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I build an awesome skating rink for the kids. Now I have to flood it. I have the rink built 450 feet from the lake. The rink is 7 feet higher than the water. I have a 1.5-inch polyurethane rigid hose running from lake to rink (100% sure no air leak). I have that hose connected to a brand new, Flotec FP5172 1-1/2 HP Self-Priming High Capacity Pump running on 115V, and then from the pump a 15-foot hose to irrigate the rink. With the show about to start, I plug in the pump and it’s not siphoning water. The guys that sold the pump to me did it was ample strength.

Should I have the pump at the lake pushing the water uphill versus my current setup of pump beside rink and pulling it through 450 feet of hose? There’s barely any suction at the lake end when I pull out the hose from the lake.

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    $\begingroup$ Put the pump close to the lake - the losses trying to draw the water up are exceeding the pumps seals and it is stalling imho, So the pump should be able to push better as the seals will be flooded with water this time and not dry. $\endgroup$
    – Solar Mike
    Jan 12, 2019 at 23:46

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Yep, it would probably take half a day for that pump to fill a suction hose that long. Also, there is pressure loss once the flow rate picks up. This means the pump will cavitate before it reaches rated flow due to friction losses. So put the pump close to the water. 50' max on the suction, and even at 50', you should use a 2" diameter suction hose and reduce it at the pump. Now all you need is a 450' extension cord. Which won't work either because of the voltage loss in the wire. The cost in wire that would work would be several times the cost of the pump.

Take the pump back. Get a 240 volt model and run a 240 volt 12ga circuit down to the lake. Or buy a gas powered pump. Very handy.

There is some good news - you can take 400' of rigidwall back and replace it with flat hose that costs 1/4 as much. That should pay for the electrical mtls.

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There are pumps with a pressure priming tank attached that have enough suction to pump up to 18 feet.

pressure tank assembly

this is done routinely in Canada for farming. You can try to install an open basic tank with a check valve.

this is the info sheet link

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