I 've got a creek in my backyard and have water rights to it. I bought an older working ac water pump from a neighbor and have installed a junction box down by the water. I have a hose running into the creek with a foot valve and a hose running to the garden. There is no pressurized strorage tank. The pump takes forever to prime and then in will work continuously until I shut it off and then the pump will not stay primed. The next time I use it I have to prime it all over again. The foot valve get's sediment from the creek in it sometimes and I have tried putting a stocking over it to reduce this, but am not shure this is the only problem. Any tips appreciated !

Thanks,

Kenny

Using a poly mesh filter from a hot air furnace, wrap the foot valve with this, secure with zip ties and use this as a pre-filter. Weight the foot valve and suspend it off a float, so it is not sucking sediment off the bottom, or use rigid PVC plumbing to suspend the foot valve off the bottom.

Make sure there are no leaks in the garden hose or fittings on the supply side of the pump, or better yet, spend the money and use a good quality soft or rigid PVC supply line.

Make sure that if there is a priming stack for the pump, that it is well sealed with no air leaks, including the cap. If the pump is self priming, install a t-junction in the supply side plumbing, with a stack and sealed cap, that lets you quickly prime the supply line.

Usually, the self priming feature of a pump, accellerates impeller wear.