4 bta 3.9 Irrigation System

[BIGNASTY]

Im looking to build a field irrigation system on a trailer (portable) so I can move it around to different section's of our property. As to be able to water pasture's.



I have a 4BTA 3. 9 cummins motor and looking at the spec's on the one's listed below that should power it.





I have called different places about pump's but all want to come out and sell some big a** system for more than we care to spend. And hence they will not give any details on the pump type and how it is connected to the motor. We are looking at just tossing in a hose in a creek that run's all year long and starting the motor. Running out to sprinkler heads in the felid. Not anything big we have split up 35 acres in to 7/ 5acre lots. 1 for house and outbuildings the other 6 for pastures. Not all pastures are a full 5 acres because of trees but you kind of get the drift.



Any help for this project will be appreciated. This is kind of what I would like to build.

Mid-Atlantic Irrigation | Quality Agricultural Irrigation Products | 888-442-0240





Thanks BIG

 

[Alan Reagan]

I had a neighbor on Lake Blackshear (Georgia) that had an old 6BT and he did what you are wanting to do. The intake was a six in hose with a strainer on the end. He would drop it in the lake and let it pump.



The main consideration is head pressure for the pump. In other words, if you are pumping uphill, you have to take into consideration the head you will not get enough pressure for sprinkler irrigation and the pump will cavitate and wear out the impellar blades. If you are on relatively flat land then the head will be determined by the distance pumped and restriction on the sprinkler end.



Also, the engine needs to be a continuous duty engine built to run at one speed for long periods. Generators and pumps use continuous duty engines.

 

[BIGNASTY]

We live in a valley so it's actually pretty flat except where we head into the mountains at the back of the property. And the stream flows from the base of the hills. I will have to get the distance to water it's not that far (but there again I dont know how far is far). Our property is rectangle not square so that would help some. The stream flows about the same distance from the pasturers all along it's boundary.

 

[Alan Reagan]

Check out this site:



http://itc.tamu.edu/documents/extensionpubs/B-6011.pdf



Maybe this will help with your pump decision or sizing.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Check out this site:



http://itc.tamu.edu/documents/extensionpubs/B-6011.pdf



Maybe this will help with your pump decision or sizing.

Made copies of this have to do some serious thinking it already hurt's thanks for the info. And I thought it would be just hook a pump to a motor and turn it on and let the good times flow. :-laf I called the state Ag Department they gave me phone number to local agent for this kind of thing.

 

[Alan Reagan]

If only it were that easy. Get the agent to help with the calculations and buy the right pump based on the engine HP. Doing the upfront work will save you a lot of real headaches and money down the road.



I had an unsized pump that was pushing 800 feet with 30 foot elevation. After the pump fried, I did the calculations and got the right pump/motor combination. 10 years later, still working great. The first one lasted a year and the installer would not make it good.

 

[JFought]

unless the pressurized distance is really far (ie 600-800 ft)
the suction needs to always be larger than the intake.
(depends on the height above water and distance to pump (suction side))

pressure loss on the out put of the pump is minal per 100ft
when compared to the same pressure looss on the suction side.

feel free to pm me

 

[BIGNASTY]

unless the pressurized distance is really far (ie 600-800 ft)

the suction needs to always be larger than the intake.

(depends on the height above water and distance to pump (suction side))



pressure loss on the out put of the pump is minal per 100ft

when compared to the same pressure looss on the suction side.



feel free to pm me

Thanks I will do that. I have a county AG. dept. guy coming out next Monday to look it over. But I like the idea of many different thought's. Im in the process of getting all the Measurements together so to have all data before making a decision. Thanks again





BIGNASTY

 

[Alan Reagan]

Good luck with it. A little work on the front end with the calculations will go a long way toward getting the right system and it will probably save a lot of money in the long run.

 

[JFought]

if you need pvc cal. or charts i have accurate and fast charts.
I am an irrigator, and use the charts frequently.
includes cooper, steel and some poly

these charts are pretty hard to find on the web. i have looked before
all charts have the pressure loss per 100ft per the current amount of gpm going through the pipe. (very easy to see and understand)

I also hook up/install allot of pumps, just not quite that big.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Im still making some measurements kind of slow had 3 murders and 1 chicken knapping this AM. (something got in the chicken house) And bad knee with nasty weather coming in. Im a little slow for a few. I was wondering what kind of pipe to use. When in So Calif there was a company called Rain For Rent. They had what looked to be aluminum in pretty good sized lethes. with impulse heads on top of risers that were maybe 2 to 3 ft high. That way they could disassemble and move to another spot. I was kind of thinking the same thing. It's not like the summers in the MT mountains are that hot but there are periods of no rain and It would be nice to move it around without a major ordeal. Thanks for any help





BIGNASTY

 

[CBari]

I am going to throw some more out there for you to think about. We irrigate a couple of hay fields that we have precession leveled they are 40 ac fields with a 2/10 fall. We use 50 horse 3 cyc JD tractor with an 8in relift then go to 10 or 12 inch poly pipe that runs the length of the field and is tied off on the other end. We poke 1in holes in the poly pipe about every 2-3ft. It takes us about 24hrs to put about 2inches of water on the field we then pull gates up on low end and dump excess back into the creek. Total lift is than 10ft. We get about 2 years out of our poly pipe.



pm if you have questions

 

[BIGNASTY]

Irrigation

We had the Dept. of Ag come out before we went to CA . We put the question to him and he said that with the area that we live in that the normal rain fall would be enough IF WE USED THE CORRECT PLANTING MIX. He gave us several that would be good for what we want to do. And that is not to grow it commercially but to just turn our stock out and let them be just what they are grazers. I think that with the fields and the regular feed that they will be allot happier than just feeding in the barn. This is the feed that he suggested if you know of any others let us know. Thanks for all the help and thoughts

BIG



LA Hearne Company : Quality Seeds Since 1938

 

[JFought]

there is poly piep that would last 20 plus years!
i have used some.
the oilfield guys use it to move water the roll it up and off to the next location.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

BigNasty,



Are you positive that you have water rights to the creek?



This can/has been a heated topic in many parts of the US.



Jason

 

[BIGNASTY]

;

Ya I do! but at night when ya throw in the hose who's to say. :-laf I have decided to give what the Ag Dept. said and try (the above) they have shown that the rain in our area has been enough to plant with success. So if nothing else I can go to the pump idea. Have talked to others in the area and that they have had good pastures with no additional water other than rain. And they have far more land and cattle than we.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Good to hear.



It never bothered me too much.



Only time it becomes a problem when people up stream get a little greedy. Like the ones trying to fill gigantic private ponds during ther summer peak.

 

[BIGNASTY]

We have the right to irrigate the fields and set up stock watering tanks. I dont plan on starting some kind of cattle ranch or anything I just was wanting to let the stock we do have roam and graze. Put a few head of cattle on the land. And in a few weeks not even that really we will have 2 new family members to deal with. They are some pretty tough little dude's. The wifes Christmas present!!!! will need food and water so the pastures will supplement the feed bill. I'm thankful that we wont have to build shelter for them they are built to handle the cold. The stream is pretty big so I dont think that up stream will be a problem it starts on my next door neighbors property from the mountains at the back of his land and out of the National Forest and I know that my FIL isn't going to use that much. With the amount of snow that we get water is not a problem.

 

[PKnight]

The suction lift is the big horse power consumer and volume limiter. Keet it as low as possible. PK

 

[BIGNASTY]

;

This is another alternative that has come up with a stock water tank below. They also hook up a generator to run a tank water heater so the stock can get to the water ice free. One of our Nephews said it's no big deal to drill for water its not that deep. He did our house water well. We almost always have a breeze