Pump for drinking water from rainwater tank (edited)

[SaudisLoveAudis]

Hi All,
I hope you are doing well.
Would you recommend any good water pump for moving liquid from one IBC tank to the other.
It's not to be installed permanently but just to transfer 2000l of water from two tanks to the other two that are about 10-15m apart.
I think I would use a standard garden hose as a medium.
Thank you

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Drinking water or grey water or something else?
If you're only doing the job once just use the hose- you can syphon half of it then bucket the other half. Boring but cheap.
If you're feeling lazy and you have an electric drill (and it's not drinking water) you can get inline drill pumps- flow rate is ok but they don't self-prime so you'd have to use a tapping at the bottom of the ibc.
Other than that (and again assuming not drinking water) get a cheap submersible that fits through the top hole in the ibc.

 

[SaudisLoveAudis]

Drinking water or grey water or something else?
If you're only doing the job once just use the hose- you can syphon half of it then bucket the other half. Boring but cheap.
If you're feeling lazy and you have an electric drill (and it's not drinking water) you can get inline drill pumps- flow rate is ok but they don't self-prime so you'd have to use a tapping at the bottom of the ibc.
Other than that (and again assuming not drinking water) get a cheap submersible that fits through the top hole in the ibc.

right, I haven't clarified. Yes, it's rainwater also for drinking. It's going to be filtered but not excessively.
Does it mean water pumps are not good for pumping drinking water?

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Garden hose isn't suitable for drinking water. IBCs can be but cleaning, sealing and venting would have to be spot-on. I'm sure drinking water pumps are available (inline caravan pump maybe).

 

[just pumps]

right, I haven't clarified. Yes, it's rainwater also for drinking. It's going to be filtered but not excessively.
Does it mean water pumps are not good for pumping drinking water?

Wouldnt catch me drinking that water without a proper filtered system!

 

[SaudisLoveAudis]

Wouldnt catch me drinking that water without a proper filtered system!

still way way better than tap water

 

[just pumps]

still way way better than tap water

Really!

 

[Why Not Indeed]

I accidentally swallowed some water that was sat in the garden hose for bit on a warm day [when trying to start off a syphon]. The taste was indescribably foul. No tap water could possibly be that bad.

 

[SaudisLoveAudis]

I accidentally swallowed some water that was sat in the garden hose for bit on a warm day [when trying to start off a syphon]. The taste was indescribably foul. No tap water could possibly be that bad.

what do you mean? rainwater in you garden hose.
Just look at Amish community in US. They drink unfiltered rainwater and are the healthiest people in the whole US and on top of that produce the best food people fight for.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

what do you mean? rainwater in you garden hose.

It would have been mostly tapwater as it was connected to the tap before I dipped in to the bucket to syphon it out, then it would have become mostly rainwater. But what I was getting at was that if you don't use plastics that are meant for drinking water, it will be undrinkable.

 

[SaudisLoveAudis]

It would have been mostly tapwater as it was connected to the tap before I dipped in to the bucket to syphon it out, then it would have become mostly rainwater. But what I was getting at was that if you don't use plastics that are meant for drinking water, it will be undrinkable.

right so people who plant vegetables and/or fruit trees in their gardens should upgrade their hoses because if the plastic ones are used then I reckon the undesirable particles of plastics end up on and/or in the vegetables. Should we maybe avoid sprinklers?
I have to do some more research and get the right hose so I can transfer water without compromising it on the way.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

I don't think it's leaching plastics that is the problem with garden hose, it's more to do with bacteria growing nicely in the pipe when it is warmed by sunlight. Both those problems can be addressed to an extent by using standard 15mm barrier pipe as your hose, burying/insulating it and making sure your system design keeps the pipe full at all times.
And then filter the water you're planning to drink or cook with as well but do that at the point of use.

 

[conny]

Whats the point of getting, 'the right hose' if the water is being stored in plastic IBC's in the first place?

I would suggest you gain some chemistry knowledge and discover the different elements in rainwater and purified tap water as supplied by the water companies. You may find there are far less contaminants in the treated tap water than the untreated rainwater, which will have fallen through air that contains many atmospheric pollutants.

 

[SaudisLoveAudis]

Whats the point of getting, 'the right hose' if the water is being stored in plastic IBC's in the first place?

I would suggest you gain some chemistry knowledge and discover the different elements in rainwater and purified tap water as supplied by the water companies. You may find there are far less contaminants in the treated tap water than the untreated rainwater, which will have fallen through air that contains many atmospheric pollutants.

plastic in IBC tanks is fine. You are talking about some different plastics.
I disagree. How come a rainwater of 20PPM can have more contaminants than a treated tap water that is between 200-400PPM?
Solids are contaminants.
These are the top elements in my tap water:
Chloride - 120mg/l
Sulphate - 64mg/l
Nitrate - 40mg/l
Sodium - 26mg/l
But if you live in Midlands serviced by Severn Trent Water they also add Hexafluorosilicic Acid so on top of Fluoride you get extra Antimony, Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Mercury, Nickel and Selenium. In tiny amounts but still.

So the main question is not what contaminants from the air but how much of them and simply PPM tells me that rainwater cannot be more contaminated than tap water even if let's say Sodium, Phosphorus and Magnesium in tap water could be beneficial.

 

[Madrab]

They drink unfiltered rainwater and are the healthiest people in the whole US and on top of that produce the best food people fight for.

I don't know where you get your information from. Yes a lot of people including the Amish harvest rainwater for multiple uses but very few use raw rainwater, if it is to be potable water then it must be properly filtered and treated or at a minimum boiled and filtered. You don't necessarily need to use chemicals of course (UV/Carbon) but it does need to be properly prepared before being classed as Potable.

There can be a huge amount of bacteria and crap in rain water, form dirt/dust/dissolved elements that it absorbs from the air it passes through (acid rain etc) to more dirt, bird crap, bacteria and other dissolves contaminants from roofs etc that it hits before being captured. Location also plays a large part in rainwater quality - if you live in the middle of Alaska the rainwater will be much cleaner than most of England.

I would do a lot more information gathering before you start using rainwater in your tea.