Hand Water Pump Advice
Growing up I spent a lot of time on a couple of farms belonging to relatives and they all had hand powered water pumps to bring water from their wells. I remember priming the pump and pumping hard to get the cool water flowing, a pleasant memory. Now I am thinking I would like to have a hand pump to attach to my well if I ever needed to. Is there any reason this wouldn't work if I break the connection where the pipe goes into the ground and attach the hand pump??
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how deep is the top of the water in your well. hand pumps will work to about the 325ft level. if the top of yor water is less than that it should work well. hook it up and try it. 0 -
Thank you!! I have no idea how to determine the depth of my water level without disconnecting the pipe and dropping a line. Is there another way?? 0 -
Ricci.Wright said:Thank you!! I have no idea how to determine the depth of my water level without disconnecting the pipe and dropping a line. Is there another way??
Usually there is a tag from the well driller on it with the depth.0 -
Thank you!! I will look. 0 -
ricci thats how i do it. i tie a weight on a piece of string and drop it down and pull it up and see if its wet yet. im a pretty simple person so this is the only way i know. the top of the water has very little to do with the depth of the well. ni have a 1000ft well but my water is at around 68ft. 0 -
Is your a "deep well?" A six inch pipe? If so your water is way down, on my well the water is 210 feet down.
If you have a "shallow well," a 3 foot diameter well, the water may be only ten feet deep. I had one of those wells in Georgia, the well was only 29 feet deep and the water level was 10 feet deep. Real good well.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Water-Source-Pitcher-Pump-PP500NL/203449574
This "Cheapo from the Depot" works well, but will only lift water 25 feet. You can get a hand pump that will bring water from hundreds of feet but it costs a lot more.
You are talking about attaching a hand pump to the existing electric pump pipe. Not a good idea because, for example in my well the water is 210 feet deep, but the pump is down at 460 feet. Might not be able to get a hand pump to raise water that high, plus I don't know if you could just bypass a kaput electric pump.
And there is always this device. A four foot section of 4 inch pvc pipe, with a flapper valve on the bottom.
Lower it in with a rope and you lift out 2 1/2 gallons of water.
https://readymaderesources.com/product/3-well-bucket/
You might have to remove the existing pipe and pump to make room for this guy. They also have a 3 inch model that might fit in a deep well with the existing pipe in place.
I have two of these devices, a 3 inch and a 4 inch, have them stashed away, along with 300 feet of 3/8 inch rope.0 -
Don't choke it too hard, your mouse will turn Blue. Just ask MontanaJoe.
Just kidding, I am interested in this thread, I have been wanting to do the same thing to my outdoor 1500 gal. Cistern.
I have been feeling for the last couple years, that I need a hand pump.
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Hard to find a deep well pump. This one looks like a good one, will raise water 200 feet, stainless steel.
But, very expensive.
https://www.lehmans.com/product/stainless-steel-deep-well-pump-head/
I think, with the PVC pipe rig I mentioned above, you would have to pull your existing pipe and electric pump.
With this hand pump, you could simply install a new pipe just for this pump, and you could have the hand pump operating right along side your existing electric pump.0 -
maybe the idea of a smaller pipe to fit along side of regular pipe.....smaller pipe, less weight of water in a smaller 2'' pipe or whatever ??size to lift ...you are not irrigating acres with a hand pump anyway....or a small windmill with a cylinder pump attached ......we had em in every pasture....windmill and gas engine..still have a pump jack or two laying around for a cylinder well ..most now use a solar powered pump 0 -
spasmcreeksrun said:maybe the idea of a smaller pipe to fit along side of regular pipe.....smaller pipe, less weight of water in a smaller 2'' pipe or whatever ??size to lift ...you are not irrigating acres with a hand pump anyway....or a small windmill with a cylinder pump attached ......we had em in every pasture....windmill and gas engine..still have a pump jack or two laying around for a cylinder well ..most now use a solar powered pump
If you didn't collapse it you just might be able to push a smaller size line down at least to the water level? Pretty cool hand pump set up in parallel with electric pump as posted by AG. Probably cheaper to have a gen set dedicated to the well
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I have plumbed and drilled water wells for many years . Everyone is more or less correct . It is possible to hook a hand pump to almost any well but the type of pump will be dictated by the type of well . A “shallow “ well ie one 25 to 75 foot deep can easily be pumped by an old fashioned picture pump . Deeper wells will require a different pump need more info on type of well to advise further
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Depending on the altitude, you can only "suck" water from about 25-30 ft. That is the standard "pitcher" pump. And yes, you can get a cast iron made in China cheapy. But for greater depths, you need a different style of pump that does not suck, but LIFTS water. The Lehman's Non-Electric catalog is one source, but they are pricy as all get out. You also want to avoid the open-top pump for sanitary reasons. For emergencies we have a well bucket, chain and pulley. If you want to buy a serious hand pump see if you have a well company in your area, go talk with them. 0 -
Having a generator for you well pump is a good idea. I have one, 13 hp Honda motor.
I got this for the extreme S. hits the Fan situation, like an EMP, where there is no electricity for months and months.
However, I have decided not to use it for that situation. The post-apocalyptic world will be a quiet world. Bad Guys will be wandering around, carrying guns. If they hear your generator, they will come pay you a visit.
That is why I got that 4" pvc pipe that you lower on a rope.0 -
I looked into this years ago. It's very doable but the pumps are insanely expensive for what they are, and worse if you have to pump the water from any significant static level, particularly if all you're interested in is nostalgia. 0 -
No pump, hand or otherwise, will LIFT water higher than about 34 feet because that is the height at which a column of water exerts a pressure equal to one atmosphere. If it is necessary to pump water higher than that, there needs to be a device down in the well that PUSHES the water up, not pulling it. 3
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