Pumps and wort pumping

I'm working towards a single tier system, and have a couple of questions:

1) Can I use a metal tube like a racking tube with a pump, rather than drill through the sides of my kettles? Since I have to pump up from the bottom of one kettle to the top of the next anyway, can I avoid drilling the holes, buying the fittings and cleaning them? Just dropping a draw tube in sounds easier. Does anyone do this? If not, why not?

2) Can someone point me to a good economical source for pumps?

Thanks

I would imagine that would be fine.

It would be harder to prime the pump doing it this way.

Pumps are a tough animal to get "economically".

I have found that waiting patiently and scouring ebay/this forum/craigslist can land you a good march pump for around 70-90 bucks w/shipping.

The biggest thing you want to look out for is buying a pump that will not handle EVERYTHING you want it to. It should be rated to high temperatures and should be food safe.

It's going to be more of a pain in the ass trying to start and keep a siphon to the pump than if you just went ahead and converted your kettles. The pumps we all use are not going to be able to start the wort movement on it's own.