We are told that there was a pumphouse on this property once upon a time, but that it got washed away in a flood a few years back. Moss next door had a pumphouse, but it was a concrete and brick affair, so it did not wash away, but he did not have much call to use it. The drought of 2007-2008 convinced us to look at a replacement.
The previous owner of this place had more than neglected the irrigation system that supplied the stock tanks from the tank fed from rainwater off the workshop roof... he tore much of it out. We won't go there.
Here is the system diagram for the irrigation plant that we have
installed.
The lower pump pulls water 60 metres up to the workshop, a rise
(head) of 17 metres. Thank goodness for Chinese-made pumps!
Jonathan (with a little help from his friends) installed a
power line down to the creek to power the pump. A 20mm line
comes back up to bring up water when the rain is insufficient.
The original pump must have been a doozy, the distribution box
in the workshop has 3-phase, 20A HRC-fused lines that go nowhere,
awaiting the replacement. We settled for 1 horsepower.
It works! The tap at left had not seen water for many years, but works
well now.
The lower pump will fill the 5000-litre storage tank in about 3 hours.
The main paddock sprinkler would take about 7 hours to empty it.
This is a panorama of Jonathan and Tony working on the pump station
in the middle paddock near the creek.
Here is Jonathan laying the inlet hose into the creek, just
at the weir regulating the depth of water in the duck pond.
This is Kay surveying her good work in the vegetable patch
sprinkler system in front of the house.
Here is the hub, showing the valves, pipes and tank, outside the workshop.