How To Compare Garden Pond Fountain Filter & Waterfall Pumps To Save Money

There are 5 important aspects to choosing the right pond pump on the basis of optimum performance at optimum cost. The factors are ...

1. Determine the optimum pump flow rate.

2. Optimize pump head (pressure) by removing any obstructions to flow and minimising actual height to which you want to pump water.

3. Purchase price of the selected pump.

4. Running cost of the selected pump which is mainly the cost of electric power.

5. Guarantee period and value of the pump guarantee (read the instructions).

We've already discussed the importance of flow and volume and pump head or pressure. To refresh your memory just click the links above.

Let's talk now of the cost implications and here is where many people make an expensive mistake. They buy a pond pump based not upon total cost (ie running cost over 3 years PLUS purchase price, but on price of the pump only. Pond keepers generally focus only on the price at which they have to buy the pump.

In this next section we will show you how to compare total cost and clarify why the running cost is so important. We will also show you how to use this information to save money by buying 2 pumps instead of 1 where you have a pond and a waterfall. 

Bradshaws sell 2 ranges of pond and fountain pumps called the Lotus Maximus range and the Hozelock Cascade range. In the table below I've selected 2 similar pumps based upon performance ...

Many buyers would tend to choose the Lotus Maximus pond, fountain or waterfall pump based only upon this information but lets now include 2 more columns.

You can now see that the best buy from an economics point of view is the Hozelock pump even though it costs quite a bit more. To really convince yourself add the buying price to the electrical power cost for 3 years and you will notice the more expensive pump to buy actually costs a lot less.

How To Work Out Running Cost For Any Pump ... or at least the electricity cost

1. Most pump manufacturers state the Wattage used by the pump on the box. If not they will certainly provide the amps used on the label attached to the pump body itself. If you do  not see Watts first convert Amps to Watts as follows ...

2. Amps x Volts = Watts so if your pump uses .2 Amps and the voltage is 220 volts then the Wattage for the pump is approximately 44 Watts. This also means the pump will consume 44 divided by 1000 units of electricity per hour (1 kWhr = 1 unit)

3. Here's the formula to work out costs per year

4. Pump runs "H" hours per day

5. Pump power = "W" Watts

6. Cost per unit of power ="C" in pence

7. Cost per year = "Y"

8. Then ... Y=[W/1000 x Hx365 x C/100] in Pounds per year

Obviously if you run the pump for less than 24 hours per day then the total cost will come down but as we've discussed a fish pond must have a bio filter and the water must be pumped through the filter 24 hours per day. Now here's a way to use this information to save money in any fish pond that has a waterfall. In addition it also a good option to make sure your pond always has a viable pond filter.

Site Map | Bradshaws store items

copyright © 2005