I have a great aquifer 27 feet down through an old well with a 4" pipe. A simple pitcher pump will bring up the water, but only if you're Popeye or Jesse Ventura. (It's hard!) My current best solution is a Lehman's submersible pump that, by the time the well, shaft, etc are purchased, will run around $1,000. Will this Lehman solution work and am I overlooking a more obvious (less costly) solution?

Thanks

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), July 26, 1999

Answers

sorry. That should have read "hand pump, shaft, etc. are purchased"

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), July 26, 1999.

Try simplepump.com - they have a cheaper way to do this. I think you could get by for about $400 with their basic pump. We are installing a simple pump on our 68 ft well and it was less than you quoted for Lehman's. God bless,

-- dr. ben (benalurker@usa.net), July 26, 1999.

What about trying a submersible pond pump.We have one that will lift 12 m.No good giving you a make as we are in the UK.We paid about #100 for ours(US 150$ ?)

Just a thought.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), July 26, 1999.

Are you pumping the whole 4" casing full of water? If so, try attaching a 1.5" pipe to the pump, long enough to dip a few feet into your water and try again. Be careful not to drop it down the well.

Also, perhaps you can modify the position of the handle to increase your mechanical advantage. You are right at about the maximum for a pitcher pump to lift. There is a deep well kit which places a cylinder in the water and uses a long rod to lift the water. The prices you quoted seem high for that device as it is not complicated at all.

Your problem seems solvable, don't give up.

blessings,

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), July 26, 1999.

Here you go !!!!!! http://forms.cosmoaccess.net/forum/survival/prep/handpump.htm

-- Richard (kingrz@webtv.net), July 26, 1999.

27 ft seems a bit deep for a pitcher pump, but if you are actually able to pump water, then that's great. If it's too hard, I would guess that your drop pipe is either too small in diameter, or it is not rigid enough, and it's collapsing when you pump and create a "vacuum". Try some lightweight, but rigid pipe. 1 1/4" pipe works well for my pitcher pump. I once tried using 1/2" and it made for a lot of extra work. Black poly pipe has worked for me when I was pumping from fifteen feet; if it doesn't work at 27 ft. try schedule 40 PVC, 1 1/ 4".

Good luck. If you can pump at all with the pitcher pump (like, you actually are making it produce water), try these other pipes before investing in a down the hole piston pump.

JOJ

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), July 27, 1999.

Here's the formula for figuring the weight of water in a pipe:

Pounds Water = Pipe length feet x Pipe diameter inches squared x 0.34

So 27 x (4 x 4) x .34 = 146.88 pounds of water. A tall order for a hand pump if this is what's happening.

-- Lee Chesson (lchesson@infoave.net), July 27, 1999.

The cheapest way would be to get a 3" pipe, put a cap on one end, cut it about one foot long, and tie a rope to it and lower it down into the well to use as a bucket. If you want more water, then put a back flow perventer in the bottom and make it taller. Very cheap, very simple, but not very good if you are wanting lots of water at a time.

-- chicken farmer (chicken-farmer@ y2k.farm), July 29, 1999.