need help installing hand pump

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I have a hand powered long handled wter pump to use on a backup dug well, can someone tell me how to hook it up. The water is now 12 ft down and there's 8 ft of wter in the well. Also do i need to build a "house" around it to keep it from freezing? Thanks for thr help.

-- Bob (kabob@snet.net), August 08, 1999

Answers

If you have a dug well, you will need to cover the top to prevent pollution from entering your well. Your pump can then be attached to the cover, with a pipe attached to the bottom of the pump and extending into the water in the well. If the water is eight feet deep, I think I would extend the pipe about 4 ft into the water.

A shelter around the pump would allow you to pump water without being exposed to bad weather. I think it would be a wise investment, and need not be expensive.

There is a posting on the other TB2000 board dealing with disinfecting wells. It is a good read. I believe it just was posted today.

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), August 08, 1999.


Hi Bob:

While a little pump shed will certainly keep the wheather off your head, if you have sustained sub-freezing temperatures, it will do nothing to prevent the pump from freezing without some minimal constant heat source such as a 100 watt light bulb left burning 24/7. In the alternative, you must make some provision to completely drain the pump (and the draft tube) after every use or expanding ice may crack your pump housing and leave you permanently thirsty.

Hope this helps.

-- Yan (no@no.no), August 09, 1999.


I too need help with installing a pump. We have a 4" well casing with the "stuff" coming out the top and over to the P tank. (we live in Florida). We are accustomed to the pipes/wires coming out the side of the casing. My questions are these:

1. If we have a hole cut in the side of the casing to reroute the pipes, will there be enough space in the 4" casing to run the pipe and cylinder down? The well is 147 feet and is in the Florida Aquifir. The water level is about 35 to 40 ft but pump is much deeper.

2. Not especially looking to do this the cheapest way, but the most efficient way. Seems with my limited knowledge that I would want a pump with a stroke that pumps on both the up and down swing and would have to have a foot valve.

Fortunately, the well is but a few feet from the kitchen door. We have a large generator but don't want to have to turn it on everyday for a bucket of water. If someone can steer me to an appropriate web site or give me some info, I would greatly appreciate it. Chubby hubby is having to work long hours and while he is 100% in agreement with me, the foot work is up to me. Thanks...

Taz...who gets thirsty just thinking about water.

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), August 09, 1999.


To answer Bob's question,

You can easily "frost-proof" your well by drilling a small hole (about 1/8") in your well pipe below your frost line (around these parts that's about 4'.) Then pour gravel around the hole and on up to the top. The water will drain back down to that level and the gravel will prevent the hole from getting clogged up.

As to other installation questions, a local well drilling company will be glad to answer. I had to have a guy come out to help complete my hand-dug when I got stuck. Was well worth it, cause he did it right...

jw

-- j werner (jwerner@hotmail.com), August 10, 1999.


Bob, it sounds like you probably have a deep well pump. It will have a cylinder which hangs on (normally) 1 1/4" pipe with a steel rod going through the pipe to lift the pump piston. It would be much easier to buy a pitcher pump, and install that. They are cheaper than the cylinder alone which goes to the deep well pump.

With all the pitcher pumps I have personally used, you can drain the pump and the down pipe by merely pulling UP on the pump handle all the way. This will lower the pison down to a point where the leathers lose contact with the sides of the pipe, and release the vacuum. Voila, no freeze problem.

By the way, always save a couple of cups of water; you have to prime these pumps each time you use them, if they've sat more than a brief period of time.

Taz, a four inch casing is not big enough to hang two pumps side by side (with a six inch casing, you can do this, with one pump a couple of feet lower)

It is POSSIBLE that you could hang the submersible below the piston on the hand pump and use the same drop pipe for both, but the sub pump would have to pump THROUGH the piston on the hand pump. I've never seen it done, and would recommend finding a pump contractor with a sense of adventure.

I also recommend Dempster Pumps, in Beatrice, Nebraska for very high quality hand pumps. If you can't find them on the web, call information; they're a BIG company. They also may be able to advise you how to put the two pumps together.

Another alternative is to just use the hand pump (actually they call it a windmill pump), and utilize a pump jack to mount a small electric motor for when you have electricity. This would work well, but the windmill pump requires more fooling around with than a typical sub pump (leathers, packing, etc.)

good luck

Al

-- Al K. Lloyd (all@ready.now), September 26, 1999.



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