Watch: PVC Hand Pump Produced 50 Gallons a Minute
Russ Chastain 10.07.16
In a survival situation or anytime you’re living off the grid, you need certain things, and water is about the most important of all. This video demonstrates a large homemade piston-type (you push and pull a handle) pump that can move 50 to 60 gallons per minute.
Full instructions for making the pump are included in the video description on the YouTube page. Here is just a taste of the details therein:
The pump has two valves, a check valve at the bottom and a valve in the piston, just like most other hand pumps. In this case the valves are both made from 4″ plastic drain covers that are made to fit into a 4″ pipe (Oatey 4″ All PVC Snap-In Drain, No. 43569, $4.56 from Lowe’s Hardware). The cover is full of 1/4″ square holes and has a lip around the top to fit into the drain receptacle. I cut the lip off of one with a lathe or grinder so the whole thing can slide easily into a 4″ pipe (which has to be the standard high pressure PVC, NOT cellular core which has a slightly smaller internal diameter. You might want to check using the valve before buying.). This will become the piston valve.
There’s a lot more info for those of you who want to build one yourself. He said the total cost of the parts was less than $70.
He later added this:
These valves are simple and inexpensive and can form the basis of treadle pumps and so on. They allow a LOT of water through them – the last time I tested it I was getting 60 gallons/minute!
This sort of thing could be pretty useful… especially if you can rig up a powered wheel to operate the pump piston. You could get plenty of water for drinking, cooking, bathing, even irrigating a small garden.
