Irrigation & Water Pumping · Sourced From China
A pump on its own moves nothing. What waters a crop is a matched set: the right head and flow, the pipe that carries it, the power that drives it, and a tank so the field does not stop when the sun or the grid does. We are XILINK — a China-based sourcing & export company, 13 years and 550+ orders to 45+ countries. Tell us the water source and the field, and we specify the whole set.
Start Here · Head And Flow
Horsepower is not the specification — it is the consequence. What decides the pump is how high the water has to be lifted (head, in metres) and how much has to arrive per hour (flow, in cubic metres). Get these two right and the rest of the quote falls into place; get them wrong and you buy a pump that runs all day and waters nothing.
Number one
Number two
| Where the water is | Pump type | Typical head | What it suits | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River, canal or pond | Surface centrifugal, engine or motor driven | Low lift, high flow | Flood and sprinkler irrigation of field crops | Suction limit — it cannot pull from more than about 7 m |
| Shallow well or sump | Self-priming surface pump | Low to medium | Vegetable plots, tank filling, livestock water | Priming and foot valve are where it fails |
| Borehole | Submersible, sized to the bore diameter | Medium to high lift | Anything with a real dry season; the most reliable source | Cable, riser pipe and control box are half the job |
| Off-grid, any source | Solar pump with controller and array | Matched to array size | No grid, expensive diesel, daytime pumping into a tank | Output falls with cloud — size the tank, not just the pump |
The Power Question
Solar has become the default answer in a lot of sales pitches, and it is genuinely the right answer for many farms. But it is not free water, and the trade-off is real: you pay almost all of the cost on day one, and you pump when the sun is up, not when you decide.
Diesel is the opposite: little to pay at the start, and a fuel bill for as long as you own it. On a farm running a pump most days, the fuel outspends the pump within a few seasons — which is exactly why solar wins on long-run cost.
Mains, where it is stable, beats both. Where it is not stable, an electric pump without a standby plan is a crop lost during a cut.
Solar
Best where there is no grid and diesel is expensive to buy and to carry. Size the tank, not just the pump — the tank is what lets a cloudy afternoon not become a lost day. Ask what happens to output at 50% irradiance, and insist the controller has dry-run protection.
Diesel
Right for occasional pumping, for moving between sites, and as a standby behind a solar or grid set. The engine is what fails, not the pump: buy a set whose engine spares exist locally, and keep filters and impeller on the shelf.
Mains
Confirm voltage, frequency and whether you have three-phase before choosing the pump. Chinese equipment ships 380V/50Hz by default and can be wound to match. Single-phase limits both the pump size and the depth you can reach.
What Actually Ships
Most disappointing installations are not bad pumps. They are good pumps wired with undersized cable, hung on the wrong riser, fed through pipe too narrow for the flow, or left with no protection when the borehole runs dry.
A set that works arrives with the pump and: submersible drop cable of the right cross-section for the depth, riser pipe or column, a control box with dry-run and over-current protection, a non-return valve and gate valve, delivery pipe sized to the flow, filtration if the water carries sand, and a tank with float control so the pump is not switching all day.
Quoted separately these look cheap and get dropped. Quoted together they are what makes the difference between water on the field and a warranty argument.
The Honest Part
There are good pump dealers in most farming countries, and for a single small pump they will beat us on total cost and on the day you get it. We would rather say that than quote you anyway.
Buy it in town
Worth importing
How This Runs
Source and dry-season water level, delivery height, field area and crop, and the power available. Photographs of the wellhead help more than you would think.
Pump duty point, pipe diameter, cable size, controller, tank and fittings — specified together so nothing is left to the installer to improvise.
We walk the line that builds it and photograph it before the deposit. Pumps are run and the duty point verified before the balance moves.
Pump, pipe, cable, controller and spares in one shipment, CIF to your port, with the export documents your clearing agent needs.
Straight Answers
Four things: the water source and its dry-season water level, the height and distance to where the water must arrive, the area and crop you are irrigating, and what power you have on site. From those we work out head and flow, and everything else follows. Photographs of the wellhead or riverbank are worth a page of description.
Over the life of the installation, on a farm that pumps most days, yes — the fuel bill is what makes diesel expensive, and it never stops. Solar costs nearly all of its money on day one and then pumps for the price of maintenance. The trade-off is control: you pump when the sun is up, so the tank is part of the system, not an accessory. For occasional pumping or for a standby set, diesel still makes sense.
A surface pump sucks, and suction is limited by atmospheric pressure — in practice around seven metres, less at altitude or with a long suction line. Below that you need a submersible pump sitting in the water, not a bigger surface pump. This is the single most common specification mistake we are asked to fix.
For a borehole set: drop cable sized to the depth, riser pipe or column, a control box with dry-run and over-current protection, non-return and gate valves, delivery pipe sized to the flow, and a spares kit. For solar: the array, mounting frame, controller and cabling as well. Quoting these together is what stops the installation being finished with whatever was available locally.
Usually not, and we will say so. One small pump needed this season is better bought from a dealer near you who stocks its spares. Importing earns its place when it is a full solar system, several units, or when the pumps travel with other farm equipment in the same container. Tell us the whole list and we will give you a straight answer.
Yes — that is usually the sensible way to do it. Pumps, pipe and fittings fill the gaps around larger machines, so the freight per item drops sharply. We regularly consolidate several factories into one container with one invoice and one bill of lading.
Spec Your Set
Water source and dry-season level, delivery height, field area and crop, power available. We come back with the sized pump, the pipe and cable that go with it, and a CIF price to your port — usually within one business day.
Duty point verified at the factory before the balance is paid
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