Well hand pump

[Scout11]

Have an outside well casing - submersible bullet type pump. Anyone ever put a basic hand pump on top of this? Well is about 60 +- feet deep. Beats storing water. Or some other way of getting the water out if the power fails.

 

[The Keymaster]

Take a look at simple pump. This item is om my required list.

 

[Brian87]

I made a simple tube using PVC about 2 1/2 inches to lower in my current 4"well just in case the grid goes down.

 

[Vince49]

Once it is primed a standard,"Pitcher Pump", would have no problem pumping from that depth. I had one for years pumping from a depth of 72 feet.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Once it is primed a standard,"Pitcher Pump", would have no problem pumping from that depth. I had one for years pumping from a depth of 72 feet.

You mean one like this?

If so, you're dead wrong... you cannot pump water deeper than about 33-34 feet with a pitcher pump. For anything deeper than that, you will need a submersible pump. The part that actually does the pumping must be at the bottom, not the top, that way you're creating positive pressure to force the water up as opposed to a vacuum.

 

[Gray Squirrel]

Look at [Oasispumps.com]they are in Mt.Vernon Indiana.

 

[PistolBob]

If so, you're dead wrong... you cannot pump water deeper than about 33-34 feet with a pitcher pump. For anything deeper than that, you will need a submersible pump. The part that actually does the pumping must be at the bottom, not the top, that way you're creating positive pressure to force the water up as opposed to a vacuum.

My father in law lives in Morgan County, and when they got connected to city water about 15 years ago, I helped him install a hand pump like you show, on his old well. It's 57 feet deep, and it takes some pumping, but he's 78 now and can bring the water up just fine with that hand pump. Uses the water for the garden, and to wash his truck. Doesn't drink it anymore because of some stuff in it though. Traces of Chloridane I think.

 

[inxs]

Physics says you can't pull water up very far, actually about 27' is pushing the limit. That said, my hand pump has the actual pump located about 6 feet blow grade and actuated by a suck rod. The chamber can be located pretty far down the intake with the major limitation being the suck rod flexure and difficulty in installing and removing.

Perhaps this is accounting for the differences in claims....

 

[ThrottleJockey]

If you dump enough water down the hole to properly prime it you would be surprised at just how far you can pump it.

 

[yepthatsme]

I'm on a well, but I'm afraid that it is too deep to pump without a submersible jet pump. It's 230 ft. deep. However, all is not lost. The water table in my area is only about 10 ft. deep.

 

[Magyars]

If I wanted to attempt to connect a shallow well & pump how would I go about it?
never drilled or have any idea of the process or complexity.
Regards

 

[BigMatt]

OK everybody calm down about the pitcher pump not being able to pump that far.

It isn't how deep the well pipe is sunk, it is how deep the water table is. If you sink a pipe in the ground 100', but the water table is 10', you are really only pumping 10'.

Think about it, even without a pump on the top of your pipe, the water in the pipe would rise to about 10' below the ground.

It's like putting a drinking straw in a glass of Coke... The Coke goes up in the straw until it is level with the rest of the Coke in the glass.

 

[CountryBoy19]

My father in law lives in Morgan County, and when they got connected to city water about 15 years ago, I helped him install a hand pump like you show, on his old well. It's 57 feet deep, and it takes some pumping, but he's 78 now and can bring the water up just fine with that hand pump. Uses the water for the garden, and to wash his truck. Doesn't drink it anymore because of some stuff in it though. Traces of Chloridane I think.

If you dump enough water down the hole to properly prime it you would be surprised at just how far you can pump it.

I would be quite surprised if you could do it because you would be defying the laws of physics.

It has nothing at all to do with "priming" the pump, it has to do with the physics of pumping water.

I'll give a brief explanation here. A pitcher pump essentially uses a "vacuum" to pump the water. Because a vacuum is a lack of pressure, in this case, pressure pushing down on the water, the the pumping action is actually done by the atmospheric pressure pushing up on the water. Atmospheric pressure is only so high, and therefore it can only pump the water so high. If you draw a perfect vacuum (nearly impossible with a pitcher pump) the absolute highest you can draw water is 34'. The only way to pump water higher than that is to have the pumping mechanism submerged (or within 34' of the water surface).

If you don't believe me, just do a simple google search.


What I think is actually happening here is many people are confusing a pitcher pump with an actual submersible pump. The pumping parts are actually located well below ground level, and pump water via positive pressure as opposed to vacuum. Pumping water via positive pressure will give you much more potential for well depth. The only limiting factor in that case is then the length of rod combined with the stretch of the material used for the pumping rod. But that discussion will venture well beyond the scope of such conversation and so far into metallurgy, vibrations, and physics, that most on here would become thoroughly confused what I'm even talking about.

OK everybody calm down about the pitcher pump not being able to pump that far.

It isn't how deep the well pipe is sunk, it is how deep the water table is. If you sink a pipe in the ground 100', but the water table is 10', you are really only pumping 10'.

Think about it, even without a pump on the top of your pipe, the water in the pipe would rise to about 10' below the ground.

It's like putting a drinking straw in a glass of Coke... The Coke goes up in the straw until it is level with the rest of the Coke in the glass.

I think those of us that actually understand the concept are well aware of that fact.

Now, how many wells have a water table that close to the surface? Very few And of those that do, how many are also safe to drink from? Dare I say VERY few?

Do you have a well? How deep is the water in the well?

I know my parents well is much further than 34', it's over 100, I know that much...

 

[BigMatt]

Just because your parents' well is over 100' deep, doesn't mean the static water level in the pipe is over 100' deep.

Look into it and you will see I am right.

 

[bigus_D]

Just because your parents' well is over 100' deep, doesn't mean the static water level in the pipe is over 100' deep.

Look into it and you will see I am right.

I don't know much, but my well is ~125' and my neighbor's well is `25'. I'm confident the water table at my place is above 25' deep.

BigMatt is definitely correct in what he is saying. so are the guys saying a hand pump won't bring up water from 100'.

see... everybody is a winner in the game of life

 

[VaGriller]

What about something like this?

Bison Deep Well Hand Water Pumps

My families property out by the lake has two deep wells. I've been wanting to get a hand pump "just in case", because we all know whats going to happen when water quits coming out of the tap.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

What about something like this?

Bison Deep Well Hand Water Pumps

My families property out by the lake has two deep wells. I've been wanting to get a hand pump "just in case", because we all know whats going to happen when water quits coming out of the tap.

Yup, everybody grabs two buckets and walks to the nearest source each morning. Pretty inconvenient, but part of life in early America, how fitting we will go out in the same way....

 

[VaGriller]

Yup, everybody grabs two buckets and walks to the nearest source each morning. Pretty inconvenient, but part of life in early America, how fitting we will go out in the same way....

Great answer! Glad I'll have my own source, away from the city, and heavy population.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Just because your parents' well is over 100' deep, doesn't mean the static water level in the pipe is over 100' deep.

Look into it and you will see I am right.

I know exactly what you're saying, but it's apparent to me that you don't comprehend what I said in my post.

Yes, the static water level in my parents well is over 100' deep. The actual well depth is over 200'.

Getting back to the questions I asked you, and you avoided, how many wells have a static water level within 25' of the surface?

Not very many, and if they do have a static water level that close to the surface it's because it's a shallow well, and the static water level is from ground water seepage. That water is most likely not safe to drink.

 

[BigMatt]

I know exactly what you're saying, but it's apparent to me that you don't comprehend what I said in my post.

Yes, the static water level in my parents well is over 100' deep. The actual well depth is over 200'.

Getting back to the questions I asked you, and you avoided, how many wells have a static water level within 25' of the surface?

Not very many, and if they do have a static water level that close to the surface it's because it's a shallow well, and the static water level is from ground water seepage. That water is most likely not safe to drink.

I did some research on the topic and I have found some answers to your questions.

DNR: Aquifer Systems Mapping Methods

If you do some reasearch into the database of wells in Indiana, you will find that most of them are less than 100 ft deep and many are less than 50 ft deep. You will find that just because these wells are 50 ft deep doesn't mean the static water level is 50' deep.

There are two different kinds of aquifers in Indiana, unconsolidated aquifers and bedrock aquifers. The unconsolidated ones will have a static water level the same as the ground water and the bedrock aquifers can be lower.

Here is an animation of an unconsolidated aquifer: DNR: Water Well Animation

Here you can look up your own area and see what you can expect of static water levels: DNR: Aquifer Systems Mapping (1:48,000)

As you will see from this last link, most areas in Central Indiana have static water levels of 15-80 feet. That includes bedrock aquifers.

I have done more research than maybe I should have, but maybe this will shed a little light on whether or not you can use a pitcher pump on your home well.