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We have well water and an electric well pump. I am looking for feedback and/or recomendation for a manual pump Bison pumps are expensive and Flojak (?) Look too flimsy. Anyone have a manual well pump?
Well pump
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Before you consider any kind of manual pumping apparatus, find out how to get your well pump out first!
Take this question very seriously! In my own case, the well pump, 400' of plastic pipe full of water, and 400' of submersible grade wire weights in the neighborhood of 400 pounds. Hired a crane operator to pull the pipe/pump out 20' by 20 foot section.
Assuming you don't need the manual pump until the SHTF, how will you get it out?
BTW, one of the neighbor's pumps failed and he did winch out the old pump. He replaced it with a self-filling well bucket called a "torpedo" that he bought from Lehman's.
Take this question very seriously! In my own case, the well pump, 400' of plastic pipe full of water, and 400' of submersible grade wire weights in the neighborhood of 400 pounds. Hired a crane operator to pull the pipe/pump out 20' by 20 foot section.
Assuming you don't need the manual pump until the SHTF, how will you get it out?
BTW, one of the neighbor's pumps failed and he did winch out the old pump. He replaced it with a self-filling well bucket called a "torpedo" that he bought from Lehman's.
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well is less than 200 feet
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We had our electric well pump changed this fall and we had a manual pump put on as well. You dont need to remove the electric one. Its a separate entitiy. There is a pipe attached to the hand pump that is 30 ft deep which is the limit for a regular hand pump. Physics! We use our hand pump for the garden sometimes just to make sure it stays functional for when the SHTF. Our electric pump is over 200 ft down but the water level rises filling the well.
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The depth of the well doesn't matter. What matters is the depth to the water. For example, I have a well 165 feet deep, but the water is at about 22 feet.
I have a Bison pump. It is a good piece of gear. My only complaint is that the nuts keep falling of the bolts at the handle/ pump interface. If you tighten them too much, it binds things up. I've even tried a jam nut to no avail. If you get one, buy extra long bolts and cross drill for a cotter pin.
I have a Bison pump. It is a good piece of gear. My only complaint is that the nuts keep falling of the bolts at the handle/ pump interface. If you tighten them too much, it binds things up. I've even tried a jam nut to no avail. If you get one, buy extra long bolts and cross drill for a cotter pin.
As others said... first determine your water level in your well. Then you can make the right decision.
Many of the manual well pumps you buy have a 1-1/4" to 2" wide diameter piston at the bottom of the long lengths of 1", 1-1/4" or 1-1/2" diameter drop pipe. So even if you have a submersible pump already in the well... you might/should be able to fit the manual pump in there too... assuming you have the common 6" well casing.
There are a number of pumps that will get you down 100-ish feet. Some really nice ones with pretty pump heads. Others made out of PVC.
Here are some links to the recommended ones I've come across in my research.
http://www.bisonpumps.com/deep-well-hand-pump.htm
http://www.simplepump.com/index.html
http://flojak.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart
http://www.ezwaterwellhandpumps.com/
I am going the DIY route and building my own... similar to EZWater one... as seen here in youtube how-to videos.
Cheers!
:thumb:
Many of the manual well pumps you buy have a 1-1/4" to 2" wide diameter piston at the bottom of the long lengths of 1", 1-1/4" or 1-1/2" diameter drop pipe. So even if you have a submersible pump already in the well... you might/should be able to fit the manual pump in there too... assuming you have the common 6" well casing.
There are a number of pumps that will get you down 100-ish feet. Some really nice ones with pretty pump heads. Others made out of PVC.
Here are some links to the recommended ones I've come across in my research.
http://www.bisonpumps.com/deep-well-hand-pump.htm
http://www.simplepump.com/index.html
http://flojak.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart
http://www.ezwaterwellhandpumps.com/
I am going the DIY route and building my own... similar to EZWater one... as seen here in youtube how-to videos.
Cheers!
:thumb:
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730 Posts
your not going to stuff anything else down a 8 inch well casing besides whats already in there if yu have torque arrestors on your pipe. unless they are well below water level.i can pull a 200 ft well by hand with one guy to help me, or alone, and proper tools. i can pull a 400 ft well with a front end loader and proper tools.and do it in about a hr.ive dropped and pulled many well pumps, its not rocket science.its a very simple system really.pipe, pump,check valve, wire and safety rope or cable.i have a simple tripod system made out of pipe with a boat winch that i can pull a 500 ft well with that cost me about 100 bucks to build.if you are on a well learn about it and how to fix it. its very simple.
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730 Posts
instead of building a lot of crazy hand well pumps, just get a small generator big enuf to run your 1/2 horse well pump and learn how to wire it in when yu need it to work.you can run a generator 10 min a day and git all the water yull need.
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181 Posts
Solar and or wind turbine! I am setting up a hybrid solar/wind turbine and it will be equipped with a 240v on demand transformer specifically set up for the well pump. The small system will also run the freezer and refrigerator and a few lights. This is a good system and fairly affordable.
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694 Posts
When we had our wells put in we considered putting the hand pump in the same casing as the electric pump. When I talked to the well drillers who put in our pumps they recommended separate wells. If the electric pump failed they would have to pull both systems from the casing to service the electric pump. This means both wells down at the same time and increased maintenance costs.
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475 Posts
I have grid power, solar array w/inverter/240 stepup transformer, 2nd backup inverter/transformer setup, extra pump. Now it want to install manual pump as a last resort go to pump....It sounds like it's recommended to set a separete well for the manual pump. I have a high water table so i should have no problem finding water with a hand driven well. What is recommended size well point/pipe?
thanks
thanks
As for the old fashioned pitcher pumps, I bought an antique on the bay. The new ones are made in China and are...
I took mine apart (easy) and made new leather gaskets for it (easy) and lubed it and it works great.
Max pull on those is advertised as 30' but they won't do it. Maybe they would if everything was perfect but there is some loss in the usage. 25' is more like it. As others have said, that's to your actual water depth, not the well depth.
For up to 50', I really like the PVC single foot valve pump. Deeper and you need the more complex by very doable double valve pump.
Simple single. It will be moving straight up and down and you can put a T on it, cap one side and make a spout on the other:
I took mine apart (easy) and made new leather gaskets for it (easy) and lubed it and it works great.
Max pull on those is advertised as 30' but they won't do it. Maybe they would if everything was perfect but there is some loss in the usage. 25' is more like it. As others have said, that's to your actual water depth, not the well depth.
For up to 50', I really like the PVC single foot valve pump. Deeper and you need the more complex by very doable double valve pump.
Simple single. It will be moving straight up and down and you can put a T on it, cap one side and make a spout on the other:
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