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The perfect drip irrigation pump

Chronicbs

Member
I'm overjoyed as I finally found a cheap, low wattage and effective water pump with good enough head flow / psi pressure for drippers! No more ineffective, expensive and high wattage fountain or sump pumps that only hold 5psi pressure if that!

Harbor freight just started selling a 1/10 HP transfer pump. I was looking at paying $80 plus for the exact same pump design from Amazon or homedepot as it's an off the shelf chinese pump that everyone sells but harbor freight has not only the cheapest, but the nicest looking one fit, finish and spec wise for way less at only $55 a pump.

The pump is only 2 amps but holds over 20psi of pressure and is rated at 360gph. You could easily run 100 .5 gph drippers on just one of these little 2a pumps. Harbor freight just started carrying these beauties too!

http://m.harborfreight.com/lawn-garden/pumps/110-hp-transfer-pump-63317.html
 

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mango420

Member
Just a regular mag drive or Eco plus pump will work, don't need any fancy pumps for drippers. But nice pump!
 

Chronicbs

Member
Just a regular mag drive or Eco plus pump will work, don't need any fancy pumps for drippers. But nice pump!

Barely in my experience.. A mag drive 9.5 has only 13' head flow compared to 41' with this pump. 13' of head flow translates to roughly 6 psi and is not ideal at all for drippers. I always had tons of trouble trying to run drippers at around 5 psi personally using all sorts of different pumps. Now they run perfectly at 20 psi for half the cost of those other pumps that would barely run them.

The low power usage of the mag drives is nice though and I've read some drippers run better on 5 psi than others. I've seen inline ones rated at 5 psi but most recommended at least 15.
 

Chronicbs

Member
You can tell the psi from the head foot rating by multiplying the head foot x .433

Just noticed that doesn't come out to 20psi. I got the 20 psi figure from the PDF owners manual of the Little giant version of this exact same pump (these r Chinese OEM) and it said the psi was 20.X. The Little giant ones r $120.
 

Old Toker

Well-known member
I just want to use it with drip rings. Put a timer on the pump and let it water (DTW) a couple of times a day. In the mean time....it seems as though it would be helpful with a hose for hand-watering.

Does an "external" pump help to keep the rez cooler....or for my limited needs does it not make a difference?
Not at all. It's cost effective, efficient and ideal psi wise.
 

Chronicbs

Member
Does an "external" pump help to keep the rez cooler....or for my limited needs does it not make a difference?

I don't think it matters, especially considering u don't run drippers longer than 5 or 10 minutes max at a time anyways, internal or external it won't be on enough to make a difference rez temp wise

This pump shouldnt be run longer than 15 minutes at a time fyi. Here's a link to a more detailed PDF on the pump from a different reseller (Little giant) of this Chinese OEM pump. *PDF warning*

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://littlegiant.com/media/131422/996287_Pony_Pump_Series.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwi5jaPlrLvRAhVKxlQKHRoiASsQFggaMAA&usg=AFQjCNHj9McUBuf-vx4NzVflYz2K6oeTQQ&sig2=plBXXmGR2jF4fCV8EQKfXg

Also the pump comes with a complete rebuild kit. 2 brushes 1 impeller and a gasket.
 

Old Toker

Well-known member
Thanks Chronicbs! Not that it will affect my use, but out of curiosity why shouldn't it be run for more than 15 mins?
 

Chronicbs

Member
Thanks Chronicbs! Not that it will affect my use, but out of curiosity why shouldn't it be run for more than 15 mins?

It says it will lower the life of the brushes if u run it for longer than that, comes with an extra set though and they r easy to replace. Mentions that in the PDF of another seller of this Chinese OEM pump. Also mentions to add cooking oil to the inlet to lube the impeller and extend its life.
 

Chronicbs

Member
I've been using a bunch of these 1/10 HP transfer pumps daily now since I found them and they are working great with 0 problems so far. I've run up to 90 drippers using a splitter to 4 seperate manifolds on a single pump now and there's no reason it couldn't feed a lot more drippers than that. I'm not even using pressure compensating drippers and I'm getting even watering over a large area. These pumps are so perfect not even considering they are so cheap! $55 from harbor freight.
 

Old Toker

Well-known member
Once I actually figure out how to run a dripper (DTW) system this pump is on my list. For some reason (probably lack of intelligence) I can never figure out how to design and run a system. I know there is a reservoir, and out of that is some kind of pipe/hose that pumps feed to the plants. I've read a few tutorials but I'm still having difficulty understanding how it all goes together. In the mean time .....I'm hand watering. Which works for me now....during vegetation......but may eventually get to be a serious PITA. Especially if I want to go out of town for a couple of days.
Thanks again for the info on the pump!
 

Chronicbs

Member
I'll write up my system with item buy lists and lots of pictures soon. It goes from Rez through hose to pump to hose to PVC pipe to 8 port screw in manifolds that take 1/4" tubing which goes to the little drippers which u just place in the pot.
 

stoned40yrs

Ripped since 1965
Veteran
I'll write up my system with item buy lists and lots of pictures soon. It goes from Rez through hose to pump to hose to PVC pipe to 8 port screw in manifolds that take 1/4" tubing which goes to the little drippers which u just place in the pot.

Hey mate do all the pots get equal water with your setup? I run blumats now but got to fuck with them all the time and some get underwatered. I'm very interested to see your thread:tiphat:
 

Old Toker

Well-known member
I'll write up my system with item buy lists and lots of pictures soon. It goes from Rez through hose to pump to hose to PVC pipe to 8 port screw in manifolds that take 1/4" tubing which goes to the little drippers which u just place in the pot.
That would be extremely helpful. Appreciate the effort and time. My needs are really modest. I have 8 plants in a 60"x60" tent. Will flower in 2 gal fabric pots. DTW - vertical grow - Just need to figure out how to automate the watering.
Thanks again! :tiphat:
 

Old Toker

Well-known member
I run blumats now but got to fuck with them all the time and some get underwatered.
This is why I want to use drippers. Hopefully they can water a few pots equally.
Have heard this about Blumats from a few people and I'd rather not worry about them or have to constantly mess with them. Plus drippers should be lot less expensive.
 

Chronicbs

Member
Hey mate do all the pots get equal water with your setup? I run blumats now but got to fuck with them all the time and some get underwatered. I'm very interested to see your thread:tiphat:

I've run blumats before and found they were more hastle than I hoped as well.

They all drip the same for me when the pumps on and I'm not even currently using pressure compensating drippers even across tables. I don't like how some keep dripping longer than others after it turns off though so I'm getting some "no leak" drippers that close under 5 psi that are also pressure compensating. They r cheaper online than the basic ones at local homedepot/lowes anyways. $.27 (currently at least)

http://https://www.dripdepot.com/item/pressure-compensating-dripper-with-barbed-outlet-flow-rate-one-gph
 

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