Handy Mobile Garden Water Pump

Handy Mobile Garden Water Pump Don Bogardus delivers rainwater to thirsty vegetables using his mobile waterer. The 2-wheel cart is equipped with an electric pump, a pressure tank, and a fail-safe pressure controller. It even includes a homemade one-way valve made from hose ends and a marble. “I use my watering system during our occasional dry spells,” explains Bogardus, a retired engineer and all-around handyman. “The pump hooks up to my rainwater collection system and fills the tank, which is a recycled fire extinguisher. An old well pump controller prevents overfilling.” The pump was a centrifugal pump he found in an uncle’s barn. The controller had been on Bogardus’ well until he installed a new well pump and a new controller. “I have the pressure on the controller set at around 45 to 50 psi,” notes Bogardus. “When it reaches that, the controller cycles water back through the system.” As extra protection for the pump, Bogardus installed a one-way valve between the pump and the controller. He used steel hose ends, welding the male connector to a pipe connector on the controller. After dropping a glass marble from a paint spray can into the male connector, he drilled holes near the top of the connector for a short piece of #12 copper wire. Once inserted, the copper wire prevents the marble from rising too high.  Bogardus then dressed the ends of the wire protruding from the connector threads with a triangular file. He applied joint compound and screwed the female hose end connector, attached to the hose, onto the pressure tank. “The marble rises as the water comes through,” he says. “If the pressure builds up higher in the tank, the marble is pushed back down and blocks incoming water. It may be overkill, but I wanted to be sure the system would work the first time.” When he wants to fill, Bogardus simply plugs the cord into an outlet near the rainwater collector. At 45 to 50 psi, he has plenty of pressure to water his garden beds. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Don Bogardus, 3375 Highway Route 20, Sloansville, N.Y. 12160 (ph 518-868-9309; don827522@gmail.com).

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