Water well conversion (farm, converting, good, oil)
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I have a water well with a 220v, submersible pump. I'm pumping water from approx. 150'. How would you go about converting to a hand pump if the electricity were to go Kuput for an expended period?
Get a generator that has 220v on it. I use my generator to power my fridges, kitchen, boiler, and sump pumps. Then when the water pressure tanks get low, I turn off those circuits and power the well pump until my tanks (I have 3 of them) get full and then switch back to the other things.
I have a water well with a 220v, submersible pump. I'm pumping water from approx. 150'. How would you go about converting to a hand pump if the electricity were to go Kuput for an expended period?
You can have a hand pump and an electric pump on the same well, no need to abandon one for the other
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Depending on the wattage of the pump, I would use solar to charge a 12 volt (car type) battery and use an inverter. There are 400 watt 220 volt inverters for under $100. Even in our area with little sun, my solar trickle charger keeps a battery full most of the year.
The low tech way is a bailer bucket. That is nothing more than a length of piping that will fit down the well attached to a rope. At the bottom of that pipe, you add a flapper check valve, like a bit of leather on top of a hole drilled into a pipe cap on the bottom of the pipe. The pipe goes down the well, the weight of it starts it sinking, the check valve opens and admits water, and then you pull it up. The weight of the water in the pipe keeps the check valve closed.
An interesting way is a rope pump,
And endless loop of rope goes down the well. The part that is being lifted up the well has a somewhat tight fitting pipe around it. As long as the rope is rotating fast enough, water will cling to it and be lifted upwards. In the video, parts of an old slipper are used as boluses around the rope to lift more water.
The third option is a solar pump. Much more costly.
Also, look into solar, that way you are not dependent on the grid.
I get irritated when people recommend generators. They are dirty, loud and burn fossil fuels. But they are typical of the approaches today.
Yeah, while you're pumping your a-- off, or waiting for the sun to come out to run your solar pump, I'll be using my well. I'm assuming that you don't own a car or use any transportation that burns that smelly, dirty fossil fuel. Happy trails to you and MOTHER EARTH !
Yeah, while you're pumping your a-- off, or waiting for the sun to come out to run your solar pump, I'll be using my well. I'm assuming that you don't own a car or use any transportation that burns that smelly, dirty fossil fuel. Happy trails to you and MOTHER EARTH !
Although I'm not opposed to the use of generators myself, I thought I'd point out that solar systems typically don't supply direct power, but rather the solar panels charge batteries that are used for power. So the pump would run whether the sun was shining or not.
Frankly, I'd be much more concerned that a seldom-used generator might not run when I needed it due to old gas.
Yeah, while you're pumping your a-- off, or waiting for the sun to come out to run your solar pump, I'll be using my well. I'm assuming that you don't own a car or use any transportation that burns that smelly, dirty fossil fuel. Happy trails to you and MOTHER EARTH !
Water self-sufficiency is a multi-faceted thing. Rain collection, solar pump, hand pump, these are three fail-overs themselves.
But, sure, keep burning and drilling baby! Next you will be telling me that petroleum is in everything, from food to hair gels and THAT'S why we should keep using it and that we should make no attempt at not being dependent on it, right?
Why break your back pumping water by hand or relying on Obama's America to supply electricity or fuel for a generator? The water windmill doesn't need either. There are no electronics to fail; they last forever. This was my choice and a good choice it was.
Why break your back pumping water by hand or relying on Obama's America to supply electricity or fuel for a generator? The water windmill doesn't need either. There are no electronics to fail; they last forever. This was my choice and a good choice it was.
Despite the fact that I grew up in Illinois farm country where the landscape is covered with old windmills, I was 21 or so before I saw one in action on the farm of a guy I was bailing hay for. It was above an old concrete stock tank, he engaged the pump and it started filling the tank. He pointed to an identical tank in the pasture across the road and explained that there was a tube connecting them that would keep the level of the tanks even. I was amazed not just by the effectiveness of the simple, centuries-old technology, but also by the fact that at some point in our recent past we have come to believe that our modern systems with electric pumps and everything that can go wrong with them is any kind of improvement.
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