I have two IBC totes placed on a rock wall that’s about 18 inches tall. The garden has a decent slope to it and I’m experimenting with wood chips, sheep wool, and straw for mulch to help retain moisture.
My question: how can I add pressure to the lines? I do not have power. Is there a battery or solar pump that I could add that isn’t ridiculously loud?
Edit for clarity: I can’t raise the tanks any higher without building something substantial, so not a project for this year. Also, the lids are missing so I am unable to pressurize the tanks.
by Dirty_Boots_525
25 Comments
Yes but you are gonna need a proper solar system. Look up how to build one of those and then just plug your pump in. Or you could go to the blumat system which operates on 3-15 psi but is also hella expensive.
Can you lift the totes higher?
I was just looking into this. I could be wrong on the numbers as this was a couple weeks ago. But I think it was like, every 10 feet of elevation adds 8psi? Or 4psi? I can’t remember. I was thinking, a 12v rv water pump, which can do 7GPM @ 70PSI, a 12v deep cycle, and a solar panel. The draw on them was like 5-10 amps, some lower some higher depending on needs.
You either figure out a power solution and pressurize the system or you raise up your totes. Water pressure increases by approximately 1 PSI for every 2.3 feet of elevation drop due to gravity.
Get a 12v self priming RV pump, an inexpensive solar panel with charge controller, and a 12v battery. Depending on battery and solar panel size, you can spend at little as $90. RV pumps are nice because they automatically shut off once they sense back pressure.
I have all of the parts to do this with my rain barrel. I just haven’t had the time to assemble it yet.
You could check out Rural Power Systems, they’ve got a pressure pump designed to run on solar
I did the same for my garden, put my IBC up at the top of my garden and made a platform about a foot high for so its overall about 3 feet higher than my garden beds. With the tank full its plenty of head for the flat soaker hose I use.
I never let it get below half a tank incase we get a gnarly midsummer drought like last year and my well runs dry
You can buy a drill pump pretty cheap from harbor freight or on Amazon. Just run it off a cordless drill. Or as someone else said, get a 12v rv self priming pump( vevor as a cheap one that works great)
I have 4 IBC totes connected to each other and gravity wasn’t working so I set up a solar panel that charges a battery to run a small inline pump and it works fine and was super inexpensive putting together my own system compared to buying a premade setup
Could you overcome the need for gravity, using some kind of hand pump and Venturi effect? I’m trying to build something similar and don’t really have a good place to raise it more than a foot above the grade of the beds, but I purchased this pump that I was hoping I could use to hand start an irrigation system. So I wouldn’t expect it to run all the time, but I wouldn’t expect to have to go out and prime it once in a while.
A normal garden hose operates at 40 to 60 psi.
At 1 psi per 2.3 ft, you’ll need it to be around 18 feet high, minimum.
Pressurize the tank. Install a valve stem and get yourself a tire pump. Assuming the tank is fully sealed at the top.
You can get a battery powered hose head (advertised as a 20V or 40V pressure washer) and it can spray for you.
You won’t get a lot of pressure unless you put it up really high or pressurized with air.
Pressure = (density of water) x (9.8) x (height in meters)
Could you let the water run down irrigation ditches or drains? A seep hose might need too much pressure
Pressurize the tank.
pressure tank, once you build pressure once you should keep it
Do you have a riding lawn mower of a 4 wheeler ?
I bought a tow behind chemical sprayer that hold 100 gallons. It has never had any chemicals in it.
I fill it from my barrels, then drive to my gardens. I didn’t want to mess with gardens hoses. Im not ready to put a permanent irrigation yet.
Interesting, how does it work?
If you don’t want a pump, run drip lines.
Depends on exactly what you are trying to do, but maybe just increase flow. Larger diameter hose or pipe.
Pressure is not needed to flow water at a hight rate and if you are flooding the wood chips and wool to retain water you dont need pressure to do that.
Honestly for no power and minimal noise, a small solar transfer pump sounds like exactly what you want
You cannot gravity-feed your irrigation, even with drip irrigation, without a sizeable elevation gain. For every foot you raise the tank above your final outlet grade, you gain 0.433 psi. Netafim dripline needs a minimum 14 psi to function, so you would need the tank to be 32.33ft in the air.
Get a cheap solar pump. You should also know how much water you need to put out on the garden. Those tanks look undersized.
Get a 120v pump , run it off a generator with a 20 amp plug.
The easiest solution is a dc bilge pump and a solar panel. They run off variable voltage, they are very cheap, I think you would get enough pressure for a dripline.