BobLeland
New Member
I have a 1 horsepower portable Wayne sprinkler pump hooked up permanently to a 50 gal rain barrel (intake at bottom of barrel port --so pump intake is always under pressure--with 1 inch pvc, one foot length to pump intake). I capture a perennial spring and use a float switch to turn the pump on and off when the barrel fills and empties. I use the spring water for overhead irrigation to my yard.
Ran it all last year, no issues. This season I turned it back on--I have a 3/4 inch pvc supply line downstream from the pump that is split--one line serves uphill sprinklers, the other runs downhill sprinklers. I only run either the uphill or downhill at one time and have ball valves for shut off. I noted when I had the downhill line in operation this spring that the water was dribbling out through low sprinkler head as the barrel continued to fill but the barrel would not fill up enough to prompt the float switch. So, water is flowing through the pump when it is not on and the only way I can get the barrel to fill is to turn off the downstream main line ball valve so the water backs up into the barrel. This was not the case last year.
Question: is the pump intake, under some pressure, supposed to be closed when the pump is in the off position? Wayne guy told me it would flow through under pressure in the off position. That doesn't sound right to me. Suggestions?
Ran it all last year, no issues. This season I turned it back on--I have a 3/4 inch pvc supply line downstream from the pump that is split--one line serves uphill sprinklers, the other runs downhill sprinklers. I only run either the uphill or downhill at one time and have ball valves for shut off. I noted when I had the downhill line in operation this spring that the water was dribbling out through low sprinkler head as the barrel continued to fill but the barrel would not fill up enough to prompt the float switch. So, water is flowing through the pump when it is not on and the only way I can get the barrel to fill is to turn off the downstream main line ball valve so the water backs up into the barrel. This was not the case last year.
Question: is the pump intake, under some pressure, supposed to be closed when the pump is in the off position? Wayne guy told me it would flow through under pressure in the off position. That doesn't sound right to me. Suggestions?