Deep well hand pump revealed!

This is my daughter, Lisa (the one without the hat!) posing with the basic components of a deep well hand pump (unmodified at this point). Craig (a part-time Woodhenge member) is in the other photo showing the pump at work. Because of the constraints of using off-the-shelf components and wanting to keep the effort (how hard you have to push) light the pump delivers around 1 cup of water per stroke).

The section Lisa is in front of is the 1" PVC drop pipe that can be pretty much any reasonable length. I have our 'test' pump in a drilled well with 90' of 1" pipe. The length shown in the picture is just to give a sense of proportion with the rest of the components.

The unique features of this pump include: the 'off-the-shelf' pitcher pump that is gutted and modified to make the upper works of the pump, the use of a stainless steel spring and stainless steel wire rope/cable instead of a rod to activate the piston in the lower portion of the pump, the modification of a foot valve/check valve to accept o-rings to seal against the lower cylinder and the fact that almost all of the components can be purchased at a hardware store.

I am paranoid about problems that will cause a societal breakdown and the resultant infrastructure breakdown and securing a good supply of potable water should be very high on anybody's list!

The drop pipe could easily be 1 1/4" if the depth of the lower end of the pump is fairly shallow. I include a weight of water per foot of depth chart to calculate pipe diameter for your application with the pump plans set.

Pump plans will be ready for delivery shortly. They will be $20 a set including postage. The plans will also include details on how to upgrade the lower end of the pump to stainless steel and brass. The stainless and brass version can be fabricated so precisely that it doesn't need the o-rings!

Shortly after the plans sets are available there will be pump kit sets available. I don't have all of the pricing back from my suppliers at this point, so the estimates are rough. The PVC version deep well hand pump kit will include everything except the drop pipe (150' of 1/8" stainless steel cable will be included). I'm estimating the kit will cost around $250 including shipping. The stainless steel and brass lower end will add around $200 to the kit price. A possibility of just supplying the machined parts for the kits is also in the works for those that might have a lot of the parts on hand and/or can get them cheaper in their locale.

Contact me at jsjuczak@ gisco.net for further information.