Pump for rain barrel

[heiner921]

Hey folks. Might be a little off topic but I'm looking for opinions on a good pump, but not expensive to use with my rain barrel. Must be able to create enough pressure to run an oscillating sprinkler for in my garden. Can be a transfer pump or submerssible. Must hook up to a 110v outlet. Links to specific pumps are a plus

 

[ducksface]

Harbor Freight small pressure unit. Portable. Good value. Good warranty.
40ish with a coupon.

But,
Unless it's a 2500+ gallon barrell I can't begin to wrap my head around the logistics or value or worthwhile part of the project.

The last water barrell guy here had a break even of 45 years, then another 45 years to make it all a fifty percent savings, if he used every drop of rain with no overflow and didn't need a pump. The footprint to make the pump alone outweighs any offset for 100+ years.
Just a thought.


I'll help, I just would like to know the
Why
Of it all.

 

[Chris_the_wrench]

We use stored rain water on our small fruit/grape farm, and more than once it's helped us late in the summer when our normal water source wasn't able to keep up with our irrigation needs. Primarily, the system is used to irrigate some fruit trees where I don't have permanent irrigation lines running to.

I have 12 55 gallon drums in my rain barrel collection system, they are scattered around a few down spouts through out or property. Each drum was free or $12-$15. I use a couple better quality submerisible pumps($120-150'ish) for transferring to a 150 gallon tank as needed that I have plumbed gravity feed to drip emitters. I could easily fill another 12 - 20 drums pretty quickly during our winter rain.


The pumps I use are:
http://redlionproducts.com/sump/cast-iron-sump-pumps/

Some have a float attached but others are on/off with the power. They get ALOT of use through out the year and not just in the rain barrels. I'd recommend the brand.

-Chris

 

[ducksface]

We use stored rain water on our small fruit/grape farm, and more than once it's helped us late in the summer when our normal water source wasn't able to keep up with our irrigation needs. Primarily, the system is used to irrigate some fruit trees where I don't have permanent irrigation lines running to.

I have 12 55 gallon drums in my rain barrel collection system, they are scattered around a few down spouts through out or property. Each drum was free or $12-$15. I use a couple better quality submerisible pumps($120-150'ish) for transferring to a 150 gallon tank as needed that I have plumbed gravity feed to drip emitters. I could easily fill another 12 - 20 drums pretty quickly during our winters.


The pumps I use are:
http://redlionproducts.com/sump/cast-iron-sump-pumps/

Some have a float attached but others are on/off with the power. They get ALOT of use through out the year and not just in the rain barrels. I'd recommend the brand.

-Chris

I have one of those.
Pumps 50 gallons in 40 seconds.
I use one of the cheap Christmas tree remote control plugs so I can turn it off and on from the tank I'm filling which might be ten feet from the source and thirty feet from the plug.

I'm not sure they'll build enough pressure to work sprinkler and they won't like any length of garden hose.
It won't fit in some of the ready made household rain barrells as they often have an attached top with just a spot for a downspout to fit.

 

[Kaizen]

Another vote for a drop in sump pump. Even that will be a lot of money for a sprinkler. As said a normal barrel will be sucked dry in a few minutes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[strutaeng]

I've got a cheap submersible pump for HD that I use various tasks. I've looked into one for the application that you want, but these are just not intended to provide the level of pressure that sprinkler head require. Submersible pumps are more like high volume, low pressure: something like 20' of head. This is about 8 psi. I think sprinkler head need something like 20-30 psi?

A sprinkler/irrigation pump is going to be better suited for getting this type of pressure. They are more expensive and built with cast iron housings. This is cheaper version of the same:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Wayne-1-HP-Stainless-Steel-Portable-Sprinkler-Pump-PLS100/203448494

I hope this helps.

 

[Chris_the_wrench]

I'm not sure they'll build enough pressure to work sprinkler and they won't like any length of garden hose.
It won't fit in some of the ready made household rain barrells as they often have an attached top with just a spot for a downspout to fit.

I've never tried using it for running a sprinkler but I have transferred water 200' through garden hose. Those runs were close to level from source to end but had lots of dips along the way, and I've done shorter 50' runs with about 10-15' vertical height gain.

I use 55 gallon drums with the full size removable lids, you'd have to use a dedicated transfer pump if you only have a 3-4" diameter hole.

Back to OP question, not sure on your layout but I would look at a gravity system feeding drip tape or emitters. Like it's been said, you'll spend alot of water on a sprinkler.

-Chris

 

[todd_fuller]

I’ve been using a 12v Shurflo RV water pump on my 500gal tank. They offer 115v AC versions too. Parts aren’t expensive. Big advantage to these pumps is they recirculate and have an integrated pressure switch. No need to worry about it burning itself out.

I have mine hooked up to an irrigation valve on a timer to water a garden. Timer opens the valve and pumps until the timer closes the valve again. No need to even control the pump power supply.

 

[GRB]

By using the words "not expensive" it makes it obvious you are wasting your time on this. Saving water will always cost more than the normal ways of using water. I think I've hit almost the optimum point of low cost versus water savings and I'm still not sure it makes sense from a cost standpoint.
I have 4000 square feet of roof to collect water.
I have a 200' deep lot with a hidden back corner that is 10' higher than the front of my lot.
I have a friend that buys material in 430 gallon totes and then gives them to me when he empties them. I can store 6 totes in that corner of the lot without them being seen.
I am an engineer and can create a solar powered pump system that will pump the water up to the totes without paying for electricity.
I have an orchard that is already optimized for catching natural water and can use the water from the totes efficiently by gravity alone.
I'm in SoCal where water is shockingly expensive.
With all of this going FOR me, I'm thinking water recovery MIGHT make sense.

 

[jonshonda]

Could you just run hard lines from the barrel to the garden, then uae trickle hoses in the garden and let gravity do the work?