Beware Sump Pumps but They Do Have An Important Use

The picture is of a typical sump pump. This one shown is made by Hozelock UK and is one of the Prima pump range. Most sump pumps have a similar shape and this is a good clue as to whether you are buying a sump pump or not. The average sump pump is upright and the suction is right on the base of the pump (see slots at bottom of the pump in the picture) ... the reason is that this kind of pump is required to empty a sump or similar basement type room. In many koi ponds a sump pump is used periodically to empty a dirty water chamber.

Ac sump pump is a wonderful type of pump for emptying ponds for that annual clean out. They are powerful and pump high flow rates ... and herein is one of the big disadvantages ... they cost a lot of money to run continuously because they use a lot of electricity.

Sump Pumps Like the Prima XL Series are Available to Run on Automatic

Sump pumps as explained are useful to empty any type of constrained water-collecting area If you take the example of a waste water sump that only fills periodically then a sump pump with a float switch would be able to start up when the sump reached a high level, pump the water out until a much lower level was reached and then switch off. The float and automatic on/off switch of the Hozelock Prima XL pump series allows this operation to be completed automatically without your need to go and start, wait and then switch off the pump.

Sump pumps are often used to power large waterfalls and pond filter systems. If you have a large waterfall or stream cascading into the pond the consider the Prima series. However check your waterfall design and flow rate requirements first.

Pond Keeping Units

Now we've started to talk litres you might find this table below useful. It helps to translate one set of units to another quite easily.

Example ... 1 cu.m per minute is the same as 1,000 litres per minute or 35.32 cu.ft per min or 220 imperial gallons per minute.

I have created 12 different pond calculators and these are available free at my other site Perfect Pond Keeping . These calculators allow you to calculate almost anything to do with a pond. One allows you to calculate easily the volume of any shaped pond. You might find this calculator useful in view of the above discussion. Another allows you to accurately specify any pond pump for any situation even taking pipe friction losses into account. I would suggest you get these Excel calculators and play around with them. They'll definitely save you money.

Factors to be aware of with all pumps. This is a good page to read before you buy any pump.