Need a cheap water pump

19 years ago

I am trying to find a water pump for a project.

I want to build a floating platform out of 4inch PVC pipe.

And put a water wheel on it.

I want the water wheel to drive a water pump.

Since the pump is at the water level it doesn't need much suction.

But it needs to push the water a vertical distance of about 40 feet.

I can float the water wheel out into the current

of the river behind our house and anchor it there.

Then it can just sit there and pump water up to my house.

I want the water for things like the garden or any thing else we plant.

Or we are thinking of getting an above ground pool.

But we have a well and can't use it to that extent.

The river is about 450 feet from the house.

So it is just a little too far to run electric.

Now I just need a source for a water pump.

Probably need a belt driven pump, but will listen to ideas.

Needs to be very cheap, as I don't have a lot to spend on this project.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

Comments (8)

byBill
19 years ago
Hey Pooh it looks like no one has a solution for you. It is a good idea, but no cheap pumps seem to be out there. Maybe we will have to invent one.
Pooh Bear
Original Author
19 years ago
I bought one just for this purpose about 7 years ago.
We moved since then and I think it got tossed out.
I'll keep looking tho.
I can make one if I have to.

Pooh Bear
rjoh878646
19 years ago
This what you are looking for?? Tke the hand crank off and hook the paddlewheel to it. Should be able to find more like it on the web

Here is a link that might be useful: lehmans hardware
Pooh Bear
Original Author
19 years ago
That would probably work.
It doesn't say how high it will push water.
And it's $90. I can make one cheaper.
Thanks for finding this one tho.

Pooh Bear
Offgridman
19 years ago
Try this for a cheap water pump. Check out the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spiral water wheel pump
joyfulguy
19 years ago
Hey there, Pooh,

Do you have some wind where the pump is located?

How about getting one of the old windmills that people used to use to pump water for the home, etc. They still use them to water cattle in distant locations.

Maybe you could build one that would work well enough to do the job. It wouldn't need to be fancy.

Good wishes to you and the young uns.

ole Ed
joyfulguy
19 years ago
Hi again PoohBear,

Some years ago my uncle had a small stream a couple of hundred feet from his house.

He had a ram installed there that had a cup or something to collect some water, then tipped or something, releasing that water and moving a mechanism that sent a small amount of water up the pipe to their buildings.

I think that he had a samll dam on the stream so that there was a small fall of water feeding the mechanism of the ram.

If I saw it in operation, I forget what was going on - but then we would have seen only the outside and someone would have had to explain how it worked. I expect that I, having been a curious cuss, even way back then, would have wanted to know what was going on with this new and interesting system.

Espcially since we had drilled an artesian well at home and installed a pump and pressure system there.

But had no flush toilet and no hot water heater (in the late '30s, early '40s).If you'd like to pursue it, let me know: his daughter, my cousin, lives locally and she might have more information about how the system ran.

Good wishes to you and yours,

ole joyful
bry84
19 years ago
Well, I know this is different to what you had in mind, but a regular rainwater collection system could provide you with water for the garden, and lots of it if you size it well.

It's low tech, doesn't use power in most cases, and it can be cheap to install. The scale and expense of it will vary. Some systems are just a tank attached to the guttering and you drain them by gravity with a tap on the base. More complex systems can use big underground plastic tanks and have an electric pump to deliver the water.

Even a fairly small system (like a 50 gallon tank) that costs little or nothing has potential to save hundereds of gallons of water each year.