In order to get the right pond pump for you water garden, there are some things you have to take into consideration:
It is really important to understand this information or find a supplier who does.
There are few worse things in building a pond and discovering – when you plug in the pump -that it simply doesn’t run the way you want.
You’ll be money ahead and satisfaction ahead to take your time with the pond pump choice. It is the heart of your pond.
And if you try to buy a pump from a dealer who can’t answer the following questions – run! Fast!
Calculating Pond Pump Head
The “head” is roughly defined as the height the pump has to move water upwards.
If your waterfall is three feet above the waterline and your pump is two feet below the water line, then you have a “head” of five feet.
Calculating Flow Rate
You’re going to really hate yourself if you don’t get this one right.
If too low, your waterfall will look anemic and dripping. If too high, you now own Niagara Falls and it will look like overkill.
You want a flow rate of approximately 1500 gallons per hour for every one foot width of your waterfall.
So if your waterfall width is 3 feet, you’re going to require a pump that i>delivers/i> 4500 gallons of water per hour. Why did I italicize “delivers” above? p/>
You need a pond pump that’s not too big or too small to get this garden look.
What You See Is Not What You Get/
The reason is that the rated pump rate on the pump is NOT what will be delivered in your pond. And isn’t that a pain.
A rating is delivered based on water-in and water-out with no head or restrictions. It doesn’t take into account “head” and the restrictions imposed by pipe sizes, length of pipe run from the pump to the waterfall (the longer the run the more friction and bigger pump you’ll need) and other construction issues such as 90-degree elbows versus smooth corners.
Total Dynamic Head/
You are not concerned about the pump’s manufactured rating, you are really concerned about a factor known as i>Total Dynamic Head./i>
This is the measurement that takes into account all the factors of your individual pond, how high are your waterfalls, how long a pipe run (and what size pipe?) from the pump to the waterfalls.
And all these variables stop a simple web page from giving you a real answer (and any web page that pretends to is one to avoid).
Pond Pump Store Calculator
So the real trick is to go to a pump store that has the calculators on their computer to figure out the TDH for you. (You want to be a math whiz to begin to do it manually and I’m not).
What you want (in the above example) is a pond pump with a TDH rating of 4500 gallons per hour – not a manufacturer’s rating of 4500 gallons per hour. And that TDH rating will depend on your unique pond and its construction. If your pond pump store can’t do this, then find one that can. You’ll be happier in the long run.
Pond Air Pumps If you have questions about pond air pumps you might want to check out this page before you spend any money.
Solar Pond Pump Some of you would like to consider solar pond pumps so here’s a discussion about this kind of pond pump.
External Pond Pumps The external pond pump is mostly for larger ponds and fish ponds but it’s a sweet kind of system to run
Submersible Pond Pump Check here before you buy a submersible pond pump; all pumps are not created equally.
Combination: Pump/Filter Very small ponds often use a pump and filter combination, inexpensive but they come with higher maintenance attention needs
Fish Pond Pumps Factors you need to know when choosing a fish pond pump
Sizing the Pond Pump How to calculate the size of pond pump you really need for your pond
Pond Air Pumps Using air as a pond pump and what you have to consider in this decision.
