# need advice on purchasing shallow well hand pump



## plgrass

Hello, we have talked about it for years and today we paid to have a second well drilled. All for the purposes of having water when the power is out. They drilled 46 feet and brought the water up to 12 feet. Good news - we only need a shallow well hand pump. I was thinking about the type Grandma use to have on the farm. But what do I really know about these things? Not much!

So we spent almost 2,000 drilling the well and I don't want to put a cheap pump on it. I have looked around the internet and my well guy can probably go get me a pump. But after spending that kind of money I might as well get a good pump. 

What should I be looking for? Any important features? I might use this to pump some water on the nearby garden too - just for the workout and it would really make the veggies more "organic" if I pumped their water by hand! 

Either way I am excited but don't want to screw up getting a cheap pump. Any thoughts? I very much appreciate the help.


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## hiwall

I have to admit I seen little difference in the cheap or more expensive hand pumps. The ones I seen are all cast iron. I assume you are going to buy a smaller one(about 18" high overall). Like this one-
http://www.fleetfarm.com/mff/detail...oduct search&gclid=CM2oiYWv9bMCFQuCQgodgmgAKA

Get one with real leather seals. And I would most likely but a spare cup leather and flap (check) leather, even though they last a long time.


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## UncleJoe

Estate sales are a great place to find the old cast iron pitcher pumps. Buy a new leather or two and you'll be all set.


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## Well_Driller

If you live in a climate that gets cold in the winter then you do need something that won't freeze. Even though your water is only 12 ft down, if you want a good pump use a deep well hand pump. The cylinder that does the pumping is installed down the well below the surface of the water so it never looses prime. You also will need to put a foot valve on the bottom of the cylinder, most have one built in, but we found it's best to install a foot valve with a screen. If you live in a cold climate, to keep from freezing all you need to do is drill a 1/8" hole in the drop pipe below your frost level. It will allow the water in the pump head to drain back below the frost level. Here we drill that hole about 4 ft down. We use schedule 80 threaded PVC drop pipe with a brass pump cylinder. The quality deep well hand pumps are not cheap. We drill wells and install both electric pumps and hand pumps and we only use the Baker Monitor hand pumps, and no I don't have any affiliation with them, we use them because they are well built durable pumps that last a long time, but it will cost some $$ for the Baker pumps. I also personally have one installed in my own well and it gets used on an almost daily basis.


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## Well_Driller

hiwall said:


> I have to admit I seen little difference in the cheap or more expensive hand pumps. The ones I seen are all cast iron. I assume you are going to buy a smaller one(about 18" high overall). Like this one-
> http://www.fleetfarm.com/mff/detail...oduct search&gclid=CM2oiYWv9bMCFQuCQgodgmgAKA
> 
> Get one with real leather seals. And I would most likely but a spare cup leather and flap (check) leather, even though they last a long time.


Those pumps will work, but they also present a few problems if installed on a well head out in the open. First it's an open top which can introduce bacteria into the well. Second, since the plunger is also on top, it will not last as long because when not used the leather dries out. You have to have water to prime it. Dumping dirty water in it will also contaminate the well. I wouldn't want to drink it..... My professional opinion, I wouldn't use it on my well, nor would I want to drink water from it, and besides that, our local health department does not allow me as a well driller, or privately to use that type of pump on a well because of the contamination issues. My thoughts are also that you need a clean reliable source of water that you don't have to worry about wasting time and energy to boil. I meet people every day that never give any thought to their water, but they suddenly realize just how important clean water is when they have a major problem with their well. We've also found wells that had bacteria issues due to cracked or rusted through well casings, and in some of those cases these people had been getting sick and never realized it was because their well was contaminated until we tested it.


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## mma800

We are getting ready to put in a well in the spring. The guy came on Wednesday to start the whole process (surveying, permits, etc) this is all so new to me, I really have no idea how the whole process works, or what my town will allow. I did tell the guy that the well is not just for irrigation and that I need a non electric pump option. I am so appreciative to read the posts about well installation.


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## hiwall

While everything Well_Driller said is true(he is obviously a professional), I will say that people have been using those small shallow well pumps for a hundred years and not all of them died of contamination. If the pump is inside or in a location where freezing is not a consideration a check valve can be installed so you do not have to prime the pump everytime (there is a check built into those pumps but an added one is best). I will say that if a few hundred dollars more does not cause you hardship then I would certainly go with his recommendation.


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## pawpaw

I'm still amazed at the sheer amount of competent, professional advice available on this site! I gleaned something from this post that I had questions about, and here it is. Working folks, mainly, without Doctorates, helping others who work for a living. Everthing from drillin' to killin'.
Try THAT on a 'Dancing with the Stars' forum.....


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## Well_Driller

hiwall said:


> While everything Well_Driller said is true(he is obviously a professional), I will say that people have been using those small shallow well pumps for a hundred years and not all of them died of contamination. If the pump is inside or in a location where freezing is not a consideration a check valve can be installed so you do not have to prime the pump everytime (there is a check built into those pumps but an added one is best). I will say that if a few hundred dollars more does not cause you hardship then I would certainly go with his recommendation.


You should use a foot valve with a screen on any of the hand pumps, in fact the foot valves are more reliable than the leather flapper valve that's in there. I've never known anyone that's died from water contamination, but I have seen people who kept getting sick and couldn't figure out why, and it was finally linked to their well. Most of the pitcher pumps back then were installed at the sink and actually pumped from a cistern, at least that was the norm here back in those days. I'm just saying most well contamination issues we deal with are due to poor well construction, cheap materials, or something the owner has done, and even though I don't agree with most of my states regulations on wells, I do agree with them on the hand pumps. If you have to use a pitcher pump, they do make sealed units which would be best, but if you use the open top style and it's outside on the well head, keep it clean and keep it covered. Birds like to sit on them and crap right down into the opening. To me, clean water that I don't have to worry about boiling is very important, i'm not rich either, but I do want the best pumping equipment I can get in my well, even though I had to work very hard to get the money to do it. I could have made a lot of money installing cheap pumps on wells, but when it breaks guess what, I'm the one who has to fix it, and customer will not be happy. I don't like having to go back and redo a job, it makes me look bad, so that's why I only use quality products, so if someone thinks it costs too much, I let the job go to the other guy, and sometimes, three months later they call me to come fix it right....


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## Well_Driller

mma800 said:


> We are getting ready to put in a well in the spring. The guy came on Wednesday to start the whole process (surveying, permits, etc) this is all so new to me, I really have no idea how the whole process works, or what my town will allow. I did tell the guy that the well is not just for irrigation and that I need a non electric pump option. I am so appreciative to read the posts about well installation.


You should learn all you can about the well drilling/installation process. Ask your driller what hand pumps they offer if any. Ask them questions about the drilling process and requirements. If they are not too willing to discuss it then that should throw up a red flag. I take quite a bit of time to answer customers questions and explain what we're doing and why.


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## fiesty4ever

We are going to use our current 300 ' well and drop a new line beside it for hand pumping. It is enclosed to prevent exposure to bacteria and weather. Has anyone done this before? Any words of wisdom?


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## Well_Driller

fiesty4ever said:


> We are going to use our current 300 ' well and drop a new line beside it for hand pumping. It is enclosed to prevent exposure to bacteria and weather. Has anyone done this before? Any words of wisdom?


How far down is it to the water? If you have a submersible pump and the casing is 6" or larger it shouldn't be much of a problem. You don't have to put the pump cylinder as deep as the submersible pump. I typically like to place the cylinder about 20' below the water level, but it has to be above your submersible as it won't go past that. If the water level is down more than 250' it will be difficult to pump by hand from that depth. Also some people use the plastic wire guards on the drop pipe for the submersible pump to protect the wires from rubbing against the well bore. They look kind of like a disc with 4 fingers. If those were used the drop pipe and pump cylinder for the hand pump won't go past those. Enough of them will have to be removed to get the pump cylinder where you want it, but they may or may not be there. Sometimes you can shine a light down the well and you might see them. Don't forget to put a foot valve with a screen on the bottom of the cylinder. The better deep well pumps have an adjustable stroke too. Typically 5", 7" and 10". The smaller stroke setting being the easiest to pump. You'll probably want to use a 2" pump cylinder.


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