Submersible Pond Pumps
Save Money By Using Submersible Pond Pumps & Run Them At The Same Time.
Two submersible pond pumps in a pond are almost always better than a single pond pump. This might sound strange but it is true as I will explain. Let’s take my own waterfall situation…
My pond is outside my bedroom and I have a waterfall. At night the waterfall “noise” is too much. I switch this waterfall pump off every night and the fish do not suffer. They do not suffer because I have a much smaller pump feeding the pond filter continuously 24/7. This second small pond pump is not big enough to feed the waterfall but is big enough to supply the oxygen needs of the pond filter and that’s vital.
You save money because the pump that uses most electric power is switched off for most of the time. If you only had one pond pump then because it needs to run 24/7 the electric energy being consumed is that of the larger pump.
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A Pond pump must run 24/7, whether they are submersible pond pumps, or any other kind of pump. The major ongoing cost in a pond is electricity to run the pumps…
The basic formula for calculating your annual electric pump running cost starting with amps is as follows:
Voltage x Amps x 24 divided by 1,000 gives kilowatt-hrs (units) of electricity consumed every day.
Amps are always shown on the pump. Voltage is your mains voltage normally 110, 220, or 240.
You can find unit cost per kilowatt hour on your electricity bill or account.
Multiply the above answer by this unit cost and then by 365 to get annual cost.
Here’s an example
amps x voltage = watts
In USA voltage is 110, in most other countries it is 220 or 240 volts.
So in South Africa if amps = 0.5 and voltage is 110 the watts = 55
If unit cost is 8.3 cents then electric pump costs 55 x 8.76 x 8.3/100
= Approximately R350 per year.
Of course costs have risen significantly over the years.
The basic formula for calculating your annual cost starting with watts is as follows
Look on the pump box and if you can find watts consumed multiply this by 8.76 and you will get units (kWhrs) of electricity consumed every year by your pump.
Go to your electricity bill find cost per unit and you can work out running cost of the pump.
Many pumps consume more than 400 watts and are totally unnecessary for the pond’s situation in by far the majority of cases.
This little equation can save you lots of money when you are about to select a pump. The running cost is often far more important than the purchasing cost. To buy two pumps, if selected correctly, is often no more expensive than buying a single larger pump. However being able to switch off the waterfall pump (normally the bigger of the two pumps) can save an enormous amount of money over the lifetime of the pond.
The fish do not mind the waterfall being switched off most of the time and if you are at work you cannot enjoy the sights and sounds of the waterfall – so why waste electricity. Furthermore if one pump does break down you can keep your biofilter alive by using the second (spare) pump.