Could you guys help me out? A while back there was either a particular thread or a comment on a thread, about taking your well & inserting a "pipe" or something down the existing pipe to put a hand pump or something like this... If you could help me find that thread or if the person who posted this information is out there I would appreciate any help. A "professional" well person said this could not be done because you would lose your casing. Anybody done this successfully? Am trying to figure out a way to use our existing well as inexpensively as possible. Can't afford a wind mill, wind generator or solar, or having another well dug for a hand pump. Seems all these options run into the thousands of dollars.

Thanks for any help!!!! Donna

-- Donna in Texas (Dd0143@aol.com), November 19, 1998

Answers

Donna,

I do not know about the pipe solution, but there are outfits who sell a "well bucket". This gadget gets lowered into your well, fills up with water and closes off when you lift it out by the rope. I seem to remember that it holds about 5 or 6 gallons of water. I saw it in the Lehman's catalog. They're on the net and also sell by mail order, They are in Kidron, Ohio. Lots of items for non-electric living. Best of luck.

Dale

-- Dale Rehus (dale@spicreative.com), November 19, 1998.

I've also looked into converting our well to a hand pump. We have a standard 6" casing, with a well 350 feet deep, with the electric pump 300 feet down. Fortunately, our water comes up to within 12-17 feet of the surface. The cheaper hand pumps that rely on suction to bring up the water will only work down to 20 feet, then gravity will break the suction effect. These pumps will allow you to use a flexible water pipe to reach the water. This is fortunate for us because the water and electric lines in most wells take up a great deal of space, often into the middle of the casing. There is simply not enough space to use even one of the narrow well buckets. And the hand pumps that are designed to work below 20 feet (and even as deep as 200 feet) need to have a straight stiff pipe down the center of the casing. I haven't been able to make those work in my well, unless you totally remove the original electric pump, water line, and electric line. And for very deep wells, that is extremely hard work without the proper equipment. Our well only produces 1 gallon a minute, so we will be limited in how much water we can remove at a time before reaching the 20 foot depth limit on the basic hand pump. Fortunately, we have a large creek for irrigation. You might have better luck with a solar powered 12 volt water pump.

-- Debra (dgraff@vt.edu), November 19, 1998.

Hi Donna,

I think it was me you are referring to. I ordered a Hydra-drill and all the handpump gadgets needed. I drilled my own water well (70 ft.) I had the pipe to go 200 ft., but hit rock at 100' and decided to stop. When I finished drilling, I inserted the casing into the hole. From there, you install all the handpump stuff.

If you have an existing well and can pull everything out to leave an empty casing, then you are ready to install a hand pump.

Basic items needed: brass pump and foot valve at bottom of well, galvanized pipe to go inside your casing to the bottom, a solid rod for pumping (usually fiberglass) that goes to the bottom, an above ground pump with handle/spout.

Contact Ellen Sattler at Ellenski@Pacbell.net for ordering and more information.

you can also contact www.deeprock.com for information

-- James Chancellor (publicworks1@bluebonnet.net), November 19, 1998.

Hi Donna

I don't know if this will help but I bookmarked it a while ago.

http://www.millennium-ark.net/_vti_bin/shtml.dll/search.html

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), November 19, 1998.

Sorry Donna

http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/INFO_Files/Hand_Pump.html

This should work.

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), November 19, 1998.

http://home1.gte.net/bowjonin/indx.htm

Compressed air windmills, don't need to pull present pipe and pump. It's what I'm using.

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), November 20, 1998.

Donna, perhaps this will help? depending upon the depth of your well you should have PVC pipe coming up out of the well. Because you have a check valve at the bottom of the well pipe or a foot valve as it's called. You could cut the PVC pipe below the 90 degree elbow before it goes into the pump. replace it with a PVC "T" and a threaded female adapter that you could glue to the well pipe. That way you have still the pipe to get water from the electric pump. And another fitting to get water from and bypassing the pump. So you could use a hand pump or attach a bicycle to a roller to the shaft of a hand crank. Do you understand what I am explaining ? You could do this yourself. If you have any questions just email me and I'll send you a design,but I'll need the diameter of your well pipe coming up out of the well caseing.To help you w/ this problem. Hope this will be of some assistance ??

-- Furie (furieart@gte.net), November 22, 1998.