More questions and answers about the deep well hand pump

I just copied the following from the article I'm writing on deep well hand pumps. It should give you a good start on determining if this kind of pump will work for you. Thanks for reading on.
-Jim-

Introduction: At first I didn’t think that the pump I built for our family was all that special. It was a matter of adapting a few pieces of commonly available parts and a bit of simple machine work. However, it all has to do with my background. I grew up in a hands-on kind of family and selected many of my early jobs based upon both paying for school and what I could learn. Developing the ability to look at a problem and coming up with a series of solutions and then being able to test and refine those results is, I’m discovering, a rare trait. Teaching middle and high school shop classes has helped hone this skill in me.

The problems that we as a nation are going to face in the next decade could, if confronted with their raw implications, make one run screaming into the night. My wife tries to be the voice of reason here; she believes that the effects of energy shortages and economic woes will happen slowly and give people a chance to band together to find solutions that meet everyday survival needs. We hope and pray that she is right.

The deep well hand pump plan and kit set is my answer to the basic need for potable water in a situation where electrically pumped water is not available. With all of the required things that are taught in school and the life of decadent luxury that we’ve become accustomed to we, as a societal group have by and large, forgotten some of the common and simple principles upon which the mechanical world around us is based.


If you can see the water in your drilled well it is a sure bet that it is close to the surface. In this case the water is only 8’ down the encased portion of the well. This is the Spring high water level.

The assumption here is that you possess the skill sets of a handy 12-year-old in one of my middle school technology classes, as this was the think tank and testing facility for my initial pump ideas. I took the past year off from teaching to write, design, lecture and start our farm and the pump was one of the things I worked on refining during that time. It has undergone several evolutions and continues to evolve.

My initial designs on anything are typically overcomplicated. Distilling the deep well hand pump into the simplest and easiest machine has been a rewarding task. I hope that you, the builder, will contact me if you come up with better solution for its construction, so that others may benefit. The profit earned from selling the plans and kits are going to be used to build our intentional community’s infrastructure and prepare our greater area community for more self-reliance by examples that can be easily taught or observed.


My daughter, Lisa is posing in front of most of the major deep well hand pump components. She is 12 years old, in 6th grade and has the technical ability to assemble the pump!

First things first: Do you need my pump? Will a simple pitcher pump that is available in hardware stores and farm supply stores around where I live for around $60 work for you instead? There are several things you have to know before you install any kind of pump into any well. If the static level of your well is close to ground level; up to 28’ (give or take a few feet) deep, then just buy a pitcher pump, a few lengths of 1 1/14” PVC pipe, some fittings, a foot valve (a check valve that goes on the bottom end of the draw pipe) and a well cap that you can drill out for the draw pipe and bolts to attach the pump. Drop the whole thing into your well and pump away. You’d have water in a pinch for around $100 and a couple hours worth of easy work. The laws of physics determine the maximum depth that you can suck water out of a well. The maximum depth, at sea level, that you can pull water up is 32 feet under perfect conditions. It decreases with an increase in elevation. I’ve derated this to 28 feet, even if the seals in the pitcher type suction pump are nearly perfectly tight..

Here’s Craig demonstrating the freshly installed deep well hand pump. The rescue rope hasn’t been attached to the eye-bolt at this point.

1) How deep is the lowest static level of your well? This is where the water and air meet in the well hole. I use a really complicated method for determining this. After removing well cap, tie a piece of string to the end of an adjustable wrench, lower the string until you hear it hit the water. Tie a knot in the string where it comes out of the well. Remove the string and measure it from knot to wrench. This level will vary from time of year and seasonal water table level. Ideally, you should measure your static water level in the driest part of the year. I’m pretty sure that my pump will work easily to depths of 150’ with static levels of up to 100’. I will suggest some techniques that can be tried to alter the design for deeper wells and lower static levels in the construction portion of these plans. Please write, e-mail or call me if you try them and whether they are successful or not.

2) How deep is your well? You could use the same technique as above for determining the depth of your well, if you don’t know it. Just lower the wrench until the string goes slack. A little care is needed here to assure you don’t entangle the string and wrench with an in well electric pump.

3) What is the recovery rate of your well? The easiest way to determine this is to call up a local well driller and ask what they’ve gotten as recovery rates for wells that have been drilled in your area. The same string and weight method could be used if you don’t have success with the driller. Layout several 5 gallon buckets near where you have a hose attached to the house. Measure the static height of the water before anybody has used water in the house for a couple of hours. Turn on the hose and fill 4 or 5 buckets completely full of water. Measure the static level of the well immediately after the last bucket is filled and continue to measure the levels in one minute intervals until the well’ static level reaches the original height. Add and divide to calculate the recovery rate in gallons per minute. As a simple rule of thumb a 6” well holds around a gallon per foot. There will be a bit more science discussed in the math and calculations part of the plans/instructions section of this manual.

4) What is the frost depth of your area? Call the USDA or your Cooperative Extension offices in your county or parish. This will determine if you need some kind of drain-back device on your upper works to prevent freezing and subsequent cracking of pipes and other parts.

The pump can be divided into two distinct parts; I’ve called them the “Upper Works” and the “Lower Works”. The upper works consists of a ‘standard pitcher pump’, cast iron or cast aluminum well pipe cap and some fittings and fasteners. The lower works are made from two check valves, one moving and one fixed and a bunch of standard plumbing fittings its design is based upon the same principles that the in well section of an old fashioned wind powered water pump. The upper works and lower works are connected to each other by the draw pipe and pump cable. The addition of a safety rope is recommended.

The unique features of the pump include the fact that instead of using a solid 3/8” stainless steel rod to connect the upper works to the lower works the design uses a wire rope and return spring. This saves on weight and simplifies the assembly. The upper works pitcher pump requires a little bit of disassembly and some simple machining.