What would you do if the water in your home, one day, stopped running from the faucet? But it wouldn't only be you - the water would be shut off from all of your neighbors' houses, as well. With no water source and no grocery store for miles, what would you do in that instance, except for wait?
When you depend on the traditional system of pipes and faucets, such an instance is bound to happen, even if brief. Instead of expecting this dependence over time, however, consider an alternative - hand water pumps. Although used as a backup for traditional motorized designs, these hand pumps allow you to manually bring up water from a source below ground, such as an aquifer. Such a system does not rely on electricity and can bring up more than a day's supply of water.
Pumps, hand or electric, have a jet or submersible design for bringing water up from a shallow or deep source. Shallow pumps have a jet design and are mounted above a well. This system brings up water through a suction motion, much like when you suck on a straw. Limited to a depth of 25 feet, these water pumps need to be filled already through a one-way check valve to start working.
Water pumps for deep wells also have a jet design. To go a greater depth, however, the system uses two pipes, both of which use suction and pressure to lift water.
Submersible pumps are more efficient for deeper wells. Made with a long cylindrical shape in a well casing, these water pumps are primarily underground. The bottom half is a sealed pump below ground that is connected to a power source on the surface.
Hand pumps can be used with shallow and deep wells. Simple Pump, one of the more well-known manufacturers of hand pumps, has a manual design that brings up water at five gallons per minute from a few hundred feet below ground. Although a hand pump can back up a motorized system, it can also be used on its own.
