Posted: 3/13/2026 10:05:56 PM EDT
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We'd like to buy a hand pump for backup use for our water well. (We also plan on eventually doing a solar setup for our primary electric pump.) With that said, what are some recommendations for the pump as well as whatever else is necessary to make sure we can pump water by hand. We would probably just have all the materials needed on-hand, then leave them in the shop for when the need arises? I assume this is okay to do, and that I don't need to leave the equipment installed year-round. Our well first gets water around 55 ft deep, and the total depth is about 120 ft. Are there hand pumps strong enough to supply water to the house for shower/laundry/etc? Or is a hand pump really only for pumping water into a bucket/container? I don't have any experience or knowledge with using a hand pump on a well. |
The Emperor is naked.
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I've seen These advertised. I'd like to hear if anyone knows anything about them. Attached File Flojak brand |
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Start with sharing a photo of your wellhead configuration. 55ft to water & 120ft deep tells me you likely have a submersible pump. Unless your hand pump somehow pulls suction through your submersible pump's discharge pipe, you will need a way to access the inside of the well casing to reach the water with a hand pump drop pipe. You don't want to be pulling your submersible pump every time you want to use the hand pump. |
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Originally Posted By aod886: I've seen These advertised. I'd like to hear if anyone knows anything about them. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/249712/FRE-1-largersquare_png-3729293.JPG Flojak brand The base model won't work for OP. Only 50ft of lift. Once he starts pumping, his water level will be even deeper than 55ft. Attached File |
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Check out Simple Pump and Bison Pumps. They advertise that the Simple Pump can be used to fill the pressure tank by connecting a hose between the pump and your existing water system. Not sure about the Bison. |
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Originally Posted By BMSMB: My parents well has a hand pump. It is solely for pumping out into a bucket or a hose. I can't imagine trying to pressurize your system and keep up with water being used for laundry or a shower by hand pumping. Originally Posted By BMSMB: My parents well has a hand pump. It is solely for pumping out into a bucket or a hose. I can't imagine trying to pressurize your system and keep up with water being used for laundry or a shower by hand pumping. Thank you for clearing that up. :) Originally Posted By flcracker: Start with sharing a photo of your wellhead configuration. 55ft to water & 120ft deep tells me you likely have a submersible pump. Unless your hand pump somehow pulls suction through your submersible pump's discharge pipe, you will need a way to access the inside of the well casing to reach the water with a hand pump drop pipe. You don't want to be pulling your submersible pump every time you want to use the hand pump. I’ll try to get a picture up soon. Yes, we have a submersible pump. Correct, pulling the pump is quite the chore. We did that past year when we changed it out. We bought the property a few years ago, been doing lots of projecte. We’re currently on county water until we get our well up and running. As of right now our well is not in use. I think finding a way to have the hand pump draw water up the narrow pipe (via a smaller pipe) is what we want. |
The Emperor is naked.
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Definitely going to need a deep well pump, as a suction pump is limited to 25-30 ft of lift. These both look like good options. |
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The well is basically out in the open. There is no official well house, but there is an old cinder block structure that used to be a dairy milking barn about 70 ft away from the well. So the pressure tank is there and so is the electrical (pressure switch and breaker box). The well has an exterior metal pipe, and an inner PVC pipe. The metal pipe has an inner diameter of just under 6 and 1/2 inches. The PVC pipe has an inner diameter of approximately 4 and 3/4 inches. Here are two pictures:  
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The Emperor is naked.
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I'm assuming that you have a below-ground pitless adapter since I can't see the pump discharge pipe in the photos. The inner PVC pipe is your actual well casing in which your pump hangs. The metal pipe is the surface casing that the well driller used to keep the hole open while he drilled deeper. Your issue here is that you need to get the downhole assembly for a deep well hand pump down inside your well casing alongside the pump discharge pipe to reach water. When you pulled the pump, you had to pull the discharge pipe. Do you recall the OD of that pipe? That's what will determine whether you can get a deep well hand pump assembly down the well without pulling your pump. Suction lift (traditional pitcher pumps, "waggle"-type diaphragm bilge pumps, surface centrifugal pumps, trash pumps, etc.) are limited to about 25ft of lift, so suction through your submersible pumps discharge line isn't a likely option. |
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Originally Posted By aod886: Sure. That model only claims it does 50 feet. Other models on their site say 200 feet. The deep well models appear to have a substantial downhole assembly that doesn't look likely to fit past a discharge pipe from a submersible pump in a 4-5" well. It appears that you have to replace your existing pump with their complete assembly. I might be misinterpreting the design, though. |
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Maybe I missed it, but what is the end goal here. Power is out and you want water? or are you talking about the end of modern civilization? 1. The easiest approach would be a generator and storing some fuel in a safe place. This is what I do and if you only run the genny to pump water into 5 gallon containers or something more permanent you could store enough fuel for 6 months to a year pretty easily. 2. The other option is a solar set up with batteries, but you would likely need 240v and a 20-30 amps wich is a big solar setup, but then you don't have to worry about fuel. 3. the next option would be a deep water hand pump but you need space to get the apparatus in the well, it isn't just a hose, the pump part of the hand pump has to be down in the water. 4. the next option is a bucket type service that is easy to build, I have built 3. It is a PVC pipe you drop into the well and it has a check valve in the bottom. It fills up with water when in the water and the check valve closes when the water tries to drain when you pull it up. You use the biggest PVC pipe that can fit in the well casing and go up and down easily. It would be tedious, but it is better than no water. I have done 1 with a primary genny and a backup genny with 50 gallons of gas, and 4 with home made "buckets". If that doesn't work it's an armed hike to the pond. This last nor'easter, we went without grid power for 3 days and I used gas that was stored in metal korean war era military surplus gas cans that has been stored since 2006 and had no issues. Deisel would be easier especially if you already have a heating system with a heating oil tank or other system with a deisel tank. |
Mach
Nobody is coming to save us.
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Nobody is coming to save us.
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Originally Posted By flcracker: I'm assuming that you have a below-ground pitless adapter since I can't see the pump discharge pipe in the photos. The inner PVC pipe is your actual well casing in which your pump hangs. The metal pipe is the surface casing that the well driller used to keep the hole open while he drilled deeper. Your issue here is that you need to get the downhole assembly for a deep well hand pump down inside your well casing alongside the pump discharge pipe to reach water. When you pulled the pump, you had to pull the discharge pipe. Do you recall the OD of that pipe? That's what will determine whether you can get a deep well hand pump assembly down the well without pulling your pump. Suction lift (traditional pitcher pumps, "waggle"-type diaphragm bilge pumps, surface centrifugal pumps, trash pumps, etc.) are limited to about 25ft of lift, so suction through your submersible pumps discharge line isn't a likely option. We have a below ground pitless adapter, it's right where the blue PEX goes into (kind of hard to make out in my photo). I'll get the specs on the pipe/tube we used that the pump is connected to later. Good info, thank you. |
The Emperor is naked.
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Originally Posted By Mach: Maybe I missed it, but what is the end goal here. Power is out and you want water? or are you talking about the end of modern civilization? 1. The easiest approach would be a generator and storing some fuel in a safe place. This is what I do and if you only run the genny to pump water into 5 gallon containers or something more permanent you could store enough fuel for 6 months to a year pretty easily. 2. The other option is a solar set up with batteries, but you would likely need 240v and a 20-30 amps wich is a big solar setup, but then you don't have to worry about fuel. 3. the next option would be a deep water hand pump but you need space to get the apparatus in the well, it isn't just a hose, the pump part of the hand pump has to be down in the water. 4. the next option is a bucket type service that is easy to build, I have built 3. It is a PVC pipe you drop into the well and it has a check valve in the bottom. It fills up with water when in the water and the check valve closes when the water tries to drain when you pull it up. You use the biggest PVC pipe that can fit in the well casing and go up and down easily. It would be tedious, but it is better than no water. I have done 1 with a primary genny and a backup genny with 50 gallons of gas, and 4 with home made "buckets". If that doesn't work it's an armed hike to the pond. This last nor'easter, we went without grid power for 3 days and I used gas that was stored in metal korean war era military surplus gas cans that has been stored since 2006 and had no issues. Deisel would be easier especially if you already have a heating system with a heating oil tank or other system with a deisel tank. End goal is backup to a backup. The primary backup plan will be to get a solar setup, that way everything just works. The hand-pump would be for a secondary backup to that, and it would be a long-term backup. (Sort of a zombie apocalypse scenario). But until we get the solar going, the hand-pump would be a "temporary" backup since it's probably cheaper and easier. But maybe if we get a good tax refund we might be able to fund the solar option sooner than later. We do have two portable generators on hand, pretty sure at least one of them does 220 since its also a welder. I'll have to check the other, but using a generator is a good option as well. Of course if its end of the world, our fuel would run out eventually. But that's a great temporary backup that we can already do. Your option 4 sounds fairly "easy" in that there's no moving parts, but keeping it clean when pulling it up and putting it back down would introduce a lot of "dirt" I would imagine. Yeah we have a berkey water filter and all... Pulling up roughly 100' of pipe/tubing, it's gotta lay on the ground as you keep pulling it. Then you have to let it go back into the well. Since we get water at 55 ft, and if used a 100 ft run of 1.5" pipe, that would be just under 5 gal of water, or roughly 38 lbs of water. That would be fun pulling up and down. But it's an option. :) Our house is just under 500 ft from the well. Our ponds are a pretty good hike from the house, lol. 1000 ft to the nearest, and 1800 ft to the biggest pond. We have a generac for the house, but that would be quite the expense to run 220 out to the well. But once we trench the line for the water to go from well to house we may drop an electric conduit at the same time for later use? The electric at the well is on a separate line than the one at the house. (We have two separate metered connections/accounts: one for the shop and one for the house. ) Thanks Mach. |
The Emperor is naked.
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I solved the intermittent service issue on our well by installing an 800 gallon poly tank that fills from the well, then gravity feeds to the horse barn and house. I can run it on a generator which fuels from the house propane tank, but I have never needed that option. Power outages are not really a concern, I put all that together since the submersible pump burned out and it was 8 days to get it repaired. The wife was NOT happy. 
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Originally Posted By DD1801: End goal is backup to a backup. The primary backup plan will be to get a solar setup, that way everything just works. The hand-pump would be for a secondary backup to that, and it would be a long-term backup. (Sort of a zombie apocalypse scenario). But until we get the solar going, the hand-pump would be a "temporary" backup since it's probably cheaper and easier. But maybe if we get a good tax refund we might be able to fund the solar option sooner than later. We do have two portable generators on hand, pretty sure at least one of them does 220 since its also a welder. I'll have to check the other, but using a generator is a good option as well. Of course if its end of the world, our fuel would run out eventually. But that's a great temporary backup that we can already do. Your option 4 sounds fairly "easy" in that there's no moving parts, but keeping it clean when pulling it up and putting it back down would introduce a lot of "dirt" I would imagine. Yeah we have a berkey water filter and all... Pulling up roughly 100' of pipe/tubing, it's gotta lay on the ground as you keep pulling it. Then you have to let it go back into the well. Since we get water at 55 ft, and if used a 100 ft run of 1.5" pipe, that would be just under 5 gal of water, or roughly 38 lbs of water. That would be fun pulling up and down. But it's an option. :) Our house is just under 500 ft from the well. Our ponds are a pretty good hike from the house, lol. 1000 ft to the nearest, and 1800 ft to the biggest pond. We have a generac for the house, but that would be quite the expense to run 220 out to the well. But once we trench the line for the water to go from well to house we may drop an electric conduit at the same time for later use? The electric at the well is on a separate line than the one at the house. (We have two separate metered connections/accounts: one for the shop and one for the house. ) Thanks Mach. Originally Posted By DD1801: Originally Posted By Mach: Maybe I missed it, but what is the end goal here. Power is out and you want water? or are you talking about the end of modern civilization? 1. The easiest approach would be a generator and storing some fuel in a safe place. This is what I do and if you only run the genny to pump water into 5 gallon containers or something more permanent you could store enough fuel for 6 months to a year pretty easily. 2. The other option is a solar set up with batteries, but you would likely need 240v and a 20-30 amps wich is a big solar setup, but then you don't have to worry about fuel. 3. the next option would be a deep water hand pump but you need space to get the apparatus in the well, it isn't just a hose, the pump part of the hand pump has to be down in the water. 4. the next option is a bucket type service that is easy to build, I have built 3. It is a PVC pipe you drop into the well and it has a check valve in the bottom. It fills up with water when in the water and the check valve closes when the water tries to drain when you pull it up. You use the biggest PVC pipe that can fit in the well casing and go up and down easily. It would be tedious, but it is better than no water. I have done 1 with a primary genny and a backup genny with 50 gallons of gas, and 4 with home made "buckets". If that doesn't work it's an armed hike to the pond. This last nor'easter, we went without grid power for 3 days and I used gas that was stored in metal korean war era military surplus gas cans that has been stored since 2006 and had no issues. Deisel would be easier especially if you already have a heating system with a heating oil tank or other system with a deisel tank. End goal is backup to a backup. The primary backup plan will be to get a solar setup, that way everything just works. The hand-pump would be for a secondary backup to that, and it would be a long-term backup. (Sort of a zombie apocalypse scenario). But until we get the solar going, the hand-pump would be a "temporary" backup since it's probably cheaper and easier. But maybe if we get a good tax refund we might be able to fund the solar option sooner than later. We do have two portable generators on hand, pretty sure at least one of them does 220 since its also a welder. I'll have to check the other, but using a generator is a good option as well. Of course if its end of the world, our fuel would run out eventually. But that's a great temporary backup that we can already do. Your option 4 sounds fairly "easy" in that there's no moving parts, but keeping it clean when pulling it up and putting it back down would introduce a lot of "dirt" I would imagine. Yeah we have a berkey water filter and all... Pulling up roughly 100' of pipe/tubing, it's gotta lay on the ground as you keep pulling it. Then you have to let it go back into the well. Since we get water at 55 ft, and if used a 100 ft run of 1.5" pipe, that would be just under 5 gal of water, or roughly 38 lbs of water. That would be fun pulling up and down. But it's an option. :) Our house is just under 500 ft from the well. Our ponds are a pretty good hike from the house, lol. 1000 ft to the nearest, and 1800 ft to the biggest pond. We have a generac for the house, but that would be quite the expense to run 220 out to the well. But once we trench the line for the water to go from well to house we may drop an electric conduit at the same time for later use? The electric at the well is on a separate line than the one at the house. (We have two separate metered connections/accounts: one for the shop and one for the house. ) Thanks Mach. make an axle with a spool that sits on 2 saw horses and 1 end that fits into a cordless drill or hand crank. You can wind the paracord on the axle with the cordless drill ( or hand crank ) to bring it up and keep the paracord clean and out of the dirt. Recharge the cordless drill battery with solar. I have a 4 inch well and could not find a hand pump that was less than $1000 that would fit, so I went with the PVC bucket route, although I admit I have never tested it but have everything I need to use it. I also have a spare submersible pump and 2 generators. One is none and all that. |
Mach
Nobody is coming to save us.
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Nobody is coming to save us.
.