Pond Pump Selection

Selecting the correct type and size of pump for your pond is one of the most difficult and important decisions you will have to make during the construction of your pond. POND PUMP selection can be a nightmare with so many different makes and models available. This article will hopefully make selecting the right one for you a little bit less confusing. There are several different styles of pumps available and each one has been specifically designed for a particular task. The different types of pumps include amongst others fountain pumps, solids handling pumps, sump pumps and feature pumps. 

Fountain pumps, as the name suggests, have been designed to do one major task and that is to power a fountainhead, although almost all will include fittings to allow the pump to be used for other purposes at the same time. The main feature of any fountain pump that separates it from others talked about here is that it will have some form of pre-filter to remove even the finest pieces of dirt from the water before it enters the motor itself. The reason for this pre-filtration of the water before it goes through the motor is to prevent solids being pumped into the rose of the fountainhead and blocking it leading to it requiring frequent cleaning. The pre-filtration historically came in the form of a small piece of foam housed in the front of the pump housing. Pre-filter sponges proved to require frequent maintenance which became worse as the foam degraded with age and the pond collected more debris. Most modern fountain pumps such as Laguna’s Free Flo or Hozelock’s Cascade ranges are now foam-free. This has been accomplished by reducing the hole size on the pump cage so that they are smaller than the holes on the fountain-head itself. This advance has made cleaning a lot easier. Instead of having to dismantle the pumps cage in order to clean the foam, it is often now sufficient to simply shake the pump in the pond or a bucket of water removing the majority of the debris from the cage easily. Laguna’s Free Flo pump also includes its own backwash cleaning mechanism which is powered by a hosepipe, meaning that the pump only rarely needs to be removed from the pond for maintenance. This has also lead to shops not having to stock the huge array of spare foams that have previously been essential to anyone with a fountain pump. Fountain pumps generally come with three fountain heads although it will vary between models. The most common are a two-tier spray, three-tier spray and bell fountain heads. Fountain pumps can also be used for other purposes but a compromise will always be made. For instance, using a fountain pump to power a waterfall will lead to the cage blocking up faster as the increased water flow required will also draw with it more debris. We strongly advise against using a fountain pump to pump water to a filtration system as the large majority of the dirt will actually be trapped on the pump cage or foam and only a small proportion will actually pass through the pump into the filter box. Fountain pumps can be used quite successfully to power a second small water feature at the same time such as a spitter, spilling jug or similar.

Solids handling pumps have been designed to be low maintenance and above all move dirty water from the pond to a filtration system. The obvious difference between a solid handling pump and a fountain pump is the size of the holes in the pump cage. The hole sizes vary between makes and models with the smaller Hozelock Titan’s takings between 4-6mm pieces of debris and the larger sizes of Oase’s Aquamax taking solids up to 10mm across without any problems. The design of the impellor is the major difference between a fountain and solids handling pump that enables them to move larger pieces of debris through the motor. Frequently the motor itself is the same between the different models of the same make i.e. Hozelock’s Titan and Cascade or Laguna’s Max Flo and Free Flo. The downside of the style of impellor is the loss of pumping efficiency, especially when pumping uphill or a long way. This is due to the larger void space between the spinning impellor and the impellor housing wall which is there to allow the debris to go through the motor without getting stuck or causing damage to the impellor. This loss of pumping efficiency is called head loss when pumping uphill, and friction loss when pumping a long way. Friction loss can be minimized by utilizing the largest pipe size that the pump can take. It is important when selecting your pump that you take into account any loss of pressure caused through head loss and, on longer runs of pipe, friction loss as well. Most models of pumps will have a chart for head loss on the side of the box. As unsuitable as fountain pumps are to move water to a filter box, so solids handling pumps are equally unsuitable to run a fountain because the fountain rose will quickly become blocked. However, they do make excellent pumps for powering waterfalls due to their low maintenance.

Sump pumps are also solid handling pumps but the major difference from those already mentioned is that they run at much higher pressures. This makes the ideal for pumping up larger heads, for instance Hozelock’s Prima XL 15000 will lift water to a height of 9.6metres whereas the comparable Titan 15000 will only lift to 4.2metres. This is achieved at the sacrifice of running cost. Comparing the Prima to the Titan they use 690watts and 255watts respectively. This big difference in power consumption means that the sump pump is best used only in situations that other solids handling pumps cannot be, such as retrieving from a well or pumping to the highest waterfalls. Sump pumps should also not be used with pressurized filtration (such as Hozelock’s Bioforce, Laguna’s pressure flo and Oase’s Filtoclear) as the high running pressure can shorten the life of seals and foams on the filter. Feature PumpsFeature pumps have been designed to produce the maximum amount of flow from the smallest pump possible so that they can fit into the small reservoirs of re-circulating water features. The point at which they draw water into the motor is positioned very low on the pump so that they can run in very shallow water. Feature pumps like the Oase Neptune are not supplied with fountain heads as due to their miniature size they have limited prefiltration capability and if put in a dirty environment would block easily. Equally they are unsuitable for pumping to a filter box as, due to their high efficiency, they are incapable of pumping large solids.

Pump manufacturers have invested many hours of research and development producing various different models of pump for different situations. We recommend that you invest in the correct type of pump for each job you wish the pump to do to get the best out of your pond. Selecting a solid handling pump to match your filters flow requirements should, if correctly sized to match your pond, lead to a clean, clear pond. Using a separate fountain pump to run your fountain in your now clean pond will mean that maintenance is minimized. Reliability is also worth considering when choosing a pump with guarantees varying from 2 to 5 years. Speaking to one of our trained team members will ensure that you get the correct advice and take home the right pump for your pond and pocket.