GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

20-07-2004, 05:07 AM

wrote:
I have well water, and my pressure is pretty pathetic.

When I was pricing out an irrigation system last year, I also had to
include the cost of upgrading my well pump and tank.
However, the plumber explained to me that these upgrades didn't have
anything to do with *pressure*. They were required so that the pump
would run longer, instead of lots of cycling off and on, which would
wear it out the pump.

I tested my gpm at an outdoor faucet: 5 gpm! Terrible.

My problem is, I want to get more radius out of my traveling sprinkler
(haven't commited to the cost of irrigation yet).

So I'm confused about pressure versus flow rate.
Will using a larger diameter hose do anything for me?

By any chance, are the lines from your pressure tank to the spigot badly
scaled? If you have very hard water, they can get to the point where the
effective diameter is 1/4 inch...or less. Most outside faucets are
pre-softener, so that you aren't paying to soften water you are dumping on
the ground. That means those pipes can scale much more easily than those in
the rest of the house.

Austin