Water Pumps 101: Which Pump for Which Job Around the Property

July 7, 2026

"Water pump" covers a lot of very different jobs, and using the wrong type for the task usually means it either doesn't perform or burns out early. Here's a quick guide to matching pump to job around the property.

General garden and irrigation

A standard garden water pump handles watering, irrigation, and moving clean water from a tank or rainwater supply. Look at max head pressure and flow rate against how far and how high you need to push water — a pump rated for a small garden won't cut it across a large irrigated area.

Submersible pumps for bores, tanks and dirty water

Submersible pumps sit inside the water source itself rather than drawing from above, which makes them the right choice for bores, tanks, and dirty or debris-heavy water — they're built to handle solids passing through without clogging like a surface pump would.

High-pressure and booster pumps

If water pressure around the property is weak — multiple taps running at once, watering a large area, or supplying a house from tank water — a high-pressure or multi-stage booster pump lifts pressure and flow well beyond what a basic pump delivers.

Don't forget the controller

An auto pressure switch/controller turns the pump on and off automatically based on demand, rather than you manually switching it at the tap. Worth adding to any pump that's used often — it saves wear on the motor from unnecessary running.