On Sunday, April 1, 2012 at 8:48:26 PM UTC-4, Home Guy wrote:
I've been looking around for a cheap pump that can I can use to move
water around from various 55-gallon rain-water collection drums. I'd
also like the pump to be able to develop some decent pressure to push
water to at least a single sprinkler head.

Spending more than $100 sort-of defeats the purpose of collecting rain
water to begin with, so something like a convertable jet-pump (minimum
$250 around here) is out of the question.

There are some 1/6 to 1/3 hp sump pumps that I can get for $50 to $75,
but I'd have to modify them so I can attach an inlet hose (most of my
drums are sealed with only a 2" opening at the top so the sump-pump
can't be dropped down into the drum).

So - can a sump pump be modified to be able to draw water from an inlet
line - or will priming it be a bitch? And can then generate enough
pressure (what - 20 to 40 psi?) to drive water through a 50-foot garden
hose and a single sprinker head?

If you have an air compressor attach it to your water storage drums or rain barrels with a
tube that goes to the bottom of the rain barrel and a air fitting that connects to your air compresser hose . The air compressor will give you the pressure you need to drive the water out of the barrel and up and out the water tube hanging in the barrel connected to the sprinkler head .
Might need a compressor with a air storage tank ?
Again as with water pumps it depends on the capacity of the air pump .
And the air pump could be used for lots of other projects.