Confused about Irrigation pump shut off

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ArXane

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We purchased our property a couple years ago. We have multiple ponds that all feed into one. On the lowest pond, there is a GE pump (Model# 5KC48PN214AX). The pump looks very old, I cant even find anything on Google with that model number.

We have a wedding at our property next month and decided to try and get this pump working (it was there when we bought it, I have never messed with it) and get some new line put in. Everything went well, pump primed fine and pumps excellent. However, it does not seem to have any sort of shut off solenoid? We have to go to the breaker panel to turn the pump on/off.

Right now the pump is wired straight into a breaker panel with no solenoids of any kind.

Question(s) are this: We would like to use this pump for the next month or so to keep the meadow green where the wedding will be, and then also use it for watering our new fruit trees in our garden. Do I need to put a pressure switch in? Suggestions?

Edit - I would think I would want the pump to turn on "on demand" when it senses I have water on?
 

Reach4

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To do what you ask, you would use a pressure switch. They are cheap and common. When you use a pressure switch, you always need a pressure tank at the switch. How big the tank needs to be depends on the load. You might do well with a CSV. Plug CSV into the search box at the top.

You need to protect things from freezing unless you can drain all of the water out before it freezes.
 

ArXane

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To do what you ask, you would use a pressure switch. They are cheap and common. When you use a pressure switch, you always need a pressure tank at the switch. How big the tank needs to be depends on the load. You might do well with a CSV. Plug CSV into the search box at the top.

You need to protect things from freezing unless you can drain all of the water out before it freezes.

Thank you. Is there a calculator for tank size to load?
 

Reach4

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There are tables for home use selection, and basically the thought is that you want the pump to take a minute or more to fill the "drawdown" capacity. It may be that you could use a smaller tank if you can have the load matched fairly well for the pump capacity.

http://cpkits.com/products/pk1a seems like an attractive choice in this application. It gives you a kit that puts together things you need. CSV throttles back the pump output to match the load until you shut off the load. Then after about a minute, it shuts the pump down.
 

ArXane

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There are tables for home use selection, and basically the thought is that you want the pump to take a minute or more to fill the "drawdown" capacity. It may be that you could use a smaller tank if you can have the load matched fairly well for the pump capacity.

http://cpkits.com/products/pk1a seems like an attractive choice in this application. It gives you a kit that puts together things you need. CSV throttles back the pump output to match the load until you shut off the load. Then after about a minute, it shuts the pump down.

That looks like that will work great. Thanks for all the info.
 

Valveman

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Reach is telling you the best way to make this an "on demand" system. But another way would be to start/stop the pump with a timer, and make sure there is always at least one outlet open so the water has a place to go and the pump doesn't get hot. But it is hard to use garden hoses with a timer.
 
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