High pressure pump

[trick440]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for recommendations on a high pressure pump. This isn't for a fish tank, its for an aeroponics system.

What I'm doing is push water appox. 4' up, coming to a 'T' and going 2' to the right, and 2' to the left. This top bar is basically a spray bar, I tapped off this top bar 12 times with about a foot of 1/8" hose to a sprayer on each end (again 12, 1' lines feeding 12 sprayers).

I estimate I only need 240 GPH, the problem is it needs 250 PSI. Most these aquarium pumps are low PSI and PSI is never listed.

After head loss on that T bar and all the 1/8" tubing it gets to be a problem finding a pump that can handle this.

I 1st tried an EcoPlus 1056, https://www.hydroponics.net/i/280023 , water seems to just trickle out. Not the powerful spray I wanted.

Next I tried the only larger pump I had, the Mag 18. This seemed to do the job although not as impressive as I hoped. I think it was not impressive cause the aquarium pumps are low PSI.

Any ideas on what pumps I should look into?

Ps. I'm looking for an externally ran pump, checking out MAg pump stats it says they can't be run externally. Weird I always assumed they could be.

 

[Bob Nell]

I have used mag pumps externally.

 

[zachfishman]

I have used mag pumps externally.

+1 They are fine to run externally under normal use. I'm not sure about this situation though - if there isn't enough water flow will they be able to adequately cool?

They are pretty tough pumps though, and are generally considered to offer more pressure than many other aquarium market pumps.

 

[zachfishman]

OP have you called Reeflo? They have some high pressure pumps that might be appropriate for your needs.

 

[trick440]

Hey guys, I ended up going with a super cheap pump off ebay. For the price I could not pass it up. I could be using a lot of these pumps and finding a cheap option would be great. I'll try it out and run some tests. Find a home for it eventually if it don't work out.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/311339947017?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I do have a plumbing question! (As said previously, I don't need much flow but I need the pressure.) I ran a large 1" pvc, up to the spray bar. Maybe replacing that with a 3/4" or 1/2" would be better?

That 1" is holding a lot of water the pump needs to push up. If I was running a 1/2" that would that be way less water to lift, and more PSI?n Think this would raise my PSI at the sprayers?

 

[trick440]

I had some spare pvc parts laying around and I replaced that 1" pvc riser with some patched together 1/2" PVC. My sprayers are now spraying great with a much smaller pump.

Instead of the Mag18, I'm down to a Ecoplus 1056. The EcoPlus is still a pretty stout pump at 1056gph and 9' max head height, but considerably less than the Mag18, 1800gph and 16' max head height.

I did try a Reo 1100, and that almost worked but not quite spraying at the force I'm looking for.

 

[2smokes]

I dont get it how you calculated you would need 250 PSI for that small aplications.250 PSI its like 17 atm pressure and that is enough to lift the water 160 meters high.If you want a high pressure pump ,then i would reccomend a diaphragm pump.There are cheap chinese pumps that lift the water 70 -100 meter high.They also work at 12 volts and can be lowered to pump less at 6 V.They are soo powerfull that somme people uses these pumps with a pistol to wash theyr car instead of a carcher jet sprayer.For 250 GHP you would probably need 3 of these pumps but theyr cheaper than the aquarium one .Its important not to use these pumps with salt water .

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC-...id=a0042df1-105a-46ad-92eb-ad761da59d1a&tpp=1

 

[biecacka]

I used to run an Iwaki 55 pressure rated pump. Pump was a beast!!

Corey