Survival Unlimited Hand Pumps

[Newfie]

We are looking for a method to provide access to well water during power outages. It will be used infrequently, however I want to buy a quality device to ensure it lasts for a few years.

I have looked at both the Bison and Survival Unlimited pumps and the Survival model is about $500.00 cheaper. Just wondering if anyone has used either of the pumps and whether the Bison is worth the extra money.

[watcher]

What kind of well and how much water you talking about using and for how long at a time? You can make an old fashion "well bucket" to fit down the casing out of PVC pipe and fittings for just a few bucks.

[wy_white_wolf]

I'd get a good generator as it can be a multi-purpose device in also providing power for refrigeration or lights or whatever you need.

[Old Vet]

What kind of well do you have? The pump for a shallow well is around $20 and one for a deep will is around $50 of course you will have to buy a check valve for either one and the pipe to conect it with. But of course you can spend $500 and get one that is survivial quality. Or you can get a repair parts for around $15 and have them on hand If it ever goes bad or buy and extra one If you are not mechenicial inclined.

[ET1 SS]

In our search; shallow well hand-pumps go to only 25 feet and are found in every hardware store.

Our well water is at 68 feet. So the only alternative seems to be $600.

We have not found any cheaper handpump.

[Cabin Fever]

Another cheap alternative to obtain water from a well...at any depth....is with the use of a well bailer. The photo below shows several sizes of bailers. Normally, these are used by environmental companies to sample monitoring wells. They come in a variety of lengths, diameters, and materials and can be very inexpensive.

Simply tie a cord to the end of the tube, drop it down the well casing and obtain your water. In the bottom of the tube is a check valve that allows the water in, but not out.

[ET1 SS]

I have seen a 2 foot length of gutter pipe sealed at one end then used as a bucket to draw water.

Our well is a 6 inch OD casing with a 1 1/2 inch ID pipe inside for the electric pump, so any hand-drawn bucket would need to be small enough to fit in there.

And of course anytime that you remove the lid, you are possibly contaminating the well, so remember to dump bleach down there each time.

I think that the better option is a permanently installed hand-pump.

[Gary in AL]

I made one from a 5' length of 3-1/2" PVC, a reducer on the down end, a flap that goes into the down end as a check valve and a cap on the top end with an eye bolt through it to secure a rope to.
Then you just drop it down the casing the check valve floats up and lets the water in and when you pull it up the check valve closes and you've got your water.
Gary

[Old Vet]

Harbior Freight and Northern has them at that price. I know that they are made in chinia but they are their.

[ET1 SS]

Originally Posted by Old Vet

Harbior Freight and Northern has them at that price. I know that they are made in chinia but they are their.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=1318

$24.95 rated for 20 foot.




http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...6970_5844_5844

$39.95 rated for 19 1/2 foot

[ET1 SS]

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...6970_5846_5846

$99.99 that says it will work down to 23 foot.

[FrontPorch]

Originally Posted by ET1 SS

I think that the better option is a permanently installed hand-pump.

Yeah, I agree. I'm the OP's better half here. We would probably be using the hand pump often. Power seems to go out all the time. Need it to fill the livestock tanks. I don't want to be out there trying to haul small amounts out of that tiny well shaft.

[HermitJohn]

Solar powered pump for use full time? If your electric is off a lot, I'd think off grid way to go. A serious hand pump on drilled well pretty much means you would have to pull the electric pump, then install it in order to use it. Pulling a submersible deep well pump out of a well is no simple task.

Other way would be to get a generator to power the electric deep well pump as somebody else suggested.

Now my grandparents had a windmill that powered a pump jack that in turn powered whats basically a long handle deep well hand pump. At some point somebody added an electric motor to run the pump jack when wind wasnt blowing. For household use they had this plumbed to fill a cistern up by the house and then an old electric piston pump in basement to draw water from cistern and pressurize the house plumbing. Interesting place, before electric apparently there was a tank up in attic that windmill fed into and they had a gravity fed household system. Remains of an old Delco plant in basement also so when batteries charged they may have used it to fill that attic tank from cistern with electric pump.

[Ross]

Lehmans has a few hand pumps and I'd like to have one but seriously I would still hook up the generator and fill the stock tanks here.

[cowboy joe]

Maybe I'm off base, but how about a holding / reserve tank that fills when power is on and can be drawn off of during outages? I'm looking at putting in a tank like this myself next spring. In the meantime, I have a small generator that will run the pump plus some other things like the furnace & lights when the power goes off.

[txcajunla]

If much of the need is for stock use, you might consider acquiring a gas powered air compressor and air lifting the water during emergencies. All you should need is the compressor, a piped 'T' fitting to slip over the top of your well casing, and a weighted air delivery hose to drop down into the well. The cattle ranch I lived on for years had this setup spread across the place where we would just drive up to the well, connect to the hose, start the compressor, and watch the tank fill up. The down side of this setup is you will need a fairly high output air compressor. ...We were always able to find good used ones fairly reasonable.

Most people are surprised at just how much water you can airlift in a short amount of time. One of the wells would fill a 5000 gallon concrete tank in about 25 minutes, and as the tank filled, we always got ourselves a good drink and filled water bottles for the day. On really hot summer days the kids would play in the cool outflow into the tank and have a wonderful time.

Here where I live now, many people use air lift into a collection tank just because of the simplicity and lack of downhole maintenance. An air lift/collection tank/pressure pump system is sometimes almost trouble free compared to the rigors of dealing with submersible and jet pumps lifting inside the well.

.

[Annie]

We had installed a hand pump in case power went out. Ran the pipe down the casing on the main well, along side the electric pump pipe. Had a check valve installed on the hand pump pipes so it would stay primed. Worked great......only trouble was we kept having trouble with the electric pump's wires shorting out, which is our main water supplier. After having the well guys out a few times to pull the pipe for the electric pump and it's not cheap, discovered that when the electric pump would come on, it was hitting against the pipe for the hand pump and eventually shorting out wiring on the electric. Guess it was too crowded in there for both and we have good size casing...our well is 450 feet deep. Ended up pulling the pipe for the hand pump....no trouble since then. But it not only cost us initially for the cast iron hand pump and installation, but also the many service calls on our main. You might want to try an alternative like others have suggested or put your hand pump in it's own well and casing.

[BTO]

Originally Posted by Newfie

We are looking for a method to provide access to well water during power outages. It will be used infrequently, however I want to buy a quality device to ensure it lasts for a few years.

I have looked at both the Bison and Survival Unlimited pumps and the Survival model is about $500.00 cheaper. Just wondering if anyone has used either of the pumps and whether the Bison is worth the extra money.

I have a Bison pump. It was expensive but they stand behind their product and it works great. They manufacture them in Houlton Maine which is next door to us. Everything on the pump is brass or stainless. Really good quality and they are good people. I think they're good for 300 feet. From my experience you'd better be built like a gorrilla though. Check them out:

http://www.bisonpumps.com/

[ET1 SS]

Originally Posted by Ross

Lehmans has a few hand pumps and I'd like to have one but seriously I would still hook up the generator and fill the stock tanks here.

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Water__...___62748?Args=

$99.95 rated to 22 foot.

Or like this one
http://www.lehmans.com/store/Water__...__110802?Args=

$625 for deep wells

[Ross]

The very thing I was thinking but had no time to find. Thanks ET1