Watering wand / pump combo

J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
The garden is growing and so is my back pain on watering day. I'm planning to setup a watering wand with water pump paired with a 32 gallon brute trash can reservoir on a heavy duty dolly for ease of movement. I'm planning to use the wayne 900 GPH waterbug pump with a 33" melnor water wand from lowes. My only concern is what will happen to the pump when the wand's valve is in the closed position? Is there any chance of the pump burning up with no flow for short periods as I position to different containers in the grow room? The longest amount of time I can imagine the pump running with no flow would be 1 minute or so. Maybe this is a silly concern, but I've never used one of these before and want to make sure I do it the right way.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
The garden is growing and so is my back pain on watering day. I'm planning to setup a watering wand with water pump paired with a 32 gallon brute trash can reservoir on a heavy duty dolly for ease of movement. I'm planning to use the wayne 900 GPH waterbug pump with a 33" melnor water wand from lowes. My only concern is what will happen to the pump when the wand's valve is in the closed position? Is there any chance of the pump burning up with no flow for short periods as I position to different containers in the grow room? The longest amount of time I can imagine the pump running with no flow would be 1 minute or so. Maybe this is a silly concern, but I've never used one of these before and want to make sure I do it the right way.

Thanks for any suggestions!
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It'll be fine for short times, less than 10-20 seconds of closed valve while the pump is on. Watch VaderOGs VADERVISION Vids on youtube. It shows him doing this exact thing but its with a Little giant pump.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
One of those pumps they use in motor homes is the ticket for what you want. They keep pressure in the line and fire up when the pressure drops like when you turn on a tap or pull the trigger on a watering wand.

On the other hand I had a smaller pump like the one you propose to use that got plugged up and ran at least 10 hours without any noticeable damage.

:peace:
 
Hydrowannabe

Hydrowannabe

Well-Known Member
I didnt even know this was an issue with water pumps. My water pump in res runs fine and I've never paid attention to whether I had it running too long with the hose end closed or open. Maybe i just got lucky or maybe I'm in for a new pump soon lol. I just thought it was important to make sure it doesnt suck dry air in.
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I could be overthinking this, but I don't like equipment failures that can be prevented. I found a simple solution on Amazon. It's a remote switch that I can turn on and off as needed. I can basically stage my hose and wand in position for watering from the holster on the wall and then click the on button to activate the pump. As I move from plant to plant I can simply move the water wand valve to closed for 4 or 5 seconds and then open again. When I'm done watering all of the plants I can click the off switch on the remote to kill power to the pump, close the valve, and hang up my hose and wand for the next watering. Using the equipment like this should keep my $100 pump in operation for many years to come.

If I was using a cheap $40 pump I probably wouldn't do this, but for $100 I want to preserve my equipment.
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Hydrowannabe said:
I didnt even know this was an issue with water pumps. My water pump in res runs fine and I've never paid attention to whether I had it running too long with the hose end closed or open. Maybe i just got lucky or maybe I'm in for a new pump soon lol. I just thought it was important to make sure it doesnt suck dry air in.
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How many GPH is your pump rated for and how long is your hose? The pump I'm interested in buying is 900 GPH attached to a 25' hose. If I were using a lower volume pump this wouldn't be a consideration, but 900 GPH will build a lot of pressure quickly with no flow which could damage the pump's internal seals or simply burn out the electric motor. It's a water cooled pump. No flow = no cool = failure. A pressure relief valve is essentially what I need, but I don't want to over engineer a simple problem. That shit costs money and time :)
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I also found an adjustable pressure relief valve I could install with a Y adapter at the pump. It could be adjusted down to say 40PSI which would open the valve, but for $60 that's just overkill especially when the pump I'm protecting is only $100. Remote shut off seems like the cheapest and most effective way to address this issue.

I'm surprised this isn't discussed more frequently here. Hand watering and hauling 5 gallon buckets is an absolute bitch. Eventually everybody has to take the step to a water wand and pump if you're doing a lot of watering. Doing it by hand is simply too labor intensive and time consuming to be a long term solution.
 
Hydrowannabe

Hydrowannabe

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
How many GPH is your pump rated for and how long is your hose? The pump I'm interested in buying is 900 GPH attached to a 25' hose. If I were using a lower volume pump this wouldn't be a consideration, but 900 GPH will build a lot of pressure quickly with no flow which could damage the pump's internal seals or simply burn out the electric motor. It's a water cooled pump. No flow = no cool = failure. A pressure relief valve is essentially what I need, but I don't want to over engineer a simple problem. That shit costs money and time :)
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Thanks for that info. Now I got another thing to worry about ha jkjk. My pump is 793 gph and the hose is about 12 feet (give or take). I have the pump turned to its lowest setting as this is obviously too much for a little 20 gal res. But thanks for the info. I will definitely be more careful, but just letting you know that mine still works great and I didnt uear about this issue till now
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Hydrowannabe said:
Thanks for that info. Now I got another thing to worry about ha jkjk. My pump is 793 gph and the hose is about 12 feet (give or take). I have the pump turned to its lowest setting as this is obviously too much for a little 20 gal res. But thanks for the info. I will definitely be more careful, but just letting you know that mine still works great and I didnt uear about this issue till now
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I'm actually very happy to hear that, and thank you for posting. I have never had to do this much watering before, so this is something I have no experience with. I'm officially entering the unknown :) I have a feeling I'm over thinking this, but one can never be too careful when trying something new. Has it made life a lot easier on you since going with the wand / pump? This is about a $200 total investment for me, but my initial thoughts are it will be money well spent. Hauling heavy 5 gallon buckets is an absolute bitch at the end of a long work day.
 
Hydrowannabe

Hydrowannabe

Well-Known Member
That's my flow control. I haven't had any issues with this simple setup except for the end popping off a couple times....butttt you make total sense about the pump heating up if water isnt flowing through it. Makes sense
 

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Hydrowannabe

Hydrowannabe

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
I'm actually very happy to hear that, and thank you for posting. I have never had to do this much watering before, so this is something I have no experience with. I'm officially entering the unknown :) I have a feeling I'm over thinking this, but one can never be too careful when trying something new. Has it made life a lot easier on you since going with the wand / pump? This is about a $200 total investment for me, but my initial thoughts are it will be money well spent. Hauling heavy 5 gallon buckets is an absolute bitch at the end of a long work day.
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I dont exactly have a wand as you can see. In sure if I needed one, I could easily make the switch. Idk if that would make your situation different. But anyway....yes, having a larger rez to store the nutrient solution and a pump and hose to deliver it to my plants, has made growing so so so much more enjoyable . It was quite a long learning curve with reservoir maintenance and in still learning more efficient ways, but yes, it helps soo much
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Hydrowannabe said:
I dont exactly have a wand as you can see. In sure if I needed one, I could easily make the switch. Idk if that would make your situation different. But anyway....yes, having a larger rez to store the nutrient solution and a pump and hose to deliver it to my plants, has made growing so so so much more enjoyable . It was quite a long learning curve with reservoir maintenance and in still learning more efficient ways, but yes, it helps soo much
Click to expand...
Hydrowannabe said:
I dont exactly have a wand as you can see. In sure if I needed one, I could easily make the switch. Idk if that would make your situation different. But anyway....yes, having a larger rez to store the nutrient solution and a pump and hose to deliver it to my plants, has made growing so so so much more enjoyable . It was quite a long learning curve with reservoir maintenance and in still learning more efficient ways, but yes, it helps soo much
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Is that a recirculating flood and drain system you have there? I run a system called hempy buckets. 5 gallon bucket filled with #4 chunky perlite with a 1/2" hole drilled in the bucket 3" up from the bottom. It just makes a small water table for the plants to drink off of for 2-4 days depending on plant size. I keep a 32 gallon trash can full of bubbling water that I keep on standby for watering treated with 4ML/gallon 35% H202. Keeps the water clean and sanitary for up to a week with no issues. I had people recommending chillers and all sorts of expensive solutions. All were unnecessary. 35% H202. Done. My res. could climb to 85 degrees (which would never happen), and nothing would be able to grow in there. I get a gallon from the grow store for $18.50. So far 1 gallon has lasted me 3 months and I still have half a gallon left. Some other growers use pool shock. I bought some off amazon for $4.50/lb. I might give it a shot when my H202 runs out. Cheaper.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Can you not get wifi plugs,simply turn pump off and on with your phone.Or em I missing something here?Heck even a switchable plug isnt too difficult to hard wire up.locate the switch in your room or even tape it to your wand.
 
Hydrowannabe

Hydrowannabe

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
Is that a recirculating flood and drain system you have there? I run a system called hempy buckets. 5 gallon bucket filled with #4 chunky perlite with a 1/2" hole drilled in the bucket 3" up from the bottom. It just makes a small water table for the plants to drink off of for 2-4 days depending on plant size. I keep a 32 gallon trash can full of bubbling water that I keep on standby for watering treated with 4ML/gallon 35% H202. Keeps the water clean and sanitary for up to a week with no issues. I had people recommending chillers and all sorts of expensive solutions. All were unnecessary. 35% H202. Done. My res. could climb to 85 degrees (which would never happen), and nothing would be able to grow in there. I get a gallon from the grow store for $18.50. So far 1 gallon has lasted me 3 months and I still have half a gallon left. Some other growers use pool shock. I bought some off amazon for $4.50/lb. I might give it a shot when my H202 runs out. Cheaper.
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damn, i wish i could find a gallon of 35% h2o2 for that cheap. I use the stuff too in my res to keep it clean. recently where i get it, they were almost out of stock so i had to go with their last 16 oz bottle and it was $20! That has me thinking about switching to that pool shock as well. and no, i grow in coco/perlite and do a dtw style. i heard hempy is a great way of growing. best of luck!
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
myke said:
Can you not get wifi plugs,simply turn pump off and on with your phone.Or em I missing something here?Heck even a switchable plug isnt too difficult to hard wire up.locate the switch in your room or even tape it to your wand.
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Wifi plug sounds pretty sweet actually, but I'd rather have a separate remote. For $15 on amazon it's a cheap and effective solution. I like your idea of a hard wired switch too. I'm just not that savvy with electrical wiring and want to do this as cost effective as possible. You gave me an idea though. I can attach the little key chain style remote to the wand in a convenient position allows me to have an on / off switch right on the wand handle that remotely turns the pump on and off. Simple, cheap, and effective.
 
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