| Sounds like a farm girl to me. Most people have to call somebody to deal with crap caught in an impellor. The process is the same for the out of pond pumps too but they have to be worked at the pond unless you remove both the lines.True about built for koi equipment. If you can find similar pumps made for other aquatic or industrial use it will probably be cheaper. Any time they can sell to a niche community, the prices go up for the same item. Aqua-Flo has a pump that works as well as the hobby pumps we use and may be cheaper if you can find it at their non-koi distributers. You might look around at other industrial manufacturers. I found air pumps identical to hobby air pumps under the Thomas line (Thomas is a large industrial supplier). Turned out they were made by the same manufacturer as ours but with a different cover. I even replaced a set of diaphragms in a Sequence pump with Thomas parts and saved over $20.00 out of 78.00.Now about 220v & power losses.The heat loss from a pump is proportional to the power lost. When you double the voltage and halve the current (amps) you have no more or less loss than before. The formula for power is essentially Voltage times Amps.So you get no savings switching to 220 volts unless you have a heavy load on a long line. The standard wire used for 110 volt circuits will handle 15 amps easily. Your household and pond loads are normally a fraction of that. Outside of pumps, heating elements are one of the heaviest loads if they are supplied by electricity and most of ours are less than 10 amps (1000 watts) A wire’s resistance will increase proportionally with it’s length in a way similar to the wall friction in a pipe. If your electrical run is more than 100’ you will begin to see the voltage drop off with an increase in load. Pumps and refrigerators start slow and this initially and produce a very large current which pulls the voltage down. You’ve seen similar situations when you hear a pump, elevator or motor start up and you see the lights dim or another pump slow down a little. That’s why we sometimes use 220. If you should have a long run you can also install a larger line to the load in the same way we increase the size of a pipe when we go long distances. For shorter runs, there’s seldom a need to deal with the small load of a ¼ horse load. As we approach 1 HP, we begin to see a need to double check the installation and possibly increase the size and even install a separate line all the way to the pump.Don’t feel bad about not being near to the rest of us. Think of all the good things about living out there. Sacramento Koi is run by a guy named Steve Walker. If you need supplies stick to one dealer if their price is comparable and they will be eager to please their steady customer. I know some friendly, patient and fair dealers and you won’t go wrong with him.Watch 0ut on many of these boards. There are lots of well intended people who think they understand pond theory and they will be eager to help you. As time goes by you will begin to recognize some of the reliable ones. Some, like Steve Childers, JR and Kent Wallace have probably impressed you already but the moderators on most of these boards (such as MCC) are also good sources. |