplier, they should be able to do the calculations to select the right pump. Make sure they actually do them, because if you select a pump which is too small, you won't get the performace you are hoping for.

annie,

we ahve always used onga stainless steel pumps, not sure on ratings but the standard model comes in around $600 they will do a lot of work, however i would suggest running through nothing less then 3/4" pipes and hoses. the best place to go to is a pump shop or someone who deals in irrigation and pumps, you may even get away with a smaller unit? ie.,. there are submersable units that may suit your application it would come down to how fast you want to pump the water?

later when can i will check our rating, the one we had on the property was still going strong after 5 years or so, this one is only 12 months old so it has a long way to go yet.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Annie...We also went to a irrigation shop and this is what they recommended to us *That did not break the bank* for our 3/4 acre block of land* its doing a great job and is very quite they also said spare parts are available if needed and to us that's the magic word. I use it for 2-3 hours every second week unless it has rained.

annie,

our current pump is a grundfos, it has a 1" inlet & outlet, ours get used daily, never heard of one breaking down as yet, it operates at 600 kpa, and is rated to supply 4 taps.

len

Its only a 5000 litre tank Annie has that's only around five hours watering at normal mains pressure so if Annie used it everyday the water wont last long so she certainly wont be needing a pump that pushes out more than mains pressure is she. Ours is a little slower than mains pressure over such a long distance but that better as I don't want a force that will push the plants out of the soil and I am saving water in a way..

And like most tanks Annie's works on gravity feed so why would she need a huge pump if she only wants to water the garden you Len probably have yours plumbed to the house as well and yes then you may need different pressure as I am sure that you don't water your garden every day, as you used to tell us you hardly ever water any plants and if you did it was grey water.

Annie you just go ahead and buy what you can afford but believe me you don't need a huge expensive pump if you are only watering the garden even if its a 3/4 acre block like this one..

If I only had 5000l I wouldn't be spending the money on a pump unless i needed to pump it uphill.
I have 70,000L hewre and we are on stage 4 for the rest of summer (have been for nearly 12 months already.) I will get a small pump to help out, but mostly I will be hand watering from the tanks, and i am setting up "watering stations". That is - plastic crates, and buckets so i can run the tank water into crates, and bucket water to the plants that need it most. Spraying water into the air seems such a major waste as much of it evaporates.
One of my garden beds is 3 hose lengths from the tank, and the pressure is low BUT that means that I am more thoughtful about how much water I spread round. Much of my garden survived without any water at all last year, and with reasonably spring rains this year to wet the soil before we go into summer, things can only be better this year.

Hi Annie, I only pop in here occasionally so have only just seen your post. With pumps it isn't so much the length of hose but how much lift you need - how far uphill the water has to be pumped.

We aren't on town water so have an electric pressure pump on the tank for the house so when we turn a tap on we have mains pressure water.

On the dam we have an electric pump as there is power nearby but this was here when we moved here. We switch it on for a couple of hours and it fills up a header tank high up the hill behind us, the header tank is gravity fed to the house, when we turn a tap on outside we have good pressure but the tank is high.

I have also recently bought a little petrol powered portable pump that is light and easy to move and it takes standard 3/4" hoses instead of polypipe and extra fittings. I can use it anywhere, just pick it up and carry it and don't require electricity. It has a brushcutter type motor on it and easily pumps water to a fair height (can't remember the figures but we are on a hill so needed to pump uphill a lot). I love it but like all petrol motors, is noisy. I use it to clean out the duck pond to water the vegie garden with the duck poo fertilised water, and pump grey water to the gardens up hill - grey water is collected in a couple of 44 gallon drums but is downhill.

Do you want an electric pump or petrol powered one? Electric pressure pumps are cheaper and you only have plug it and turn the tap on to use but you have to have a power point handy. Petrol ones have to be started the same as a mower and are dearer to buy but can be used anywhere so don't have the expense of connecting power outside and can be used if you have blackouts. With our pressure pump on the house, if the power goes out we don't have water, have to get it straight from the tank outside. You can get big petrol powered ones but they would be too big, my little one was dear (around $400, you can get more powerful ones for that price) but is very convenient and worth it.

The best advice is to go to a specialised pump/irrigation shop and explain what you want. Take measurements eg slope of land, whether you want to pump uphill, etc, electric or petrol. Prices will probably be cheaper and you will get better advice from a rural town than city area (Brissy prices went sky high with the drought)

Well Annie I consider myself well qualified to answer your question as I have a 5000litre rain tank too.
While others express surprise at you need ing a pump I understand your position of not having the time or patience for gravity feed. Ours is situated in the middle of our block. we have a 1 HP rainbank pump and it does the job beautifully.
It cost me $900 and because i have my tank connected to a toilet I received a $900 rebate from the state government....so that covered the cost.
Have you investigated wether there is a similar rebate scheme offered by your State government?

go with the pump, as mine is great. BTW my tank is full too.