Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Capturing Water from a spring

I have a large spring just outside of my pond. It runs about 16" wide year around. It is 15' below the top of the pond. I would like to know what my options are to pump that steady flow of spring water into the pond. Remember it has to be elevated up 15 foot high to reach the pond. I can run the water through the overflow pipe that generally isn't being used. Windmill? Solar? Artesian? I would have to run electricity around 600' to reach the area to run any kind of pump.

TF your gonna have to spend a few bucks on electric cable, but the benefits can be worth it to get adequate spring water.
I'm running power 300ft. down to the stream to power the submersible pump for winter water supply to the pond.
It's a 170 watt pump pushing water 120ft. up 12ft. in elevation to the pond and delivered 12 gpm. If you keep the run as short as possible to reduce friction you should get a decent flow with a 200 to 300 watt submersible pump.
Now you just have to figure how much your willing to spend to get the flow you want.


If you go with a submersible pump get a mag drive pump rated for continuous use, most fountain pumps are that type.

I appreciate the advice on the mag drive pump. I wonder how much money it would cost to run a 600' electric line and hook up a appropriate sized pump. Any thoughts?

You would probably want to use at least AWG 12 wire and that would probably cost min. $300., then a decent fountain pump add another $200.
Maybe some of the electricians on here can give you a better estimate on wire size and cost.

I have a pump like this, it worked great.
http://cgi.ebay.com/4200gph-Submersible-...=item255b2a97b7
Here's another one.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Cal-Pump-PWM3900-Mag...=item256227dbc9

Your options are this.....if this will be a permanent, then you'll want to bury the power. This means 600+ ft. of trenching, conduit, wire, conduit glue, yada, yada, yada...... May I suggest getting a few construction grade extension cords unless this is going to be a permanent power source? You will also want a GFI outlet, since water is involved.

Wouldn't 600' of construction grade extension cords heat up and be to light? I dont know, I'm just asking. I would be using the pump probably around 4 months a year.

Thanks Adirondack for the pump ideas. I like the second one, the best.

Not if it's 10 gauge. Look for the frog skin color of green. I own quite a few and they are worth every penny I paid for them. You're probably firing up a pump that uses less amps than a hairdryer. It'll be alright! LOL!

I have some extension cords that have twist loc ends, and the outside of the cables are between 5/8" and 3/4" thick. I think running buried 10 ga or even 8 ga. copper would be cheaper than buying 600' of those extension cords.

Well, you'd have to run conduit, buy the wire, trench 600 ft, buy another GFI outdoor outlet, a 4x4 post to mount the outlet on, tie into power somewhere, etc.......Just have to go to Home Depot or Lowe's and do the math. Hand-blading 600 ft. with a sharp-shooter would have me singing Black Spirituals in no time! LOL! Renting a trencher will cost at least $100.

As a compromise you could run extension cords thru 3/4" grey pvc conduit along the ground, at a $1.35 a piece it only costs about $80 bucks in pipe, and either leave it above ground for now or bury it shallow.
If your pump draws less than 300 watts I don't think there would be a problem.

Trenchers $85 here.. 12-3 wire about $275-$300.. Conduit is about $.25 a foot give or take.. 4x4 around $5, GFCI matters how fancy you get $5-$50, glue $5..


There you go, I'm getting ready to trench 500' of line to my aerator..

There ya go. No matter how you look at it, it's gonna cost you a pretty penny. One option will be labor intensive, costly, and take a lot of time, but will be a permanent solution. The other will be costly, too, plus there's the matter of having 600 ft. of extension cord laying on top of the ground and the hassle of rolling it up, moving it out of the way to mow, etc. Since a previous author has given you an estimate for 500 ft., I think you can figure $1 per foot by the time it's all over and done with.

What do you do to be able to pump water from the spring? I have several springs, a few that I think are approaching 10gpm. But there aren't any natural pools I could put a pump into. Do you build a pool? How?

Nathan put a big plastic tub or barrel below your spring and put your submersible pump into that, but make sure your pump doesn't exceed your spring rate, or put a float switch on your pump so it doesn't run dry.

Dig a hole about a foot larger than a 55 gallon drum. Get blue plastic drum drill a bunch of 1/2" holes in it 100's of holes.. Place barrel in hole put 3/4" clean rock all the way around it, there's your sump pit.. They also make similar sump kits at home depot..

I went to Menards today to talk to the fellow in electrical dept about running 600 foot of wire for a pump. He said I needed number 2 gauge wire for a total of 1800.00. Holy crap, 1800.00 plus fees for a divorce lawyer! That is some expensive wire.
He mentioned that a option would be a solar panel to run the pump. Hadnt considered that. Any thoughts?

2 GAUGE WIRE??? did he think you were gonna run an electric blast furnace.
Even if your running 600 ft your only gonna draw 200 to 300 watts, 12 gauge should be fine.
If you go solar plan on about 6 grand with panels ,batteries , and inverter, but call Washington first, they might give you some stimulus money.

How much electricity will the pump draw?

Looks like the pump stats are 180 watt, 110-120V 2.95A 60Hz

TF how long of a pipe would you need to reach from the spring to the pond?

When I go to Ebay, I see 500' of single strand 12 guage wire as low as 30.00. If I buy three of those and put it in conduit to give me my two wire and a ground, will that work?

Is that wire bare or insulated?

I would need roughly 20-25' of pipe to go from spring to pond

With that pump and using 1 1/2 inch flexible pipe you should get about 15 gpm.
That single strand wire should work if insulated and run thru 3/4 inch pvc, but get other opinions on that.