How to Choose Your Pond Pump ... Save Money Too

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Most retailers fail to help customers choose the right pond pump that will save them the most money and reduce the pond maintenance problems. Learn how to make the right choice by following these simple steps. Before we provide the rules remember every pond pump runs on electricity unless it is one of the modern solar pond pumps. This means you must certainly focus on the running cost. In fact the running cost of a pump for most ponds is much higher than the purchase price over a period of 2 years.

Never buy a pond pump with a foam strainer in the suction ... this will increase maintenance to an unbearable amount especially in summer because it clogs rapidly with slimy algae. These pumps tend to have weak impellers and if the impellor breaks then your fish go without oxygen.

If you pond has a waterfall measure the overflow width. To determine how much water the pump must generate multiply this width as follows ...

If width is in inches then multiply by 50 gallons per hour per inch. If width is in cm multiply by 100 litres per hour per cm of width. Here's an example ... your waterfall is 25 cms wide (ie 10 inches wide). In this case you will need a pond pump that will deliver 500 gallons per hour or 2500 litres per hour. This is the absolute minimum you will need for an effective waterfall. You may choose to increase the flow by up to 100% for a more impressive waterfall..

Be careful with the next step ... we've just worked out the volume the pump must deliver at the height of the waterfall. In other words the pump must have enough power to lift this water all the way up to the waterfall inlet. For example if the waterfall is 3 feet (almost 1 metre) above the surface of the pond water then you would  say to the retailer ... "I need a pond and waterfall pump that will deliver 500 gallons per hour or 2,500 litres per hour up to a height of 3 feet or 1 metre."

Now you know how to specify the pump consider the running cost. To work this out check the pump box for the Watts consumed then do the following ...

Multiply Watts by 8.76 and then multiply the answer by the cost of electricity per kWhr in your area (about 10 pence in UK and 12 cents in USA). As an example lets say the above pump consumes 60 Watts then running cost per year is as follows ...

UK annual running  8.76 x 0.1 x 60 = 52.56 per year (ie every year)

USA annual running  8.76 x 0.12 x 60 = $ 63.07 per year (ie every year)

Your pump should have a guarantee of not less than 2 years and most good pump have a 3 year guarantee.

The best pumps to buy are made by Oase, Hozelock, and Fish Mate