How To Use 2 Garden Pond Submersible Pond Pumps and Save Money

Two submersible pumps in a pond are almost always better than a single pond pump. This might sound strange but it is true.

My pond is outside my bedroom window. At night the waterfall "sound" would keep us awake. I switch this waterfall off every night and the fish do not suffer. They don't suffer because I have a much smaller pump feeding the bio filter continuously. This second bio filter pump is not big enough to feed the waterfall but is big enough to supply the oxygen needs of the bio pond filter.

Never switch off your pond pump for more than a few minutes if you keep fish. A pump in a fish pond serves a very important reason. Of course it circulates the water and it drives a fountain or a waterfall. It also adds character and movement to your system. However its most important job is to provide life-giving oxygen to bacteria in the fish pond bio filter. A pumps works like your heart ... the heart continuously replenishes your vital organs with freshly oxygenated blood. A pump in a pond does the same ... it supplies freshly oxygenated water to the bio filter. Here's why 2 pumps are better ....

Two pumps are better than one in a money saving sense too.

The major ongoing cost in a pond is electricity to run the pumps).

1. The basic formula for calculating your annual 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 USA if amps = 0.5 and voltage is 110 the watts = 55

• If unit cost is 8.3 cents then pump costs 55 x 8.76 x 8.3/100

• = $39.98 per year

2. 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 pond filter alive by using the second (spare) pump.

In one of my calculators *click the link to get them all free) you are shown how to calculate how much you will be able to save by using two pumps in your pond. In the example I use in the calculator $309 is saved over 3 years

Now take a look at the information below and see where you stand in the electricity cost stakes.

The cost of running a pump can vary a lot depending where you live .... refer to the cost of electricity by state in the table below for 2003. Running the same pump in New England states will cost about 50% more than running the same pump in one of the West North Central States. This means you need to be particularly careful on pump selection based upon where you live.

Compare power costs in USA.

Electricity costs by state in cents per kWatt-hour in 2003 ref DOE . U.S. average 8.74 cents

New England 11.66 cents Connecticut 11.35 Maine 12.88 Massachusetts 11.45 New Hampshire 11.99 Rhode Island 11.45 Vermont 12.79	Middle Atlantic 11.65 New Jersey 10.73 New York 14.30 Pennsylvania 9.63	East North Central 8.22 Illinois 8.50 Indiana 7.02 Michigan 8.51 Ohio 8.33 Wisconsin 8.61	Pacific 1 15.05 Alaska 12.75 Hawaii 16.59 Pacific 2 9.94 California 11.87 Oregon 7.06 Washington 6.24
West North Central 7.53 Iowa 8.60 Kansas 7.86 Minnesota 7.74 Missouri 7.07 Nebraska 6.92 North Dakota 6.67 South Dakota 7.62	South Atlantic 8.14 Delaware 8.64 D. Of Columbia 8.44 Florida 8.55 Georgia 7.85 Maryland 7.87 North Carolina 8.29 South Carolina 7.90 Virginia 7.88 West Virginia 6.26	East South Central 6.75 Alabama 7.29 Kentucky 5.80 Mississippi 7.68 Tennessee 6.49 West South Central 8.74 Arkansas 7.42 Louisiana 8.02 Oklahoma 7.67 Texas 9.24	Mountain 8.06 Arizona 8.48 Colorado 7.97 Idaho 6.40 Montana 7.63 Nevada 8.97 New Mexico 8.69 Utah 6.84 Wyoming 7.10

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