Good morning, all.

On Sun, 03 May 2015 21:13:17 +0100,
Vir Campestris wrote:

My experience is with much smaller distance to the water. I sail boats,
and there's a saying "The best pump is a frightened man with a bucket".
We have a few small pumps for getting water out of the bottom of boats.
When there's only a few cm a bucket wouldn't work; but they seem to need
a lot of effort for not much water.

Your uses are probably those that the plastic-pump is meant for. I
phoned the company and the manager instantaneously recommended a rotary
pump. Unfortunately, the remaining ten units that they sell, are rather
rudimentarily equipped and I need advice from a local expert before I
can decide.

In the video on the Unipump web-site, they enlarge on the fact that they
pump up half a liter with each movement, and up to 1.80m. As said, I
should foresee distances between 4 and about 6 meters, with a maximum
depth of 7.4m, in case of a serious drought. Anything lower can be
pumped by submergeable pumps, only.

At those depth I cannot but fear for the plastic leaver... At the price
that the pumps are sold for, I completely understand why there are no
maintenance needs to be expected. You rather buy a new one, directly, in
case of trouble. Also, as the tubes are fitted permanently, it is
probably downright impossible to do whatever passes as “repair-work”
with these pumps.

There's probably a good reason why village wells seem to have pumps - I
imagine the big ones are better than a bucket and rope.

I had to install a new winch twice in two years. This is mostly due to
my own inexperience with that “technology” (the user-interface is
lacking documentation). Being exposed to the weather and after heavy
use, both, the shaft and the old chain were completely worn out, when I
arrived. I have lost a bucket in the well, which I could get out again,
easily, but also some utilities which are still there...

There is another serious problem with open wells. I do not have
children, but there are many in the family... Most probably, my current
installation of a metal sheet and two heavy oak-beams to cover the well,
is completely illegal. Should be, actually.

Michael


Andy


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