Manual Well Pump

Unlikely I'd have thought....atmospheric pressure won't lift water any where near that high as its only about 30 feet of water.

A column of water that high will be very heavy.

That's a looooong rope and bucket.

Manual well pumps are (were) available for pumping water from a well.

I mentioned a possible were because the last time I saw someone buying one of these was about 30 years ago. but it was and should still be popular in rural areas of Africa.

I will contact the company to find out more detail.

the pumps used a reciprocating cylinder at the bottom with galvanized pipe with rods

inside to pump water (similar to a wind mill / wind pump). At the top at least two options were available. A lever with the rod connected close to the fixing point giving a great advantage. or a circular motion pump with a cam or crank action.

As Del has mentioned 300' might be improbable because of the weight of the water to be lifted or the requirement to reduce the diameter of the cylinder to enable pumping by human power.

If a manual pump is however the only solution contraption can be improvised allowing

a pumping action driven by animals (SPCA permitting).

Please give detail and motivation why a manual pump is desired.

As others have pointed out you need an output pressure of greater than 130 psi (pounds per square inch). To achieve this reasonably with manual power you will need a very small pipe bore, and, then the additional forces to overcome friction will probably make it impractical. Consider using a small wind or solar powered electric pump, running a high percentage of the time, and, a holding tank at the top of the well.

As the operation is designed to be manual I would suggest the old system of a bucket in a rope.

There are no great pressure problems and the pulling will take time to lift. Pull the rope over a pulley centrally above the well and walk 300ft. With a latch at the top to catch the bucket when it gets there. The rope could cause dirt getting from the ground to the well when it is let down again but a light weight rope is important as this weight will add to the lifting effort.

The manual effort required will relate to the size of the bucket used.

One more useful thought - put a knot at the manual end of the rope that will not pass through the pulley or you will lose the rope and bucket soon - getting it back could be a problem and a well full of ropes will not work well.

Good luck.

Ammendment to my previous posting:-

"A bucket on a rope" - a bucket in a rope opens up all manner if strange thoughts.

mmmm strange thoughts....my favourite...

Guest:

Check:

http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=7042&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=681&iSubCat=880&iProductID=7042

DickL

Watch out:

BPN-043-125: 8' LENGTH 1 1/4" SCH. 80 PVC PIPE

BPN-044-SS: 8' LENGTH 3/8" SS LIFT ROD

That looks like an additional $1800 worth of rod and piping. Also will the pvc pipe stand the 300 psi; does it need to be anchored at the bottom, to stop the pipe buckling when the rod "stretches"; do you really want to be lifting over 50 Kg of stainless steel on every stroke, albeit with the mechanical advantage of the handle. I think I'd want to see this thing working at a 300ft depth before shelling out this sort of money.

Don't forget that one can counterbalance the mass of the rod and even the water column. This would go far to reduce the required force. As an interesting diversion, look at the steam powered reciprocating pump built in the late 1800's in Nevada's Comstock mines. It is now a historical landmark, I believe. It lifted a prodigious amount of water from near 1000 feet of depth. I believe that pump's lifting force was conveyed with wood timbers instead of a steel rod, with multiple counterbalances along its height (because it was in a working mine). Hence, the suggestion of using a counterbalance.

A counterbalance still has inertia if you are trying to reciprocate it.

There is a manual well pump called "Indian Mark III or the revised version "Indian Mark IV. I have used a number of them in various water boreholes up to a depth of 160 feet (49metres)

They are reciprocating pumps as Hendrik as described earlier. It is simply described as a barrel with a movable plunger, the plunger mechanism is activated by string of connecting rods all the way to the lever at the top of the well (ground level of the well)

I don,t where you can get information on this pump but try website on water resources in Africa funded by World Bank if you will get any more details.

If you are in the USA contact either obrock wind mill distributors or deann bennet supply for all you needs-dean bennet has no frieght cost if the order is over $1000 unless thaat has changed recently.

google for "hand pump" there are quite a lot available. some mfg even claim 500'

1 7/8" seems to be the smallest cylinder. with a 5" stroke a person can do 221'

a 1.5" cylinder with 5" stroke should do 300'. that will give about 1/2 a glass / stroke.

To run a bath - you will be exhausted.

They also do solar hand pumps.

300 foot is a fair depth.

u will find it will be expencive to pump up, U must consider a power supply, [electric, diesel, wind, solar,

Mono pumps are very good.

a lorentz helical rotor pump, solar, about $3500 aussie dollars for the pump.

lift up to 180 meters, 600 foot.

39000 litres a day.,,, i dont know if thats daylight hours or 24 hours?

u still have to buy the solar modules.

Yes. Check this site, it is one of the more fun designs and is good for 100 meters.

www.playpumps.org