pump power

How do I determine what pump I require. I have a water feature at present that only has to pump water up through a sphere, approx 12 inches high. Being a typical female and even though the water feature is only 2 months old I am looking to replace it at some point maybe next year. I ideally I wanted a 4ft monolith but at £300.00 it was just a tad scary to buy it as I was having loads of other stuff done in the garden and had to prioritise.

 

Thks Owl
I have added it to my favs. I like to try and cost everything up before I decide to go ahead with my next project. Usually whats starts off as a bargain ends up costing me a fortune as I have buy a hammer to knock the nail in a step ladder to reach it, heavy duty boots to protect my feet, a hard hat for my head etc etc....
I can just see myself buying this monolith then it costing a fortune for a new sump, pump, man to dig a bigger hold etc

 

in short, you should choose a pump that is capable of delivering a reasonable amount of water to the required height (4 feet in your case)

most pumps have a flow graph on the box

as for how much water it depends on how wide the feature is

usualy the left is height the bottom is LPM

Pumps have become more specialiseed over the years, you dont want a filter pump, or a sump pump

filter pumps do not usualy pump that high, sump pumps use a lot of elelctricity for what they are.

You should always buy "the next size up" the reason is you can alwys turn a big pump down, you can not turn a small pump up

As for mounting the feature it should be mounted on something secure, you may even have to have some bricks under it if it is sitting on a grille.

I have heard of mounting such heavy features on the base of a sump, with the pump adjacent and filling the whole thing with gravel for stability.
Good theory bad pratice since the gravel will take up most of the room for the water, and when it comes to serviing the pump you have to dig the whole lot out.

you may find this useful