Pumping station? What is it? Why I need it? I don’t need it! How much does it cost? Let’s not do it!
When we communicate with the client first time on the topic of the irrigation system, we always ask 2 questions:
- Will you have a lawn?
And if the answer is positive, then the following question follows:
- Is there a pumping station?
By pumping station we mean:
- Container with water.
- Pump.
- Automation.
If the Customer has a lawn, then the pumping station is necessary, as it creates the necessary pressure for the stable operation of the irrigation system. After all, in order for the sprinklers to rise and the nozzles to become able to make watering according to the specified characteristics, a working pressure of 3-3.5 Bar is required, and in municipal water supply systems such pressure is not present often. To be more accurate it may be present in spring and autumn, but in summer, when everyone is watering their lawns and water consumption increases, the pressure drops and at some moment the irrigation system will not be working correctly. That is why it is worth to install a pumping station.
In those cases when the Customer does not have a lawn and only drip irrigation system is installed, for which high water pressure is not required, the pumping station is not mandatory, except for providing a reserve water supply in case of a water outage.
At what places do pumping stations are located, according to irrigation system design? Why so? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of those locations?
+ are advantage
– are disadvantage
1, 2, 3, etc. are the numbers in order and it is a sequence in which we offer to customers the installation of pumping stations.
Pump is located in the house:
+ equipment is placed indoor and its service life is much longer, because it will not be affected by the rain and the sun
+ it is possible to connect irrigation system and house water system (in case of water outage, water reserve may be redirected to the house)
+ there are no necessity to spend money on additional technical space
+ aesthetics and order (many customers would like to have all pipes to run flat and all technical units to be in the same room, in general, in basements, mostly)
– (+) you may hear a pump sound (if you don’t buy a quiet pump or do high-quality sound isolation of the room), so that pump sound may prevent people from comfort living. But, if everything is done correctly, then this point may not be considered as a minus
– (+) the danger of flooding may exist: the pumping station is always a node that may flow (theoretically), and flood the room, respectively. But, if there are a drainage pit and a drainage pump installed in the room, then this point may not be considered as a disadvantage, too
– additional occupied place. There is not much space, as it is well known and the pumping station takes of additional about 5 square meters.
Pump is located in the technical room (which stands apart from the house)
+ equipment is placed indoor and its service life is much longer, because it will not be affected by the rain and the sun
– (+) you can’t connect the house to the irrigation system (but if you think everything through in advance, you can)
– (+) you need to spend money on additional technical premises (however, most often such premises are already in the project for shovels, bicycles, etc.)
+ aesthetics and order in the house and in the technical room
+ the sound of the pump cannot be heard by people (the pump makes noise safely in a separate room)
+ the danger of flooding is excluded (or rather it is, but the possibility of flooding expensive repairs and furniture in the house is excluded)
Pump is located in the basement technical room reserved for the pool
+ equipment is placed indoor and its service life is much longer, because it will not be affected by the rain and the sun
– (+) you can’t connect the house to the irrigation system (but if you think everything through in advance, you can)
– (+) you need to spend money on additional space in the technical room
+ aesthetics and order in the house and in the technical room
+ the sound of the pump cannot be heard by people (the pump makes noise safely in a separate room)
+ the danger of flooding is excluded (or rather it is, but the possibility of flooding expensive repairs and furniture in the house is excluded)
A pump is located on the street (in some corner places, between the house and the fence, definitely in those places, where no one walks and these places are not involved in any way)
– the equipment is not indoors and its service life is decreasing
– you can’t connect the house to the irrigation system
+ you do not need to spend money on additional technical space
– aesthetics and order in the house
– the sound of the pump can be heard by people (especially neighbors)
+ the danger of flooding in the house is excluded
+ does not have a high cost (because there are no requirements for aesthetics of construction)
Despite the large number of disadvantages, this is the most popular scheme for the location of a pumping station, since at the time of installation of the irrigation system, most often everything is already busy in the house and for many customers the need for a pumping station becomes a big surprise.
Pumping station is located underground
+ equipment is placed indoor and its service life is much longer, because it will not be affected by the rain and the sun
– you can’t connect the house to the irrigation system
– you need to spend money on additional technical space and dig a hole for the container (and this cannot be done, because some dug a hole, put the container and buried it, because the containers burst very often. It is necessary to pour out the site and build walls along the entire height of the container)
+ aesthetics and order in the house and in the technical room
+ the sound of the pump cannot be heard by people (the pump makes noise safely in a separate room)
+ the danger of flooding is excluded (or rather it is, but the possibility of flooding expensive repairs and furniture in the house is excluded)
– the most significant disadvantage of that variant is the cost of a properly equipped place for a container and a separate technical room for a pump, and sometimes the cost of all these measures is higher than the cost of the pump itself.
We recommend to contact landscape companies at the stage of designing the house and try to coordinate the work of the architect, construction superintendent and landscape company properly.