Solar water pump advice for garden feature

I bought an old water pump which I have bolted down to make it secure but now I would like water to pour out of the spout and into an old belfast sink. Anyone recommend a solar pump will be up to the job, please?

 

No advice on the solar pump but just wanted to say what a great find the old water one was! It's very attractive, good luck with getting it fixed up.

 

Hi,

We have only got a really small solar powered pond pump which only really works when full sun is on the panel.
Going on its panel and pump you will need a massive panel to give anything like a flow though your pipe.
Also having the power to pump up to the height of its outlet will be a problem.

As its close to the house or garage(?) think it would be better if you could power it from the mains or use a DC pump via a transformer if safety is key.

PS if you used mains or DC powered pump you could then use a timer to control the flow to add more effect ...?

 

I think you might be right. I do have mains electricity in the outbuildings behind the pump so I think I will probably look at going down that route.

Any suggestions?

 

Even if you could get a large enough solar panel, it'll stop as soon as it gets dark. For me, part of the appeal of a water feature is hearing it trickling away in the evening when everything else is quiet.

One note of warning. With your Belfast sink, I suspect you're going to get a lot of splashes onto the ground around. That means you're going to have to be doing a lot of topping up. One solution is to put a pond liner under the sink, have that whole bit as a wet area, and pump out from the pond liner sump instead of from the sink. Another solution though, if you're close to buildings and have an outside water supply available, would be to recycle an old loo cistern and float valve, to top up automatically. (You may even be able to find an old cast iron one which you don't have to hide.)

 

That problem had occurred to me. What I'm thinking of doing is getting the pump this weekend and setting it all up so I can see how much splash I'm going to get, then find a solution from there. Your loo cistern idea looks like something to consider if I do have a problem.