Pump sizing calculator — industrial & solar water pumping
Estimate required flow, total dynamic head (TDH), hydraulic and motor power, VFD size, and — for solar mode — PV array kWp, panel count and optional battery buffer for agricultural irrigation, boreholes, greenhouses and pivot networks. Generate a prefilled RFQ with the calculated duty point.
How do you size an irrigation pump?
Pump sizing combines required flow with total dynamic head (static lift + friction losses + operating pressure). Hydraulic power kW = (flow m³/h × head m) ÷ 367, divided by pump and motor efficiency.
- Formula: kW = Q (m³/h) × H (m) ÷ (367 × pump efficiency × motor efficiency).
- Typical centrifugal pump efficiency is 0.65–0.80 at the duty point.
- Add filtration head loss from the filter manufacturer's data and a design margin agreed with your irrigation engineer.
- Variable-speed drives cut energy where demand varies across blocks.
Indicative only
- This tool is indicative only.
- It is not financial advice.
- It is not agronomic advice.
- It is not engineering design.
- Final numbers require supplier, agronomist, engineer and local regulatory review.
SeedMatch Group is an independent agricultural project sourcing and RFQ platform. We are not a farm, seed producer, fertilizer manufacturer, irrigation manufacturer, greenhouse builder, EPC contractor, lender or financial advisor. Supplier and project partner outreach is handled only after a commercial project brief is reviewed.
Supplier and manufacturer content is provided for research, transparency and discovery only. Buyers submit one project or RFQ to SeedMatch Group; our team validates and organises it, manages any suitable supplier or manufacturer outreach, and presents the responses through SeedMatch. There is no public directory of company identities, automatic matching, direct messaging or direct buyer-supplier contact.
Turning this estimate into a request? The irrigation and fertigation request builder lists what changes a quote — system type, filtration, dosing and drain-water scope — and opens a pre-filled request that our team reviews before any supplier is contacted.
Inputs
Sizing results
Generate prefilled RFQ- Daily demand
- 800 m³/d
Sizing a drip network? What is drip irrigation explains emitter flow, pressure compensation and filtration duty.
- Average flow
- 100.0 m³/h
- Peak (duty) flow
- 120.0 m³/h
Head build-up
- Static lift
- 15.0 m
- Pressure head (2.5 bar)
- 25.5 m
- Friction (15%)
- 6.1 m
- Total dynamic head (TDH)
- 46.6 m
Power & drive
- Hydraulic power
- 15.23 kW
- Shaft power (η 72%)
- 21.15 kW
- Motor (calc.)
- 26.44 kW
- Motor (standard frame)
- 30.0 kW
- VFD size
- 37.0 kW
First-pass sizing screener. Final selection requires a full hydraulic study (Hazen-Williams or Darcy-Weisbach), NPSH check, water-chemistry review and validated pump curves. SeedMatchGroup pairs your output with a normalised RFQ to qualified pump-station and solar-pumping manufacturers — supplier identities, curves and datasheets are shared through the private sourcing flow.
Frequently asked questions
- What does this pump sizing calculator estimate?
- Required peak flow (m³/h), total dynamic head (static lift + pressure + friction losses), hydraulic and shaft power, recommended motor kW with service factor, indicative VFD size, and, when solar mode is enabled, PV array kWp, panel count and optional battery buffer.
- How is total dynamic head (TDH) calculated?
- TDH = static lift (source-to-discharge elevation) + required operating pressure at the emitter / manifold (converted to metres, 1 bar ≈ 10.2 m) + friction losses along pipework. Friction is estimated from an assumed head-loss percentage on the pipe run; final selection requires a Hazen-Williams or Darcy-Weisbach hydraulic study.
- How is motor / VFD size derived?
- Hydraulic power (kW) = (Q × H × ρ × g) / 3.6e6, with Q in m³/h and H in m. Shaft power = hydraulic ÷ pump efficiency. Motor kW = shaft ÷ motor efficiency × service factor (typically 1.15). VFD is sized to the next standard frame above motor kW.
- How is the solar PV array sized?
- By default (conservative), daily energy is the electrical input at peak duty flow × operating hours, which overstates energy by the peak factor and leaves PV headroom. You can switch to the daily-water-volume basis: daily demand × hydraulic energy per m³ ÷ pump and motor efficiency. Either figure is divided by peak-sun-hours and inverter/wire losses to give PV kWp — an indicative planning estimate, not a design. Battery buffer, if enabled, sizes lithium capacity to cover a set number of no-sun operating hours at the pump's peak duty power (conservative).
- Is this a bankable engineering study?
- No. It is an early-stage sizing screener. For tenders, EPC contracts, or financing, SeedMatchGroup pairs the output with a full hydraulic and electrical package and a normalised RFQ to qualified pump-station and solar-pumping manufacturers.
Illustrative project summary
1 ha multi-span tomato house
A new commercial entrant builds a first multi-span block with fertigation, insect screens and a basic climate computer.
1 ha · Multi-span polyhouse · Tomatoes
Indicative full greenhouse project CAPEX
USD 575K – USD 1.56M
Illustration only, not a real project or quotation. This is the structure, equipment and site-works budget for the example greenhouse, not the price of this calculator’s individual system, seeds or inputs, and not a result calculated from your entries. Excludes land, permits, packhouse, financing costs and working capital.
Based on the published commercial greenhouse cost benchmark. Written offers require a private project review; commercial projects start from USD 250K.