# Pump For Rain Harvest Tank



## JayGo (Jun 13, 2019)

(I hope I'm posting this in the correct part of the forum.)

For those of you that catch rain water and use it to water your lawn with a hose, what kind of pump have you found to work great for extracting the water from the tank?
I am going to have gutters installed in a couple of weeks, and I bought a 250-gallon rain water tank that the gutter folks are going to hook up to one of the gutter drains. My plan is to use the harvested water to water flowers, lawn, trees, etc... Curious if anyone on here has any suggestions or tips.


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Wayne Pumps would be my recommendation.

I used the Wayne sprinkler pump to irrigate my yard when I was living on a lake.

You will need a check valve or foot valve to maintain suction.

A filter on the intake side to protect the pump and impeller would also be a good idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9u-EhTanHw


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## JayGo (Jun 13, 2019)

FlowRider said:


> Wayne Pumps would be my recommendation.
> 
> I used the Wayne sprinkler pump to irrigate my yard when I was living on a lake.


@FlowRider, thanks for the reply.
Looks like there are quite a few pumps with this form factor. Must be a popular design. Does a pump like this need to be protected from the elements, or can it be left permanently connected?


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

That particular model is designed to be portable, which is why it has the rounded bar handle on top.

For my cast iron pump that I used to suction up lake water, I built a wooden pump house, kind of like a small dog house, to keep the pump out of the elements. The pumps are electric, so you want to house them in a dry location.

Some people put them inside cabinets. You have to allow for ventilation, because the motors will produce heat.

You can buy pump covers made out of plastic that look like rocks, if you want to leave it plumbed and wired in....

You could also use a submersible portable sump pump, and just lower it into the barrel and elevate it off the bottom to keep it from sucking up trash, leaves, debris, dead insects, etc. I put one in for my neighbor that way, and just set the pump on top of a concrete cinder block to keep it out of the muck at the bottom of the rain barrel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h2Fki9KqQM


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## JayGo (Jun 13, 2019)

FlowRider said:


> You could also use a submersible portable sump pump, and just lower it into the barrel and elevate it off the bottom to keep it from sucking up trash, leaves, debris, dead insects, etc. I put one in for my neighbor that way, and just set the pump on top of a concrete cinder block to keep it out of the muck at the bottom of the rain barrel.


The tank I'm getting installed is almost 6' tall by 3' in diameter and is sealed on top. So that pretty much rules out the submersible option since I can't run the power line nor the water line out of the tank.
I'm looking for a pump I can feed from the water spigot at the bottom of the tank, and so far it seems that the best bang for the buck (for what I need) are pumps like the one you suggested.

Thanks, again.


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## JayGo (Jun 13, 2019)

Any other pump suggestions?

Since posting this question, I've learned that a "demand" pump is pretty ideal and convenient functionality to have. It's impressive how tiny these pumps can be and the amount of water they can move.

Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated.


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