ᐅ Rainwater Harvesting Cistern for Garden Irrigation – Which Pump Should I Use?

Greetings!

I am gradually starting to plan the garden irrigation for my soon-to-be-completed house. For now, I want to keep it simple and non-smart: a cistern (6,000 liters) is installed underground, and I plan to water the garden conventionally using a pump and garden hose. The farthest lawn area will be reachable with about 35 to 40 meters (115 to 130 feet) of hose length. The cistern is located at the lowest point, about 2.50 meters (8 feet) underground.

Now I am facing a confusing variety of possible pumps: suction pump, dirty water pump, submersible pump, garden pump, deep well pump... several thousand liters per hour, various pressure ratings in bar... Does anyone have good advice?

Even though the answer doesn’t fully fit: We ordered the "House Package Tano L" from Mall twice for our semi-detached house. A kind of domestic water system is installed, which is supposed to supply the toilet and washing machine. I read somewhere that over the course of a year, the garden only accounts for about 2% of the total water consumption. And especially in winter, when the cistern is full, you don’t need water for the garden. Maybe it’s worth considering whether appropriate piping into the house is still possible?

Unfortunately, I have no experience with pumps and cisterns yet. However, I believe @rick2018 has installed a somewhat larger cistern and has dealt with this topic...

DerGuteTon schrieb:

Greetings!

I’m starting to plan the garden irrigation for my soon-to-be-finished house. For now, it will be a straightforward, non-smart setup: a rainwater cistern (6,000 liters (1,585 gallons)) is installed underground, and I want to water the garden traditionally using a pump and garden hose. The furthest lawn area will be reachable with about 35 to 40 meters (115 to 130 feet) of hose. The cistern is located at the lowest point, about 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) deep in the ground.

Now I’m getting confused by all the pump options: suction pump, dirty water pump, submersible pump, garden pump, deep well pump... several thousand liters per hour, various pressure ratings... Does anyone have good advice?

For garden irrigation, we found a simple and completely functional solution: a domestic water pump system for under €100, installed dry next to a 5,000-liter (1,320 gallons) cistern. We enclosed it in a box with some insulation. We connected the power supply and used a suction hose from the hardware store, reaching just above the bottom of the cistern. At the end, we installed a filter (all available at the hardware store for relatively little money). On the outlet pipe, we then fitted a simple faucet on a wall, and attached a cheap splitter for about €3.

This setup allowed us to draw water directly at the faucet while the other outlet had a standard garden hose connected. The hose was partly buried along the property line all the way to the end of the garden, where another faucet was installed. This way, we had water access in two locations with continuous water pressure, similar to a regular household water tap.

It’s low-cost, easy to do, and worked great.
If you don’t want to insulate it, you can simply cover the unit to keep it dry and bring it indoors during winter.
In our case, it always stayed outdoors.

Use a well pump with an integrated controller and float switch.
This way, you keep all options open for the future.
The delivery height is not an issue for you. Approximately 6,000 liters/hour (1,585 gallons/hour) and over 4 bar (58 psi) pressure.

If the garden is not yet established, consider installing a distribution line with two water outlets.
This way, you won’t have to manage a very long hose all the time. With the right pump, you can even water with both hoses simultaneously.

We roughly did it like @pagoni2020.
If all this stuff breaks down someday, I would keep it simpler, as @rick2018 suggests. For example, Gardena 6000/5.

Lumpi_LE schrieb:

We basically did it the same way as @pagoni2020.
If all that stuff ever breaks, though, I would go for something simpler, like @rick2018 suggests, for example the Gardena 6000/5.

I have to say, I did it like this 25 years ago with the limited options available at the time (including my own knowledge), and looking back, it worked really well despite its simplicity. Apparently, there are new developments now, as I’m reading, although simplicity often matters to me and what I can manage with my basic tools.
But I definitely need to check out a pump like the one -rick- mentioned, since I’m planning to start a new garden soon.