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the other night we lost power and also lost water(well pump is electric obv) we live on a farm and i have some of those old style hand pumps poking around but when i went out to them they were also dry......i thought i read somewhere that you can prime these pumps to work somehow if thats true could someone kinda walk me through it im from jersey so all this farm stuff is new to me
The ones I've used have a screw on the top plate. Remove it and pour water in the hole. (you have to be patient, because the hole is small). Pretty soon, pumping the handle will draw water. Good luck!
How deep is the well?
all the wells that I'm aware of do not require priming...the "hand pumps" that you're referring to are probably frost-free spigots... they're not really pumps, just the valve is 3-4' underground... chances are you have a failure of some kind- the breaker is popped at the very least...
I've been on a well for about 13 years now- have had it drop offline twice in that time- once the wire insulation wore thru inside the well, and it was shorting out- the other time a pipe failed inside the well casing, and was audibly "spraying" inside the casing.
If you're on a well, you need to have a local pump service that you can trust to call out- they have equipment to pull the pump out of the well that just isn't practical for a homeowner to have- and a good one won't charge you thru the nose, either...
No, there really are old-school hand pumps that do need priming if unused for a while. There's one at a family cabin, which I've pumped plenty of water from. A completely different critter than the frost-free valve you mention.
But he claims the CS area. Last time I heard water is a long way down around here. Just a thought. [Coffee]Quote:
Originally Posted by Fentonite
Ahh. Missed that. I don't know how deep the water table is there. The hand pump I've used was only pulling water about 30' I think, but similar hand pumps can lift water 100-200'. Maybe the OP was referring to frost-proof valves. (but the old school pumps usually do require priming).Quote:
Originally Posted by jerrymrc
Does the "pump" have a hose nozzle on it? If it does, it's a yard hydrant and not a pump. If it has a pour spout like a carafe, then it's a pump. You just pour water in the top then pump it.
You should have a tank somewhere that the well stores water in so the pump doesn't get behind. Should be able to access a small amount of water from there in an emergency.
Showing my age here...
If this is the old time / old school hand pump that I'm familiar with that are ??? years old on the farm, then you prime them by pumping them. Are these cast iron and approx 3' - 4' tall coming out of the ground with the long handle? Obviously "old school?" If so, you'll need to prime by pumping for at least a few minutes. Full strokes, all the way up, all the way down. If the well isn't dry or pipes corroded to dust, you'll get water, but you need to be 'priming' the pump by pumping for awhile. Pumping is drawing the water up from who knows how deep, you're not just turning the water on.
No clue about water tables in the Springs but I primed a pump back in IA a few years ago just to see if it still worked, probably hadn't been used in decades maybe. I thought it was dry or broken, but after I got a real good sweat going and felt like a fool for trying so hard I finally got the water flowing. It just wasn't used on a regular basis, but the damn thing still worked just fine.
Robb
yes it is a stupid frost free valve :( can i retrofit one of those old school hand pumps??? i just dont like the idea of no water if shtf....or during a power outage.....i think our well is like 500 feet im actually out in ellicott area not in cs if that helps i have no idea what level our water tables are
Sorry if I wasn't clear before, I was speaking from experience on wells in Colorado (my father has a well in Washington state- he's got like 6-8' to water)Quote:
Originally Posted by cofi
a quick search found this:
http://www.simplepump.com/OUR-PUMPS/Flow.html
you can check the water table level with a small weight, fishing bobber & enough fishing line to reach the water (line will go slack when it hits water)
A generator, or a DC-powered pump & solar array (and batteries) would also keep you in water during an outage... during some nasty winter storms, I've been without power for more than 3 days- gotta have something as a backup
As posted in the link above you are not going to hand pump past 300' or so. Most wells out there are 300'+. Since most of the wells out there are 220V I would find out how many amps your pump draws.
Then I would think about a generator that will supply those amps and have it on Propane. You want propane because of the fact you are not going to use it that much and infrequently. A conversion is $150 or so. You will not have to worry about gas going bad and the effect of it sitting in the carb. Propane stores forever.
When the power does go out you run the generator for short periods of time to supply water. This is something that has to be explained to most of the family members. 1/2 hour 2 times a day to do dishes/take a bath and pour drinking water is more than enough. Running this way a 3500W would take a week or so to run through a 30lb tank. http://www.propane-generators.com/
You need a to have a way to change over the power source and the ideal situation would be to have a large enough pump shed to house the generator and tanks. along with the current pump.
Just some thoughts. [Coffee]
You can hand pump at pretty deep depths, you just cant prime that deep. There's valving a well company can build for you to add a hand pump and keep your prime from the electric.
Also there's some older wells in CO that are at about 125' depending on age and location it's possible...