Electric water pump, for irrigation from a creek

Looks like my noisy whimsy cheap gasoline water pump went caput after just one year; I put in fresh nonoxigenated gasoline, changed oil and checked air filter, but it still barely moves any water and does not sound like it's working full speed. Didn't I know it's more expensive to buy cheap stuff?

Now that I got electricity I would much rather get an electric one; but I don't have a good idea what to look for.

Most of the pumps I see at stores are for clear water; I need to pump water from a muddy sandy creek overgrown with algae (because the water is rather stagnant;) but the water coming out of the hose looks to me relatively clear.
There is about 15 ft head, and I would attach 200 ft of 3/4 in garden hose to it.

My wife wants me to get Tsurumi pump.

Must be a trivial thing, yet I am lost. Any suggestions?

This issue came up once before--

https://permies.com/t/46211/wells-springs/Tractor-PTO-water-pump-light#368924

--and I'm still waiting to try out a tractor PTO-mounted solution:

https://www.surpluscenter.com/Water-Pumps/Centrifugal-Pumps/Shaft-Drive-Centrifugal-Pumps/HYPRO-9006C-CENTRIFUGAL-PUMP-2-1090.axd

It's shaping up to be a dry year, so I may have it up and running by mid-June.

That tsurumi pump looks like a great pump to remove dirty water from a sump pit. Are you hoping to run a sprinkler or just flood irrigate? I didn't see any pressure specifications for the pump which makes me wonder if it can handle a sprinkler, especially after a 200' run thru a relatively small hose. It sounds like it will easily move water for you but it may not be able to generate enough pressure to do sprinkling.

I vacillated between a 1 HP and 1.5HP irrigation pump from Home Depot for my garden. I'm pumping about a 10' head but I have to move the water 300'. I went with the bigger pump which suggests a 1.5" diameter pipe but I skimped and used 1". I got a Flotec but this pump looks to be similar (Wayne 1.5 HP).

I pump from a duckweed infested pond and can run up to 6 oscillating sprinklers at the same time. My biggest issue was that the duckweed got thru the pump just fine but plugged up the sprinkler holes. So I make an inlet filter for the pump from a wire mesh hoop and a burlap sack. Now the plugging is much better. Muck, algae and "soft" debris seem to not bother this pump at all. I can't speak to its ability to handle sand though.

Given the condition you say the water is in, you might want to look at a filter for the intake. Something like these designed for pulling lake water would likely work well http://www.lakewaterfilters.com/order/

The dirty scummy water might be a big part of why your pump crapped out. So to save your pump wear and tear filter your intake. The above linked product would also be easy to DIY if you are so inclined.

Thanks for replies. Lake filter looks like a useful simple improvement, even though the pump is supposed to handle some filth.
I have seen pumps like 1.5 HP-ish Flotec and Wayne, but I think they were marketed as shallow well pumps, which is a different situation; I was leaning towards one of them, but submersible looked more appealing. Tsurumi pump I referred to has 2 inch outlet; I will try to fill a basin of some sort and, when water settles, irrigate with a lesser pump using garden hose, so that the more powerful pump does the lifting, and the lesser one just moves water horizontally; or just use watering can; or I can attach a converter to 3/4 inch and attach a garden hose directly and see how well it works.

Speaking of 3/4 inch, let me praise thick 3/4 inch diameter garden hoses as opposed to more common 5/8.

Did not have previously much luck with sprinklers due to intermittent pressure (the old pump was, as I said, whimsy,) and that other pump was 7 HP as opposed to 0.5 in the new pump (though I have a suspicion that gas engine HPs do not translate directly to electric motor's.)

PTO driven pump is an interesting idea, but not very relevant to my situation; I don't have a tractor and I do have electricity nearby.

You might want to take a look a Walrus electric pumps. http://www.tank-depot.com/p-3554/walrus-pumps

Here is one of their promo videos

Devin Lavign wrote:You might want to take a look a Walrus electric pumps

Thanks!

Looks like an excellent pump but for a different purpose. "These pumps are designed for use with potable, clean non-potable water, or other non-corrosive liquids."

I am going with Tsurumi; sounds it's at least a decent option.

gravity flow rampump!!!

I am really surprised at the dearth of info on pumps on Permies. Aside from getting water with your property, how to move it seems to be the next big thing that we deal with in design. Not everyone will be so fortunate as to have a site on a slope from top to bottom with enough 'head' to make a RAM pump work. So what's left? Grid driven electric? Fuel driven electric? Solar driven electric? Hand power? Gravity?

What I have discovered is that a RAM pump is pretty cool, but takes at least 18 inches of head pressure to run, And then, very slowly. This means that a storage tank or basin will be required in addition to 'head' Or you will need to use a water wheel of some sort. In Boise there is a lifting wheel design on display that was used years ago before electricity. Nothing else?

Windmills, manual or electric? This means storage too.

Screws, Siphon, Sprials...the Rife River Pump (no successful copies by DIY yet. No testimony by Permies on these either! Still storage issue.

I guess this is one of those places where electricity driven pumps is the most AT?

Thoughts?

A 50 gpm pump may be overkill unless you have a fairly substantial creek and/or pond.  Obviously you do.

I just use a 3.2 gpm Flojet Quad with an inlet filter.  It's a diaphragm pump, so muddy water doesn't bother it.

If I decided to irrigate a large area, I might have to look for an upgrade.  But it suits my purposes, for now.

Benjamin Dees wrote:A 50 gpm pump may be overkill unless you have a fairly substantial creek and/or pond.

I went with Tsurumi, and now, a year later, can't be happier with it.

Yes, I do need 50 nominal gpm. Flow rate quickly degrades as you add head; even in a long horizontal hose, flow rate decreases substantially, and I often use 300, sometimes 400 feet of it.
For that reason, I decommissioned all my 5/8 hoses in favor of 3/4.
With 200 feet of the hose and 30 feet head, I fill 50-gallon barrel in 8 minutes.

When running water along any pipe, you cannot beat bigger diameters for better performance.
By running 2 inch pipe you run time will be less, saving energy and the available head will be greater.
I do not run anything 100M in less than 1 1/2 dis poly pipe.
For hoses, as Seva says 3/4 hoses are just fabulous.

I know this thread is old but I have the same issue as OP. I have purchased a Tsurumi pump but I do not want the pump to sit on the bottom of the creek and pump mud and crud. I would also like it to be easily removable and have some sort of filter to screen creek water.

I was thinking about putting the trash pump in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and many small holes cut all over the bucket, and suspending that from a 55 gallon plastic drum as a float. Maybe wrap the 5 gallon bucket in window screen?

Is there an easier/better way to do this?