# Deep Well Hand Pump



## crazychickenlady

We are considering purchasing a Stainless Steel Deep Well hand pump from Survival Unlimited. It is touted as pumping water from deeper than 200', installs on your existing well (in tandem with your electric pump) and sounds like a great product. 

We want to know that we can pump emergency water in case there is a long power outage or EOTW scenario. One of the problems I can see with our plan is that the hand pump installs directly on the well head, which is in our front yard and is visible from the road...which I don't like. But I can't change that other than to plant more trees for privacy (in the process of doing that anyway). We thought about drilling another well, which would be very costly and in the back yard is the septic system...which precludes drilling a well anywhere near that. So we want to make the best of what we have.

Has anyone had any experience with pumps such as this? I would love to hear pros and cons if you think of any.

Thanks!


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## Emerald

Look into "Bison" hand pumps they are stainless steel and are supposed to be great-I have my eye on one and they are a bit cheaper... I think you should shop around a bit. They have one that goes right in with your electric well pump too.. Lucky me when we bought this home they had to put in a well that was farther away form the septic(which is stupid cuz it is all going to the same water source) and I have another well that we can use solely for the pump... for my depth of water 125 or so feet down I can get a well pump and all the pipes that goes with it for about $1600. Thinking about talking my mom out of that as a loan.. that way when we lose power (like we did this morning for a few hours and we do quite often here) I will still have water.

ETA: here is the link so you can check out the pricing. 
http://www.bisonpumps.com/index.htm


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## crazychickenlady

Thanks for the info. I will check into that company too. I need to find out what company drilled the well back in the 70's and see if they have a record of how deep it is. Some wells around here go pretty deep and I have to make sure that whatever I buy is going to pump water from that depth.

It is very nice that you have 2 wells and they are 125'...it looks like many of these hand pumps are best for wells less than 200'. The solar option looks pretty tempting, although the cost is something to consider.

Thanks again!


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## JustCliff

How deep is your current well? I am working on making my own now. I cant pay that much for a hand pump. Lehmans sells the pump itself. Most things you can get locally.


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## Meerkat

crazychickenlady said:


> Thanks for the info. I will check into that company too. I need to find out what company drilled the well back in the 70's and see if they have a record of how deep it is. Some wells around here go pretty deep and I have to make sure that whatever I buy is going to pump water from that depth.
> 
> It is very nice that you have 2 wells and they are 125'...it looks like many of these hand pumps are best for wells less than 200'. The solar option looks pretty tempting, although the cost is something to consider.
> 
> Thanks again!


 We had one put in and it put out about acup a minute!I told em to get the thing out and not only was I not paying them 960 bucks but they better hope they did'nt screw up anything.Country people will rip you off just as fast as city slickers and praise the lord all the way to the bank.Human nature is human nature.

Check into it before you do,unless you want to be jacking on that pump all day for a sink full of water..


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## crazychickenlady

I'm trying to find the company that put the well in to see if they have a record of how deep it is. Will let you know when I get that info. The neighbor thinks it was around 200', but isn't sure.


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## Emerald

crazychickenlady said:


> I'm trying to find the company that put the well in to see if they have a record of how deep it is. Will let you know when I get that info. The neighbor thinks it was around 200', but isn't sure.


If you own your home it is supposed to be in your title-have you looked thru your paperwork?


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## crazychickenlady

I believe the mortgage company has the title. We won't have the place paid off for another 14 years.


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## JustCliff

Can you see the water down the hole? 
Get a roll of string and something to weight it so you can lower it in the hole. You may tie a knot in it every 5' to 10'. If you can see the water, you will be able to see when the end touches then measure and see how deep your water is. If you cant see the water, let out the string 100 ft or so. pull it up and find where the string is wet. subtract that distance from the end and there you have how far down your water is. 

For sake of discussion: Lets say your well is 200' deep and that you have water at 50'.

You wont need a pump to be down 200'. 60' would probably be fine. You will still need a deep well pump because it is over 28' down. Also, more then likely you will not be able to pump the water fast enough and long enough to run it "dry" (below the 60' pump level)


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## crazychickenlady

Hmmm...thanks for the suggestion, JustCliff. I will see if I can determine the depth of the water.


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## crazychickenlady

Ok, our well is 200' deep and the cost of the hand pump will be around $1200 to $1500. After a lot of consideration, we have decided that we just can't spend that amount right now (too many expenses)...hopefully next year we will have the funds to take care of that project.

So, to have emergency water on hand, I am putting some rain barrels on our downspouts and I ordered some BPA free, 8 gallon water storage containers. I also ordered water purification tablets to put in the bob. I saw some 55 gallon food grade plastic barrels on Craigslist and maybe I can score one of those for water storage for the chickens.

Thanks for the info everyone sent. And if you have any experiences with the deep well hand pump, let us all know.


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## JustCliff

crazychickenlady said:


> Ok, our well is 200' deep and the cost of the hand pump will be around $1200 to $1500. After a lot of consideration, we have decided that we just can't spend that amount right now (too many expenses)...hopefully next year we will have the funds to take care of that project.
> 
> So, to have emergency water on hand, I am putting some rain barrels on our downspouts and I ordered some BPA free, 8 gallon water storage containers. I also ordered water purification tablets to put in the bob. I saw some 55 gallon food grade plastic barrels on Craigslist and maybe I can score one of those for water storage for the chickens.
> 
> Thanks for the info everyone sent. And if you have any experiences with the deep well hand pump, let us all know.


Dont give up yet!
With a little work you can probably get in under $500. With a little modification you can use the deep well pum with the inexpencive import pump head. Take a look at both and see what you think.

Pump: http://www.lehmans.com/store/Water___Water_Pumps___Deep_Wells___Our_Best_Water_Well_Cylinders___Solid_Brass___44281?Args=

Pump head:
Antique Type Cast Iron Hand Press Water Pump | eBay


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## crazychickenlady

Thanks for the encouragement, JustCliff...the first link came up 404 page not found. I will go to Lehman's directly and see if I can find the page. The second one, for the hand pump, looks interesting. I have seen some pumps like it for sale on Craigslist around here.

I'm not going to give up...but I do have a hubby who is not totally on board with my prepping. He believes that what we should prep for is a power outage that lasts for a day to a week. I believe that we should prep for the break down of society, although I acknowledge that the short term power loss is more likely to happen in the near future. But I always feel that it is best to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

So we compromised and ordered water storage containers that hold 8 gallons of drinking water...have 2 ordered from Campmore. They are BPA free and I can fill them and leave them in the basement for a couple of months, then empty and refill with fresh water to make sure we don't have icky stuff growing. I am also keeping several buckets of water on hand for keeping the chickens watered...just need to figure out how to do that during the winter.

Now hubby is weighing the pros and cons of different generators so that we would not lose all of the food in our freezers if the power is out for several days. I think that we could figure out some way to use this to power the existing pump...except I'm not sure how because it is hard wired into the electric system of the house.

My hope is that we will have the funds saved up to install the manual pump next summer. Hubby doesn't feel confident doing it ourselves, so we need to have enough $ on hand to pay the well and pump company for installation.

Without back up from my better half, the cost of the manual water pump is more than he feels is worth spending when we also want the generator and some other practical things this year. We just spent a nice chunk of change on a wood stove and need some tools for that, plus some extra wood. Soooo....the quest continues for a bit of self reliance in this crazy world!


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## Kriket

posting for a friend 



> . Anyone know of one that can go IN the house and work well with an electric pump?.
> 
> When we had our well drilled they went down 200 feet but hit water around 20 feet so we may not even need a 'deep' well hand pump, BUT I have been on DH since we married that when we put in our house (we're in a trialer right now and should be putting in a house next fall hopefully ) that I WANT a hand pump in the laundry room.
> 
> In 1998 we had an ice storm here and we were without power for 2 weeks and it was below freezing. The house we lived in had a 6 ft deep hand dug well (the old dip out of type) and every body stopped by and dipped water. I HATED lugging gallon jugs of water through the woods and across the lawn, all of which was covered in a 2-3" thick sheet of ice, i think my tailbone is still bruised! I told Dh that my eventual house would have a hand pump in it somewhere and oil lamps on the walls.


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## jmcdonald

I have a Flojak and it works really well and the price is a lot cheaper than a Binson. Their website is Flojak.


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## Tirediron

For anyone considering a deep well hand pump : the size of the pump cylinder decreases with the depth of the well, the water column and gravity create pressure, so a smaller column of water is easier to move. The above ground portion of hand pumps is also a large portion of the cost,


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## IlliniWarrior

*Certificate of Sanitation /Drinking Water*



Emerald said:


> If you own your home it is supposed to be in your title-have you looked thru your paperwork?


The county building department or a health inspector had to certify the drinking water and flow when it was drilled ..... most state/county require it to be re- certified if the property changes owners ......

should be official paperwork filed somewhere


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## VUnder

You can make a deep well hand pump for less than maybe fifty bucks. You will need ten twenty foot joints of 2" pipe to go down into the well.


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## grandpadave

I dont think they make a hand pump with that kind of lift...
Here in Kansas we see a lot of water wells with hand pumps but there under 100 feet...

Sever years back we lived in the Rockies and that place had a 1,100 foot well and the only way to get water up from that depth was with a big 220 volt submersible pump...

Now this is just me thinking aloud but given what you got maybe a Inverter and spare car battery with a solar trickle charger, work better? Maybe add a cistern or at least rain barrels. but I'm not so sure a hand pump is going do it


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## Tirediron

You can hand pump water from a very deep well, but the watwer column must be kept small.I wouldn't want to try to push water up an 1100 ft column though.


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## rico567

crazychickenlady said:


> <snip>
> Now hubby is weighing the pros and cons of different generators so that we would not lose all of the food in our freezers if the power is out for several days. I think that we could figure out some way to use this to power the existing pump...except I'm not sure how because it is hard wired into the electric system of the house.


To power the existing pump with your generator and stay within the NEC (National Electric Code) you will need a transfer switch that will isolate your house from the electrical feed from the utility company. This switch ensures that your generator will not send electricity back through the utility company lines and electrocute some unsuspecting person working on the system.

Installing a transfer switch is not unreasonably expensive, but unless you are very familiar with working with electricity, it should be left to a licensed electrician. This is also the best way to make sure you stay within the NEC, which is a good idea for any number of reasons.


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## J-stets

*deep well hand pumps*

I noticed this is an aged thread about deep well hand pumping, but a quality hand water pump can be expensive. The Bison Hand Pump brand is all over the internet, so is the Simple Pump brand, but there's one other more custom-made company definitely worth checking out because they discuss the differences and issues with the leading retail pumps as well as discuss using a hand pump to pressurize internal home plumbing. It also appears theirs are about half the cost of the retail brands like Bison etc.

I believe these links are correct. Here are a few:

http://www.protectmypower.com/hand-water-pump.html

http://www.protectmypower.com/comparison-hand-water-pumps.html

http://www.protectmypower.com/deep-well-hand-pump-pressurizing.html

Even if you go with a retail brand, at least you'll have something to compare to, and you'll learn something about deep well hand pumps from this other company.


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## rawdysearch

Two key questions arise, then.Why do some communities have so little access to water? And how will the current picture change in a world where the human population is growing, where societies are urbanising and industrialising, and where climate change may alter the raw availability of water significantly?

http://aakashinternational.co.in/


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## rawdysearch

India Mark ii is a public domain pump defined by Indian standards; it requires special skills for installation as well as for the maintenance. We have good manufacturers for water hand pump. *Afridev Hand pump* manufacturers in India are the best manufacturers in Aakash international pvt ltd. Our company is ISO certified in all over India, we provide best hand pump products.


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## rawdysearch

*Afridev Hand Pump Manufacturers in India*

I noticed this is an aged thread about deep well hand pumping, but a quality hand water pump can be expensive. Aakashinternational Hand Pump brand is all over the internet, so is the Simple Pump brand, but there's one other more custom-made company definitely worth checking out because they discuss the differences and issues with the leading retail pumps as well as discuss using a hand pump to pressurize internal home plumbing. It also appears theirs are about half the cost of the retail brands like Bison etc.

I believe these links are correct. Here are a few:

http://www.aakashinternational.co.in/

http://rawdypiyush.tumblr.com/

Even if you go with a retail brand, at least you'll have something to compare to, and you'll learn something about deep well hand pumps from this other company.[/QUOTE]

Afridev Hand Pump Manufacturers in India


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