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Water pump?

slow-poke

slow-poke

Ultra Member
I'm contemplating getting a 1000-2000l plastic water tank to catch the rain from the roof/eves and then using that water instead of city water for irrigating the lawn. I will need some sort of pump and my neighbor has offered an old but working Monarch Industries BE-33 pump, no idea if it's suitable for this application. Looks like this is more of a drain the pool type of pump, so not sure if it would develop enough pressure for a sprinkler system? I would thing 30-50PSI would be suitable, and the pump will be located 5-10' slightly downhill from the tank.

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It is dependant on your sprinkler system. If you are using a Raingun or Rainbird impact sprinkler you are correct. 30-50 psi is needed.
If you are using the pop up sprinkler that is commonly used in automatic lawn watering systems, they work on much lower pressure. We use a Sime Rain Gun and 2 Rainbirds on our garlic, and for in between times when only the garden needs water, we use a $5 popup head on a 4ft spike. We always have to throttle back the water valve when using it.
 
I used a cheap submersible sump pump to empty the pool each year. 50 feet of hose to a simple sprinkler head gives me plenty of reach.
 
I run a pair of Little Giants up at the camp off a HF 900 watt generator . 30 feet up and 150 foot run to the firepit . A second pump runs it up to the shower after it gets up to temp . If you ever saw pics of the Kubota , that's what the heavy duty extension cords are for . :cool:
 
I kinda doubt this system will ever see 45 feet of head. Unless the lawn in question was built on a billy goat grade of side-hill.
.43 PSI per foot of drop, if your pump is lower than your source, from gravity. Add whatever effort the pump can produce against the restriction of the sprinkler nozzle(s).

See if your neighbor will let you try it out.

All you need risk is a few plumbing bits (mostly stuff you will need for the system, whatever powers it in the end), and your time. Suggest plumbing in a Y adapter with valves, so you can test the ability to run more than one sprinkler. If that matters.

Use a water cube, or suitable barrel for the reservoir, even just a five gallon pail, for a quick test, hook up your hose and a couple sprinklers, and you can see in real terms, if it suits, or shows as wanting.
 
The pump is free to try, so I will give it a go when I gather all the bits and pieces. 12 zone In ground sprinkler is already installed for a while now, most zones have 3 or 4 heads so the pump needs to be able to work with the existing system. Kijiji guy was to drop off a 1000 litre tank yesterday, ad stated food grade and clean, however there was several gallons of leftover chocolate in the tank and the guy now wanted and extra $80 to clean it. I reminded him the ad stated +30$ for a clean tank and I had already agreed to pay for the "clean" option. He tried to convince me to just spray it on the lawn, but visions of chocolate clogged sprinkler heads and I decided to keep looking for a 'clean' tank.
 
slow-poke said:
The pump is free to try, so I will give it a go when I gather all the bits and pieces. 12 zone In ground sprinkler is already installed for a while now, most zones have 3 or 4 heads so the pump needs to be able to work with the existing system. Kijiji guy was to drop off a 1000 litre tank yesterday, ad stated food grade and clean, however there was several gallons of leftover chocolate in the tank and the guy now wanted and extra $80 to clean it. I reminded him the ad stated +30$ for a clean tank and I had already agreed to pay for the "clean" option. He tried to convince me to just spray it on the lawn, but visions of chocolate clogged sprinkler heads and I decided to keep looking for a 'clean' tank.
Click to expand...
Chocolate huh?
This wasn't the guy from Bob's BBQ Pit and Septic Service, was it?
 
All my country property water is rainwater. I run 11 ten-thousand litre plastic cisterns for my household and irrigation use.
My irrigation water runs through cheap RV pumps: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0B4NSDKWR
Plenty of head to run soakers, wobblers, hand-nozzles, etc, typically for up to three zones at once.
I don't do anything more expensive because *I will* (again) wreck a pump by some sort of user-induced stupidity - be it a sudden freeze-up, or (most recently) dragging it out of the ground by failing to uncouple my water wagon fill hose from just upstream of it.
I keep a few larger trash pumps/fire pumps around for fire fighting, and all my tanks are plumbed to accept a 2" quick-couple. That makes filling them easier too when I need to top up from a nearby pond, typically later in the summer. As an added bonus that keeps the fire pumps in use during the most critical part of the fire season.
 
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