Posted on 07/06/2012 1:06:26 PM PDT by Kartographer
How to make a PVC Water Hand Pump to use when you have no power April 8th, 2011 | Author: Lady Apprentice Today we will learn how to create a PVC hand pump to get the water from your well when you have no power and how it all works. I have a few plans to show you on how to make them, which we will get to later, but first let’s understand how a PVC hand pump would work, or most any pump for that matter.
If you look at the picture below you can see for yourself how it works.
(Excerpt) Read more at ladyapprentice.com ...
Wrap some window-screen around the bottom to keep out the chunks and it should work fine!
The information I found list 4, 5 or 6 inch pipe is generally used.
Sorry that’s not what you asked. I’ll have to do more research to answer your question.
What kind of bucket would you use that could fit in a 4, 5 or 6” dia. pipe?
I have instructions on how to make a tube well bucket out of PVC. It is somewhere in my files as I tore it out of an old Mother Earth News back about thirty years ago.
See Post #15 this thread. Is that what you are talking about?
“Should work OK for shallow wells, but not for deeper wells.”
So how deep can a ‘shallow well’ be for this to work? I have a shallow well, about 60 feet...if I were to go down to about 300 feet I would have much better water. So, is 60 ft shallow enough for this system to work?
HUH?
Most home submersible pumps use 1” (nominal) black poly roll pipe to deliver water to the surface. This pipe has an OD (Outside Diameter) of about 1.25”, leaving room for a 2” (nominal) PVC pipe with an OD of about 2.25” (2.5” at the couplings). The actual submersible pump is usually placed well below the standing water level, leaving plenty of depth for a hand pump.
I teach villagers in the developing world to make PVC hand pumps that work great in 40 foot (to the surface of the standing water) or deeper wells. With an added counterweight or a simple conversion to foot power, these work in deeper wells also.
I have not yet posted a “how to make” manual, but this one by EMAS in Bolivia is very similar and they have great videos!
My first student had bored more than 260 wells using a hand auger & installed pumps on them by 1996. Here’s a brief video made back when we were still using galvanized steel pipe for the pump.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4629383911705480631
A husband & wife student couple in the USA started this organization:
Use a small plastic container and some string. Takes a while but does the trick.
FYI, this method doesn't work in trying to get a frog out of the well because frogs don't cooperate.
Wait until my wife sees me bringing home 300’ of PVC!
“You shouldn’t use most PVC items for drinking water but it’s better than no water at all.”
Well, my water district sends us water in PVC pipes, should I sue them? Or perhaps I should get a life.
Actually, I even have a better way to get water. The drain valves in my water heater. I can get 40 gallons, which is enough for a family of 4 for 10 days. If I can’t find water (somewhere), or collect it from rainfall, by then, I have no business calling myself a prepper.
I was going to mention a bailer - they use them for water sampling of environmental sites as well. Not as fast as a regular hand pump, but can go as deep as you have cord for! And probably about as fast as the handpump in this thread.
Uh oh, we in the Tampa Bay area have a problem, then. Most homes are now constructed with Schedule 40 PVC.
There's been a continuing problem with copper pipe; the solder flux reacts with chemicals in the water supply and water lines built with copper are prone to developing pin-hole leaks. In my brand new house that I lived in for 14 years, I had to have leaks repaired on 4 different occasions. One of those was beneath the slab in the garage. I had to chisel and jack hammer a section of the slab out to repair the leak. That was a real pain. Others were in the wall between rooms. That resulted in having to replace sections of drywall that were water damaged and/or had to be removed to get to the pipes to repair them.
Thank you for your contribtion— very informative and valuable.
I believe drinking-water systems use CPVC.
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