pump for emptying duck pool

[linmar]

Hi, I was all set to buy a simple hand pump from my hardware or spa dealer but then wondered how it would work with the nasty stuff suspended in the duck water.
Wouldn't a regular pump get stopped up by debris?

recommendations please.



owner of 10 messy dux

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Some people just use a wide hose and siphon the dirty water out, if there is a place where you can get the hose lower than the pond. I suppose another option is a lift pump that can be used for sewage. Hopefully duck owners weill have some other ideas.

 

[70%cocoa]

I'd recommend a pump that is designed to handle large particles. I have an electric sump pump that does soft particles up to about an inch and a half. The pump itself has never been blocked but there is a point further along the outlet pipe that I've added that does get blocked where it turns a 90 degree angle. At that point the pipe is 19mm in diameter.

So either get something that will handle large bits (straw, grit, feathers) and/or that you can take apart to clean and with outlet hoses of as large a diameter as possible.

 

[Beekissed]

Bilge pump?

 

[70%cocoa]

I think that a lot of bilge pumps are not designed to handle large particles and would be clogged by feathers. You need big intake gaps at the bottom of the pump. A bilge pump designed for dirty water might be ok though. Otherwise something labelled as a sump pump or dirty water pump would work - you just need to check the size of the particles they are designed to handle.