Garden Pond Pumps

You do not have to have a garden pond pump for a pond you may want it to look "natural" but what if you do want a garden pond pump, what benefit will it bring?

If you want to keep fish, the water is a vital factor and it must be able to support life, oxygen enriched water is the key to supporting pond life. Moving water causes the water to break into droplets which have a large surface area and can pick up more oxygen! Garden pond pumps are usually used to move water, either to force the water to a higher level so that it returns naturally to its original level over a pond waterfall or it

can be ejected into the air through a fountain nozzle. Apart from the important oxygenating effect, the movement of the water is pleasing to the eye and ear, especially on a hot sunny day / balmy summer evening when it has a cooling effect. Garden pond pumps are really the "heart" of any pond.

    Garden pond pumps can come in a variety of sizes and 2 types, the submersible pump and the surface pump.

    The size of the garden pond pump you choose depends on what you want it to do. If it is just for a pond fountain then most garden pond pumps come with suitable attachments. If it is to run a filter and fountain then it needs to be bigger.

    The quantity of water in the pond dictates this. A small pond pump will provide a gentle flow of water suitable for a small pond but a bigger pond pump will need a larger pool to move the water without causing too much turbulence in the pool! When choosing keep in mind the scale of the garden – a small spray would look pathetic in a lake and a giant geyser would look out of place in a small town garden. It is better to have a bigger than required garden pond pump as this can be turned down where as a small garden pond pump can not be turned up.

    The submersible pond pump operates under the water. It contains a filter system to prevent pond life and debris from being sucked into the moving parts. The water is forced along a pipe to the outlet. Being under water it is completely electrically sealed. The water keeps the pond pump cool and it is relatively silent whilst in action.

    The surface pump is normally much larger and more powerful, and needs to be housed separately. It is much noisier and also usually need to be primed. This type of pond pump is more suited to larger pools with spectacular water displays and you need to bear in mind that they can be detrimental to ornamental fish in the pool!

    The type of garden pond pumps is quite large, but here are a few points to be considered when you decide to buy a garden pond pump. If its your aim to run both a filter and a fountain you must work out whether or not the pond pump will be powerful enough to supply the amounts of water to support both of them adequately, if not your garden pond fountain will look slightly pathetic. In this scenario many people use two garden pond pumps, one for the filter and one for a fountain. This is quite a good idea because when the filter becomes ever so slightly clogged up, the amount of water pressure it can for through a fountain will diminish. There is also the potential noise problem with a powerful fountain or waterfall, it could possibly disturb you and other people in your neighborhood, so a dual garden pond pump setup will enable you to switch on off either manually or automated on an electric timer. A waterfall is a classic example of the planning and investigation require before considering what garden pond pump to purchase as you will need to calculate the amount of water required to make the waterfall look nice. You need to consider the overall price of buying the pump and much more important, the running cost over several years, many times it will probably work out considerably cheaper in buying a more powerful pump and therefore more expensive as once installed it will have the power to pump the water without running flat out of the time. These are all factors to consider BEFORE purchasing your pump!

    One big question is whether to use mains power or low voltage? Low voltage garden pond pumps obviously still need mains power, but mains power is transformed into low voltage making the mix of water and electricity much safer. The transformer unit will have to be housed in a dry, safe location typically away from the garden pond and the low voltage cables will be installed under the surface of your garden normally at a consider depth to avoid accidental damaged when gardening. Generally speaking mains garden pond pumps are more powerful and required if you want to run a large fountain or waterfall as there flow rate is normally superior to a low voltage pump. With any electrical appliance used in the garden, please consider safety and always protect yourself by installing a Residual Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB) or residual-current device (RCD). These are known as ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) in the US and Canada.

Copyright © 2010 Complete Garden Fish Pond Guide      Site Map