Switching from sump pump to pond pump

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The sump pump in one of our ponds has failed and needs replacing. This time, we are going to install a pump which is designed for use in ponds. My question is, how to compare the power between horsepower and GPH. The failed pump is 1/3 HP. It fuels two fountains. One of the fountains is close-by (about 10 feet from the pump house) but the other fountain is about 100 feet away, although there is very little elevation gain to that fountain. Both fountains are simply a PVC pipe, nothing fancy, and need to shoot water about 10 feet into the air to create some white noise. Does anyone have any idea how to convert HP to GPH so that I know I will have enough power to get a good spray of water?
 

sissy

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how to compare is head height ,how far the water has to travel from above the water to the outlet end and also consider wattage as a high electric bill is not good either .Plus you have to factor in elbows if you have any .100 feet is a long ways .You could get 2 pumps .I use 2 laguna pumps
 
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Thanks, sissy. I should also mention that the current pump is way too much power. I have to turn the valve down about half-way to keep the flows at an acceptable level. It doesn't have to power anything else and we do not have fish. Hope that helps.
 

sissy

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If you turn down a valve to a pump it will cause it to burn out because you are restricting flow of water .How big is your pond and how big is the pvc pipe coming from the pump ..I have 5000+gallons and use a laguna 2400 gph and a 2900 gph .and I know jw has the 4200 gph one
 
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If you turn down a valve to a pump it will cause it to burn out because you are restricting flow of water .How big is your pond and how big is the pvc pipe coming from the pump ..I have 5000+gallons and use a laguna 2400 gph and a 2900 gph .and I know jw has the 4200 gph one

My pond is about 7,000 gallons. The PVC pipe is 2" diameter. I'm considering either a 5,000 or 6,000 GPH Atlantic TidalWave3. What do you think?
 

sissy

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that depends on you and not sure but a 2 inch pvc pipe may not be big enough .My neighbor on his pondless had 5500 pump and got his electric bill and was in shock he then got the laguna 4250 gph and he pumps up a steep hill but has a 3 inch pipe.But he also did not want a lot of noise because he did not want to scare the wild life away like the other 1 did .The animals may have gotten used to it but they did not like yelling over the noise either .
 
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Hi. A pond pump is meant to run constantly and will use much less power than a sump pump. I prefer Lagunas also because they use the least amount of power. They cost more but in the long run the savings are quite a bit. I have used AZ Ponds as a supplier for most of my pond stuff and have been happy with them.
 

sissy

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I use webbs or dr foster and smith and my lagunas came with a 4 year warranty back in 2014 and have been happy with them .I got a watt tester just to see how much energy they used and seems the cleaner they are and the bigger the hose is the less energy they use .The 2900 gph said 100 watts but has been using about 65 watts since I got a bigger hose .It was using 75 watts before that .
 

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