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Hello,
I am not very familiar with the kind of pumps that many people use with their watering systems. I have seen many pumps ranging from 40-500 dollars. I just need a cheap pump under 50 dollars that is electric. Does anyone know anything about these pumps? I think Lowes has them and they are called something other than rain barrel pump. It confuses me, but when they are marketed as a rain barrel pump they are very expensive. It seems like there are other pumps that can be used that are just not called rain barrel pumps and are a lot cheaper under 100 dollars. Does anyone have a suggestion?

If you scroll down in this picture it shows a very small pump that cant be any more than 50 dollars. This is something I would like to have. He does not state the name of the pump though. I just need a pump to carry the water about 350 feet (not a lot of pressure as it will be connected to a soaker hose) and gravity is out of the option. Here is the pump: http://greenterrafirma.com/DIY_Rain_Barrel.html

Scroll down to see the pump.

Thanks guys

6/9/2008 3:19:10 PM

Lexington, Ky

Your pump will need to be matched to your water supply. Are you pulling from a creek or pond? If so, something as simple and cheap as a sump pump will get it done, plenty of volume and very little pressure.

Are you going to have 350 feet of soaker hose or is the total distance to the soaker hose 350 feet away? That's a long way to push water but it's very possible to do on the cheap.

I have a 1/2 horsepower electric pump purchased for $50 dollars. It has 65 PSI and flows 1,450 gph. Way too much pump for soaker hose but wanted to give you an example of how much pump can be had for $50. I also have a 1/4 hp sump pump for draining the swimming pool, $35. I've never tried it in the patch but it's amazing how much water it can move in a short period of time.

Throw out some more of the equation, we'll get you there.

Jamie

6/9/2008 6:26:33 PM

Well, I'll send you some pictures when I am finished if I cant explain it well enough, but basically it will be 4 rain barrels hooked up and at the end it will have a spigot on the fourth barrel farthest away from the gutter of the house. So what I transfer will need to be transfered from a spigot to the garden. Does that make sense? I appreciate the help 1320.

6/9/2008 11:23:47 PM

Lexington, Ky

Makes sense to me, thanks for the additional info. A very small pump will get you there. Holler when you get some pics.

6/10/2008 8:23:01 AM

Cottage Grove, MN

That exactly my set up, works great. I have 6 55 gal barrels tied together with pvc fittings, the last barrel has a 3/4 stub with a ball valve on it. I bought a clear water pump from Northern for less than $50. When I want to water, I just hose clamp the pump inline to a garden hose, open the valve and away she goes. I'm only going around 100' and up 10' and it handles that just fine.

6/10/2008 10:14:16 AM

Do you have a link for that bjx2 or a name for that pump? I appreciate it.

6/10/2008 5:21:14 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Jamie, sounds like yer ready to grow a biggun' !!! See you at Bear Wallow Farm?? Peace, Wayne

6/10/2008 10:30:33 PM

No Place Special

In a situation like his what would it take to push the water out 4 sprinkler heads? I have 2 330 gallon tanks and want to pump them through the sprinklers, 4 would be ok but if i could run 8 sprinklers that would be perfect. Any opinions on what this require?

Thanks

6/10/2008 11:17:34 PM

Lexington, Ky

To push water thru 4 sprinkler heads correctly (equal amounts of water thru each sprinkler) requires alot of pressure...a big pump. I was able to push water thru 6 inline sprinklers using a 5 hp pump but the pressure overwhelmed the hoses that I used to connect the sprinklers. Should have connected them with PVC pipe...
Not to mention, that 5 hp pump will drain my 500 gallon tank in two minutes! My patch looked like a car wash....

6/11/2008 8:48:09 AM

Cottage Grove, MN

The pump I bought is here http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_7738_7738

I pump thru a standard garden house to one standard occilating sprinkler. Only issue I've had is needing to self spin the motor to get it going sometimes, I assume when it dries out it gets sticky (not always clear water, sometimes more like tea for some reason!). The pressure is better than our house supply and we have pretty darn good house pressure.

6/11/2008 1:26:09 PM

the setup I have looks like this:
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3739/rainbarrelsfa1.jpg

See the spigot on the far right bottom, that is where I wanted to connect the pump (inlet) and let the hose be the (outlet)

bjx2 can you hook the pump up to a spigot for the inlet and a hose for the outlet or do you have to use the inlet as a suction hose inside the barrel?

Anyone have a suggestion on a pump that will connect to the spigot and pull water and then connect to a hose and spit it out?

6/11/2008 1:44:19 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

We used to run a surface well pump through a tank. the tank had a pressure switch on it. the pump would run during/to a pre determined pressure setting then stop. I got to admit the spray was inconsistent....if we had it set to fill the tank to 100 lbs...then drain off to eighty lbs the spray distance would vary when the pump was running and when it was off. also on occasion the pump throws air into the tank and that would have to be bled off to maintain a constant water filled tank.

6/11/2008 1:55:09 PM

Cottage Grove, MN

Me thinks the spigot may have to go, you also want a bigger outlet to increase volume imho. Other than that, looks really familiar! I looked at my setup again last night. I used pvc fittings on the outlet, then stubbed with 3/4" pipe nipple to the 3/4" ball valve, then another nipple attached to the clear piece of 3/4"ID tubing. I just hose clamp the clear tubing over a 3/4" nipple on the pump when needed. I like the clear tubing to see what is going through or if the pump is sucking any air.

6/11/2008 3:59:17 PM

Atlanta, Georgia

Mike,
The Honda WX-10 gas water pump works awesome and would supply the sprinkler heads easily. I ran about 10 whizzers with my pump while in Germany. It is just about the same water pressure as what you get from your garden hose. I love it!
Best regards,
Michel White

6/17/2008 12:14:58 PM