Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
(OP)
Hi, I am trying to find out a approximate cost off irrigating 6 acres with well water.
I got a 5g/min pump however i do not know the specs of how much electricity it pulls and i am just looking for a average figure.
Say I need 1 inch/acre = 27154 gal.
How much electricity would a average submersible pump use to pump 27154 gallons and how much would that cost?
Any one that has real life experience doing this that has a similar figure like I spend $x amount of dollars per year
irrigating a 2acre pasture or so pleas feel free to inform me.
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
Best Regars
gary
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
You may wish to consider a larger pump.
yours
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
water horsepower per hour per kilowatt hour is 0.885
And water horsepower = gallons per minute / 3960 * total head
total pumping head = pressure(psi) + required lift
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
It depends.
yours
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
1> What is the cost per kilowatt hour in your area.
2> What is dynamic head.
These parameters will give a minimum energy cost, assuming 100% efficiency. To this we should add about 20% to 30% for real world conditions.
Don't count on a 25 GPM pump putting out 25 GPM under any but design conditions. You have to use the pump curves which are unique to each pump.
Under conditions of increased head, your 25 GPM pump may only deliver 5 or 10 or 12 GPM. You have to check the curve for your particular pump.
respectfully
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
where,
Ps = Suction Pressure PSIG
Pd = Discharge Pressure PSIG
The required hydraulic power is,
Power_ftlbs_per_sec = Head_feet * Q_gpm /7.4805/60
HorsePower = Power_ftlbs_per_sec /550
Power_input_to_pump (Hp)= HorsePower/Pump_Efficiency
Electrical Power required is,
Power_input_to_motor (kW) = 0.746 * Power_input_to_pump/motor_efficiency
multiply your power input to motor by the cost per kWh x the running time.
BigInch-born in the trenches.
http://virtualpipeline.spaces.msn.com
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
Good Luck.
engineguy2
http://www.bucksengines.com
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
BigInch-born in the trenches.
http://virtualpipeline.spaces.msn.com
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
1. If you have a day job, it is difficult to have too large a pump. Conflicting schedules will inevitably cause the pump to be shut down when it should be running. Extra pump capacity allows the job to be done in a timely manner and when you have time.
2. Regardless of the pump size it is going to go down at the worst possible moment (Corralary to Murphy's law). Larger means you can catch up a little easier when it is fixed. With irrigation I do not believe there is such a thing as too far ahead.
3. There is a relationship between distance from dealer/parts and breakdown timing. If your supply source is via the internet, the same lightning strike that takes out your pump will also take out your computer. Even if the guy down the street is double the internet cost he will be there in spite of the lightning strike.
Griffy
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
BigInch-born in the trenches.
http://virtualpipeline.spaces.msn.com
RE: Cost of pumping well water to irrigate 6 ac
25 gal/hr = 3.34 cu.ft./hr = 0.022 acre inches /day. It has to be 25 gpm or 1.32 acre inch/day.
I do not know your climate, but if don't have summer rains you need to be able to irrigate at about a minimum of 80% of your peak ET unless you don't mind losing fall growth a lot.
So your peak ET is probably somewhere near 0.3 in/day for grass (depending on location normally 0.25 to .35). Check your efficiency. For sprinklers about 80% if you did a good job, I like 70% for older or if you have cows walking around(they cosntantly break sprinklers). If you get donuts of green grass drop it another 5%. Also 2 acres is small so if you are going to run any animals on it you also need to factor in some days without water so you don't compact the ground too much. If it just for hay give yourself 1 day in 10 for breadowns.
Overall a good flowrate for your situation depending on pressure at 25 gpm. I would think you could automate it and run 4 zones. If you are good with the nozzles you choose you might even get away with ag use times (at night) and save some money.
Reading over the comments I think you may have the head required wrong. You also have to run the sprinkler at about 60 ft of head. With inlet losses it was hard to get a good system with less than a 70' vertical drop. Check with Rainbird or Toro specs.
Of course, if you are flooding this all goes out the window. For flood you need the head of a large stream of water to get the water across the field. Pasture is hard to flood with small constant streams, ie 3 days on and 3 days off on irrigation ditches. The people I have seen trying to flood small pastures get about 40% with a lot of water weeds. I would be interested in how you are going to irrigate if it is flood, basin, border, corrugations, or wild land.