Water pump for residential irrigation from rain-water storage?

[Home Guy]

What sort of electric water pump is suitable to power a residential sprinkler system fed from rain-water storage barrels?

I've got about 340 gallons of rain-water storage contained in a handful of food-grade plastic barrels that I want to manifold together to feed an electric water pump that can be connected to a 1 or 2 head sprinkler system in place of municipal water supply.

I don't want to spend a fortune on a pump, ideally $100 or less. The pump would have to be a non-submersible type (I don't want to put it in any of the barrels). This rules out a lot of sump and sewage-type pumps.

Any ideas?

[bob haller]

put all the barrels close together, run lines between them.

use a standard well pump and your all set

[zxcvbob]

How many gallons per minute do you need, and what kind of pressure?

-Bob

[zxcvbob]

Something like this could work if you don't let it run dry:

-Bob

[GFretwell]

340 gallons isn't much water when you are talking about irrigation.

Just be sure you have a float switch on your water supply to shut down the pump.

[Paul Franklin]

I pull water from my pond for irrigation. I use one of the harbor freight pumps that has a small built-in pressure tank. You would run combined outlets of your tanks to the pump inlet, run the outlet to a water filter(the regular household type with replaceable cartridges) and the outlet of the filter to your sprinkler heads. Setup works well for me. If you don't use a filter, the sprinkler heads will clog unless your water is really clean.

As othes have said, you need a float switch to prevent pump running dry or you will wreck your pump. Total flow will be set by the sprinkler heads you choose, but 340 gallons isn't that much.

You may want to consider a drip system. The come with tiny pumps and make much more efficient use of water. Google drip irrigation system. You can get complete kits with everything you need for not much $$.

HTH,

Paul F.

[Dean Hoffman]

Would a basic sump pump work for this?

[jamesgangnc]

Some sump pumps don't develop much pressure. You need some pressure to operate sprinkler heads, at least 50 - 60 psi. Drip normally uses

25psi so it is an easier solution. I agree with the others that's not much water. A single sprinkler head can use 5 gal per minute.

[Steve B]

"Dean Hoffman" wrote

Here's yer sign..................

[Steve B]

Here's a starting point on gallons per minute on different sizes of PVC pipe. It won't take long for you to pump 380 gallons at much pressure at all. A small pump will cost less than a big one. Shop for used, and you can get a lot of value for your dollar.

The PVC people make pressure reducers to go into drip lines. They drop it to the 20 psi range. If you use drip system, you can get by with a smaller pump than if you want to spray over a lawn.

I did not read your recovery rate. That is, how long does it take to recharge the barrels. If it is from rain, you might not have enough to water regularly if you have much to water. If it is creek or spring fed, you will have more.

Basically, if you are going to water plants, the gpm and psi don't matter a lot, as they will be delivering water slowly. You can use different sized emitters to get the right amount for each plant, and it won't make much difference if it takes ten minutes or thirty minutes to pump out the available water. If you have lawn to water or big sprinklers, you can go through 380 gallons of water in thirty minutes on a 1" line.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

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[LdB]

Running dry will fry the pump quick enough but so will turning off the water flow and leaving the pump running for an extended time. A few years ago my neighbor asked me to turn on my pump so she could water her garden. I turned it on for her but had to leave for a few hours. I left her with very explicit instructions to unplug the pump when she was finished watering. I even took her down to the river and showed her the pump and plug.

Big mistake, that's all I can say. She shut off the water and left the pump running. When I got home I could here the pump screaming two hundred feet away.

LdB

[GFretwell]

No pressure switch?

[The Daring Dufas]

She probably nodded and said she understood what you told her but didn't have the first clue as to what you were talking about. If you later didn't allow her the use of your pump, she probably thought you were being mean and selfish. :-)

TDD

[Dean Hoffman]

I fix pivot irrigation systems. Nelson makes sprinkler heads that will work on as low as 10 psi. The ones in my area are typically set up to operate on 20 psi. It looks like 340 gallons would put 1" on about 540 sq. ft. if my figures are right.

[Home Guy]

Guys - this is not some large farm that I'm trying to irrigate.

It's a heavily tree-covered urban front and back yard - about .3 acre total size.

I plan to add more rain barrels over the next 6 to 12 months. Because of a very wet and cold spring and early summer, I haven't had to use much of this water yet to do hand-watering of various potted plants, flower beds, etc. These barrels were full by early April - mostly from melt water from last winter's snow. I probably wouldn't apply more than

1/3 inch at a time anyways, which would cover about 200 square yards by my calculations (assuming 375 gallons of stored water - a little higher than I claimed earlier).

[jamesgangnc]

You should still include a mechanism to detect an out of water condition. The main problem with stored rain water for irrigation is that you run out of water. If it doesn't rain for an extended period that is when you will place the highest demand on your supply. You alos might want to look at other storage tanks. You can get some big plastic water tanks off craigs list pretty cheap if you have a rural community nearby. Farmers use tanks that hold several hundred gallons routinely.

[Steve B]

One word: gravity.

[LdB]

The pump is only used when I want irrigation water it's not on a pressure system. I only used to use it a few times a year. A pressure switch is a good idea. I have recently remarried, my wife is planting flowers all over the place. She's bound to do the same.

LdB

[jamesgangnc]

I don't think I would bother with a pressure switch or a pressure tank. Design the distribution systems so they flow about the same rate. Then select a pump that is just over that flow rate and just turn it on when the valve to a zone is turned on. A pressure switch will simply end up cycling the pump and that's worse for it that making it work a little harder.

What is definitely needed is an out of water switch that prevents the system from running when the tanks are empty.

You could do all of it with a basic irrigation timer that has provisions for a pump turn on and a rain shutoff. Many do. Just arrange your out of water switch so it behaves like a rain turn off.

[jamesgangnc]

Not generally feasable in a regular community. Even to get 10psi requires over 20 ft of drop. About all you can do without a tower is let the water run out the end of a hose. Forget running sprinklers.