Water tank/fire skid —— tree watering

evo said:
There wouldn’t be chemicals in the tank ever, so no residue.
Spray would be for manual irrigation to move water where it can’t reach.
Incidental use would be for fire. Not forest fire as much as grass fires or fire within defensible spaces..
likely it would never be used for the fire situation but would settle my mind as I live on the deadend of a gravel road that would be very difficult to get a fire truck into. About half a mile from me there was two structure fires (two buildings on same property) total loss due to response time.
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How do you want to apply/output water? A sprinkler? Hand held sprayer? I struggle with too much flow for modest irrigation on the big pump I have, so I have to have a different setup for anything less than a whole row of trees, and it's only 10 GPM
 
evo said:
For the filling question.
Short term it would be a garden hose to fill the tank. Longer term I aim to have at least 1-2000 gallons of rainwater catchment.
I don’t think I’d ever fill from a pond or stream.
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Sounds like whatever you use for output will satisfy your needs for filling. Just gotta plumb it to be easy to change connections.
 
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I don't know the answer to your pump question, but since you already have the tank I would test your mini/trailer combo on your typical terrain that you will need it. A full tank will be quite heavy, a half full tank will change its center of gravity often and may be more difficult to maneuver than a full tank.


I'll also add that it's pretty easy to build a float valve to control your water level in the tank. I made one from a toilet tank float for a swimming pool that often was filled up past full. This would allow you to walk away while your tank fills instead of having to monitor it and not having to deal with overflow.
 
ATH said:
Can you protect the space with the garden hose and rain barrels (with a pump)? Now you just need it for watering and that's a much cheaper pump.
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I’m hoping to either have one large tank or do Culvert on end and sealed at each corner of the house.
Like I said hoping this could pick up 3 roles.
A self contained unit on wheels, for tree establishment/irrigation onsite and off site

As a unit for fire watch on jobs (if needed or elected)

Other uses I can think of is for fire control within the 2 acres of developed area of my 5 acres. And maybe watering the gravel road as folks complain about dust every summer. (Mostly to cycle water though it between cleanings).
 
Jehinten said:
I don't know the answer to your pump question, but since you already have the tank I would test your mini/trailer combo on your typical terrain that you will need it. A full tank will be quite heavy, a half full tank will change its center of gravity often and may be more difficult to maneuver than a full tank.


I'll also add that it's pretty easy to build a float valve to control your water level in the tank. I made one from a toilet tank float for a swimming pool that often was filled up past full. This would allow you to walk away while your tank fills instead of having to monitor it and not having to deal with overflow.
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My mini will push my 5k chipper very well on compact flatish dirt. Pushes my 2500 lb chipper through rough terrain beautifully.
300 gal is right at 2500lbs so with trailer and pump somewhere around 3-3.5k lbs.
Part of the reason it will likely be living on its own trailer vs on the pickup bed.
Totally hear ya with the slosh factor.
 
Honestly that's 2-3 different (relatively cheap) pumps of one really expensive pump.

Watering the gravel can also be gravity fed - just plumb some 3/4" PVC with holes in it.
 
ATH said:
But you won't spray really high or far. Doesn't make it a bad pump - just depends on expectations.
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Yeah that is why I was asking.. when I went down this rabbit hole it came back that a min start for spraying was 100-150 psi
 
The issue is two fold. Volume and Pressure. You can spray at 60 psi if you don't mind low volume. For watering almost anything, you want low pressure for minimum soil disturbance, and only as much volume as the soil can handle. Too much flow and it will just run away from the site. Time is your only friend when drainage is slow.

Fire fighting requires high pressure and volume. You just buy the biggest shit you can afford for that. In this case max flow @125+ psi.
 
Dialing these things in can involve enough variables that it is difficult to give a generic recomendation. It sounds like you may need to just start with something modest and see if you need more of one thing or another. Hose/pipe diameter caps flowrates, so for pressure look to a setup with the smallest diameter hose that will flow the volume you need and then find a pump with enough pressure at that size.
 
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Matias said:
The issue is two fold. Volume and Pressure. You can spray at 60 psi if ypu don't mind low volume. For watering almost anything, ypu want low pressure for minimum soil disturbance, and only as much volume as the soil can handle. Too much flow and it will just run away from the site. Time is your only friend when drainage is slow.

Fire fighting requires high pressure and volume. You just buy the biggest shit you can afford for that. In this case max flow @125+ psi.
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Or with the two bungs I can just gravity off the 3/4 and use the pump filling the tank, or spraying at a greater distance/area.
I’m less concerned with gpm and volume as like you said without a pump at a 2” outlet fitting it’s a matter of minutes to drain the 300 gal. That Honda I linked would drain the tank in 3 minutes!
I’d be happy with 50 gal per min and a higher psi of around 100. If I recall that should shoot the water upto 75’ which is about just right for my most extreme use.

That is if I’m understanding all this right…
 
evo said:
Or with the two bungs I can just gravity off the 3/4 and use the pump filling the tank, or spraying at a greater distance/area.
I’m less concerned with gpm and volume as like you said without a pump at a 2” outlet fitting it’s a matter of minutes to drain the 300 gal. That Honda I linked would drain the tank in 3 minutes!
I’d be happy with 50 gal per min and a higher psi of around 100. If I recall that should shoot the water upto 75’ which is about just right for my most extreme use.

That is if I’m understanding all this right…
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Man, that is a pretty tall order. As previously warned, not a modest pump.
 
flushcut said:
How about building a water pump and running it off of your mini for the spray rig?
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This might be the path to a better price to a working solution, but I would wanna have the use of my mini whilst working. Can one easily make a connection to the hydraulics to run a separate tool like this hypothetical rig on a trailer?
 
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