Good morning! Ok @JoeGrow @Jess my pump is not priming at all. All valves are open and the solenoid fires, but the pump won’t pull water. I’ve tried 2 pumps. What did I do wrong and what would you recommend to fix it?
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You’ll want to place the pump so that the inlet is flooded. Just put it on the floor for testing.
Mount it to the wall at the base or place the tank on a platform with the pump underneath it if you want to make it clean.
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Awesome! I’ll give it a go. Thank you, sir.
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Just to be clear, you will want to come into the pump through a bulkhead connector at the base of the nutrient tank in order to ensure a flooded suction (pump inlet). That tank looks kind of thin, so elevating the tank and going through the bottom may be your best bet.
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Understood. I wanted to upgrade my reservoirs anyway. I feel now is the appropriate time. Is there any pump/reservoir combo you’d recommend for rooms my size? This of course assuming I can keep my current 3/4" PVC setup.
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It sounds from your early post in this thread you aren’t sure how many plant sites you will be running so, I recommend testing your irrigation with what you’ve got. Looks like you have two 50 gallon drums. You can connect them together at the bottom and they will function together as one tank.
At only 7 GPM you should be fine with 3/4" PVC. Give it a go and see how it flows!
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Is there another type of pump I could use? These are giving me a headache as I should have read up on this more.
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Can you be more specific? Where does it hurt?
Yes, you could use a centrifugal pump. But, in order to select it you need to know the expected flow of the irrigation.
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I guess I’m asking if there’s a smaller submersible pump (maybe?) that I could be using? 120 sites is all I need it for.
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You could. In addition to my above answers, here’s a good overview with some calculations on how to do it:
However, I should add a caveat. Make sure that you choose a pump with stainless steel or Noryl impeller and /or chamber so that there is no interaction between the metals or plastics and your nutrients. Don’t use a cast iron pool pump!
Also, make sure that the flow of the irrigation is above the minimum required to prevent overheating of the pump. Consult the pump curve diagram or the specifications for minimum flow rate.
You can always connect a garden hose to your irrigation and measure the the flow by capturing the table runoff and measuring it for a given period of time. Make sure everything is flowing and catch basins are empty before the test so that you don’t get incorrect numbers.
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