Building An Underground Water Storage with A Solar Powered Pump to Automatically Water the Plants

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claym0re

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Hi Everyone,

I potentially have bitten off more than I can chew here but I've started so I intend to finish but I'm hitting knowledge gaps along the way...

The Plan
1. Burry 3x 210 litre barrel's into the ground (below a future patch of clover grass) in a central point in the garden. This is done. Each barrel is sunk below ground level into clay soil and joined together using pond connections and pipes; Perforated pipes run rain water into these barrels;
2. Develop the concept of a removable platform with a permeable base that can be removed for any necessary maintenance requirements for access to the barrels; For this, the best idea I have is to create some concrete piles next to the barrels and cut down an aluminium ladder to span between them, a sedum roof base would then sit supported by the ladder rails and on top of this would be soil and clover;
3. Next stage is where I'm stuck. I need a pump that would have sufficient power to draw water from below the ground to 1) be drained and removed from the garden to prevent flooding and 2) be used to automatically water the garden in the summer by using a solar powered setup;
4. Fourth stage is to purchase the irrigation system that would run around the garden between the beds (mostly underground using old pond pipework);
5. Replace top soil and plant clover.

This is the first time I've tried writing this down so don't know if I've communicated that well but I'm stumped by part 3 at the moment but any thoughts on 2, 3 or 4 would be amazing if anyone has something to share.

Thanks,

Chris
 
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Looking at point 3, you need a valve pair in the intake to change draw from garden or draw from sump, and you need another valve pair at the outlet to deliver to sump, or deliver to sprinklers.
 
yes, something like that, there should also be valves with one pipe on one side and you switch between two pipes on the other side, easier to keep the pump running if you can find one of those
 
my thoughts
600L is worth about £1.50 round here as water is about £2.50 a cubm/1 ton/1000L/1unit
so possible savings in low tens off pounds at best probably less than £10 so iff the cost was perhaps 1k the payback may be 15-30 years excluding running and maintenance costs which would extend the payback years
 
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Not so pretty, but an IBC or 2, plumbed into the gutters, and raised off the ground so no pumping required.
 
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Mike13 said:
yes, something like that, there should also be valves with one pipe on one side and you switch between two pipes on the other side, easier to keep the pump running if you can find one of those
Click to expand...
Thanks Mike. Any ideas on the pump itself? Something powerful enough to counteract the gravity but requiring low levels of power to run?..
 
scbk said:
Not so pretty, but an IBC or 2, plumbed into the gutters, and raised off the ground so no pumping required.
Click to expand...
Hi scbk, part of this underground idea is that there’s something clever working away down there and no one’s the wiser plus a bit of a challenge to prove it can be done
 
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