well hand pump

[Elijah Gunn]

We have a well at our house. If the grid went down, getting water would be tough. Right now all I would be able to do is wire a plug onto the line to the well and use the generator.( I do intend to get a transfer switch.) Any way, I would only have about a 4-7 day supply of gas to run the generator. Less if it's winter, and I gotta try and keep the furnace going also.
So I've been looking round the net to see what options there are about putting a hand pump down in the well. There are several hand pumps out there that say they can fit down in the same well as my submersible without the need of drilling a new well. Now that would solve the problem. I'm just asking if anyone here has a set up like this , which pump they use, and if it works as described. My wells static level is 17' the drilled depth is 88', and the pump is set at about 60' . So I could get by with a shallow well pump, but I think that I'd like a deep well pump just in case the water table drops.
I almost forgot, I do have a well bucket, but that would be the last resort as I would then have to pull out everything thats inside the well casing.I can see it now... 2 hours after I gut my well, the lights come back on! LOL!
Regards, Mark

[bilmac]

I'm going back to some high school physics which was a long long time ago, but if I remember you can only suck water up from 23 feet if memory serves. This is because even if you create a perfect vacuum, air pressure will only force water that high. This would work in your case as long as every thing is perfect. I think the "pitcher pumps" work that way, the piston and valves are in the pump and they depend on vacuuming the water up. The larger pumps you see sitting in yards, cant think of a name for them, have a sucker rod that runs down the inside of the pipe. This powers the piston and valves at the bottom of the pipe, so it is lifting the water, and so in theory could lift water from any depth.

[SDS-GEN]

Northern tool sells a cheap cast iron hand pump that will probably work for you.  Physics schmysics, I remember the same figure of 23 feet, and the well manufacturers list that as the max water table depth also, however water can be pulled from deeper depths with suction.  The well by my barn has a water table at 27 feet plus 3 feet of height to the cup in the pump makes 30 feet, and once primed it puts out water with every stroke.  If you want to run a deeper well you will have to put the pump at the bottom of the well, these pumps are expensive. 

If your table is at 20 feet or so you can drive a sand point and have a whole new well for less than $200.

[Elijah Gunn]

Driving a sand point well is a definite  (and cheaper) alternative to the hand pumps I saw online. I think I'll check with some of the well drillers around here and get some more information about how much the water table  here can fluctuate, and get some pointers on how to do it  myself the best way. I haven't checked out Northern yet but I will. The only thing is that I would want a pump that does not have an open top like most of the pitcher pumps do. Thanks for the info that they are not limited to only 23'.
Regards ,Mark

[Elijah Gunn]

I looked at Northerns web site the other day and read their customer comments  about the hand pumps they sell . It was pretty much split down the middle with half saying they work well, and the others saying they are junk. I'll keep looking.
Regards,Mark

[Mikey]

I know there are both Well/Hand pumps and Pitcher Pumps.  The Pitcher Pump is the one you see in the sinks in the old camps and homes that were built over their wells and the Hand pumps or Well Pumps that were used for deeper water outside wells.  I had an older (1908) Well Pump repaired and re-installed into an outside well and I think the pick-up was about 20'.  We used a bucket for that pump.

I need to talk to a friend who is a well driller and find out if I can install a Pitcher Pump on my current system, possibly using an alternate pick-up line to avoid the well pump.  However, I think that in the event of a total power failure with a long number of months until power is restored, you would probably have to pull your well pump out and install either a hand Pump or run a line (hoseline) into the house to install a Pitcher Pump.  Just a thought.  Mikey.