Getting a Hand Pump

[Arrowwind]

Guess you could say I am somewhat into the survivalist thing.

With the predicited solar activity that may be coming my way I decided to put a hand pump in that lies along side my electric well pump. If you are thinking along the lines that I am it would be good to have in case the power goes out for a while.

It cost me $450 for all parts and installation.The pump came from a company called EPI and our local well drillers installed it for us.

BTW, they were back ordered.. Took me many weeks to get my hands on one. Maybe others are thinking the same.. if so... good for them.

[Anchor]

I have two kinds of bore pump. One is of Australian design and runs on compressed air. I don't like it as I find the compressor eats energy. However it is an amazingly simple device and therefore extremely reliable. I kept it but I replaced it with a 24VDC electric pump Shurflo - this is powered by Solar (no batteries), the drawback here is that when the sun isn't out it isn't pumping - but on the flip side, when the sun isn't out, less water is required.

You find that if you keep a sufficiently large reserve tank topped off this isn't a problem.

The pump only draws 4A so it would be easy to drive it from a truck alternator in a pinch

It depends on what you need the water for though.

On a hot dry day - cattle can get through heaps 20-60L per day each.

I wouldn't want to hand pump that at a 20m head

[Arrowwind]

Well we do not have any animals to care for at this point.

Our pump is exceedingly easy to pump by hand. I can fill a 5 gallon bucket in a minute or two.

I see ranchers around here with solar pumps and cisterns out in remote pastures here all the time. It is likely a good item to have. But I do not think these kind of pumps have the fortitude to irrigate a pasture.. flood irrigation would not work well on our site, and that wastes a lot of water too.

We have two ponds for water that is pumped electrically to water pasture.. Ponds fill from the irriagation ditch. I don't know how to get around this electric pump. The hand pump would only be to supply the garden and household and watering animals when we get them.

[xm15e2]

Posted by Arrowwind (here)
Well we do not have any animals to care for at this point.

Our pump is exceedingly easy to pump by hand. I can fill a 5 gallon bucket in a minute or two.

I see ranchers around here with solar pumps and cisterns out in remote pastures here all the time. It is likely a good item to have. But I do not think these kind of pumps have the fortitude to irrigate a pasture.. flood irrigation would not work well on our site, and that wastes a lot of water too.

We have two ponds for water that is pumped electrically to water pasture.. Ponds fill from the irriagation ditch. I don't know how to get around this electric pump. The hand pump would only be to supply the garden and household and watering animals when we get them.

On the discovery channels show the colony, they made there own power many ways simply.
But every time it revolved around interconnected car batteries and a DC to AC power invertor.One episode they used boards off a fence, a car alternator and bicycle parts to build a windmill.
But my point is that over 2 seasons i realized that no matter what they did.The power invertor was the most valuable tool they had.With it they were in the position to think about multiple energy sources instead of how much power they need and where its needed.

[Ron Mauer Sr]

Homemade Emergency Well Pump

Build your own hand pump. Keith states he built this hand pump in 20 minutes for about US$20. It can be used in water wells that have no existing feed lines, wiring or submersible pumps in place, or in water wells with them in place.

More about water including pictures and links ......

[Virgo]

Bison Pumps in Maine produce water hand pumps. Here is a link to their site http://www.bisonpumps.com/videos-hand-water-pumps.htm

[Ella]

Hi Guys!
I was wondering if you could give me some advice?! We luckily have our own great water supply. It comes from a drilled well from a depth of 100 meters. Of course it is supplied using an electric pump. As I am trying to get our home as usable as possible in a 'no power' event etc, this is of course one of my main concerns. We can heat our home completely using wood, have a wood burning stove in the kitchen - so the food and heat problems are solved. Its just the water part left now (from a very basic 'shelter, warmth, food and water' point of view). My query is this really, (I am one of the most untechnical people ever - so apologies if this is a stupid question), can I install some kind of hand pump in the drilled well? Or is 100 meters down just too much? Is a better option maybe finding some kind of solar generator or something to connect to the pump? If so, is this easy to do? and does it literally just connect to the pump, or do I have to go through the main electrics? Sorry if these are silly questions. Also it may be worth mentioning that our budget is very low.

Thanks,
Ella.

[Anchor]

Start by finding out how much power the current pump uses. Normally these things are stamped on a plate on the motor - failing that - look up the specifications in the manual. You are looking for "Watts" or "VA"

[Arrowwind]

absolutetly Ella, that was what my original post on this thread was all about. I think my pump was called an epi (maybe eps? like emergency pump system?) system.. cost about 400 dollars including installation.... we are not so technical either so building one is a hassel. our well is about 100 feet and the line goes in right next to the electric pump... there are a few electric pumps however that do not give room... I suppose it may have to do with the diameter of your well. We put in an 8 inch.

Now when I purchased mine last fall they were on back order so it took two months go get our hands on one