I have about 400 yards of muck to move and about 200 of sandy silt. I want to pump it in to a low lying area and fill it. It currently floods and then has the water sit for a few weeks festering and breeding mosquitoes.
That is what I need!
And a destroyed hose is costly when renting, since they will charge you for it.
That is what I need!
Renting puts too much pressure to 'get it done', especially for a job I have never done before, have sketchy information about and where weather can play a huge part of the puzzle. I'd rather it take me 7 days spread out over two months working at my own pace than two days of intensive work where each day ends with five Vicodin. I do have a few neighbors in the commercial heavy construction business that are able to rent things for 10% of what I'd as a stupid consumer has to pay but, I am not keen on taking advantage of people that are not best friends. A bottle of Makers Mark is just not an adequate thank you to a person you 'just know' and imposed on.
My concern about small pumps is pine cones. Can a 2" pump chew them up and spit them out? Will they clog the suction hose? Small sticks and leaf clumps? I could handle having a big bucket and if the tip of the suction pipe clogged with debris, pull it off and drop it in the bucket, assuming that is feasible.
I know there is no rock (at worse, sand like silt, tons of fools gold too!), except at the very bottom and a "U" shaped bar at the end of the suction hose would keel me away from 'rock bottom'. I've tried digging with a regular spade and it is near impenetrable except with a BH.
A $600 pump and $300 worth of hose is acceptable.
Draining the lake is not going to happen, probably. One neighbor that also lives on the lake was to expand it by excavating out about one acre down 15', but they do not have the money ($50K). Talk was if/when they do that, as part of the job, they'd dredge the entire (bulldoze actually) lake, using all the dirt and crap from the bottom to fill in a field down near the river. It floods every year up to three feet deep, and the rough calculation has it this fill would bring the field up about four feet. When we get severe weather, it is such that the entire lake could be filled in just two days of a tropical downpour, which we get a few times a year.
Keep the thoughts coming, all are greatly appreciated. I am performing an appendectomy with a butter knife and a bottle of Gorilla Glue here.
Not sure how they tested it, but in real world settings they failed miserably. They clogged faster, since the parts that were designed to chop would catch stuff faster.
That's what the wife's uncle did at his place in the UP Michigan, don't remember what he paid, but I know at the time it sounded reasonable to me.
The rise from the absolute bottom to where the pump would sit is a at most, six feet, probably four feet. Horizontal run might be at most, forty feet. Then rise from the pump to where I want to discharge might be another ten feet max from the pump, probably a lot less and possibly 100 feet horizontal.Ok, I was under the impression from the first posts that it was a pond
2" pumps are gonna be two small for what you are trying to do. The pine cones would just bunch up against the impeller and clog the pump. Your gonna need something that will handle a minimum of three inch solids for the pine cone to travel through with out clogging. So, a 6" trash pump at a minimum. And if your talking to someone and they tell you that an impeller will chew up a pine cone, I'll call BS every time
About 10 years ago, I had a vendor who gave us an impeller they designed to "chop" solids before going through a pump.
Diaphragm pumps probably gonna give you fits with the pine cones. They use a rectangular rubber flapper on either end of the chamber to seal off for the suction and discharge stroke. Pine cones, small sticks, or trash usually will get caught in the flapper causing it to lose it's prime. Then you'll have to take it apart to get to the flapper to clear it.
One of the little 3" centrifugal pumps might work.
But you would need to get it close to where your working, since they only have around a 10ft suction lift before they stall out and run out of oomph. Again though, the pine cones would be an issue. And you would need to thin out the muck. Another issue, is once they suck any air, they take a bit to pick a prime back up.
Rental would run you around $300 a week, plus usually $20 a hose for a 20 ft suction, and a 50ft discharge. They will usually throw a strainer in for free. Stay away from rental purchase agreements though. They dont depreciate enough for the term of the rental to save any money. It's the same as leasing a car, and then buying it after the lease is up Those little trash pumps are usually used and abused from a rental place. So buyer beware Remember you have "run it like you own it", "run it like you stole it", and the worst is "run it like you rented it" We all know how we get when we rent a car and have the insurance on it It's the same with equipment
My acceptable purchase budget for the pump is about $600 (acceptable to the wife) and then a few hundred more for piping.That little 3" pump on the picture retails for around $1,500.
But if you check harbor freight, agrisupply, northern tools, ect...... you can pick them up from $300 on up. They usually come with a strainer. Just stay away from the real cheap ones that say "nylon trash pump" in the description. I would think, a nice mid grade one, would serve you well for what you are doing.
I have a low area that in heavy rain, fills with water, about 1/2 acre I'd like to fill it in (so it does not fill in but runs off). I've been dumping organic and inorganic material in it for 15 years. Plenty of room.My question is this, Where are you going to move the water and muck to?
I'm a Honda pump and generator dealer
I would say I could make you a great deal on the $1500 honda Slightly used rental The nylon impellers are for clean water only and any course material (rocks, sand, ect...) will wear it out pretty fast.
