flooded out

[marinabrid]

More rain than the tropics last night
house has a slope, drains ran over, flooded shed etc etc
4 inches of standing water, i get out a Draper sp60 surface pump i bought and never used
connected hoses from old bits i had  and primed it  and stuck it in the flood, 
nothing   nothing  wouldn't suck it out, primed again, got the inlet pipe well under the water now and again it would suck some out    gave up and got the brushes out

Looking today for manual   it says pump won't work unless a solid wall suction hose is used., no idea, never even heard of one, but this is the 1st pump I've owned.
why do i need this,  isn't it just a   suck in one side and pump out the other,  it did say this hose has a none return valve on the end where it go into the water.   

priced up and around Ã,£24 for 4m   
anyone pumped water       thanks

[bigdave982]

At a guess id say if the unlet pipe isnt solid walled its closing flat under suction

[marinabrid]

ok thanks for input