on 3/1/2008 10:57 AM Tom J said the following:
Ryan P. wrote:

.
Okay, I've been following this thread, admittedly not knowing (or
rather, not remembering from school) the maximum height a column of
water could be without assistance.

That being said, I distinctly remember the old-style hand pumps...
the kind you find in state camping grounds, and used to find in
highway waysides, and people who had them on wells with a water
table
WELL below 22 feet.

So, I did a little checking, and came up with this table:
http://www.aermotorwindmills.com/handpumps.htm (there's a nice table
about halfway down the page).

Am I wrong in thinking this is a standard hand pump, or is this NOT
what you and Tom are talking about?


The 2nd picture down is the shape of the pump we had on the farm that
did lift water from 60 feet down and pushed it 20 feet higher to a
tank. As the data table shows, those old style pumps were capable of
bringing water from 100 to 200 fett down!!

You have observed well - those are the type pumps that most windmills
were connected to all across the country before electricity was
brought to almost everyone.

Tom J

The differences in hand pump depth lift depends upon whether the pumping
mechanism (the pipe, rod, and piston) is lifting the water or sucking it
up. If below the surface, yes, the water can be lifted to many heights,
because it is lifting (pushing up) the water, rather than sucking it up.
If the piston is at ground level, then the piston has to first evacuate
the air from the pipe which causes a vacuum in the pipe. It doesn't
matter whether the pump is hand powered or motor powered. The vacuum
created by evacuating the air is replaced by the water that the ambient
barometric pressure pushes down on the surface of the water.
When in the Navy, my battle station was damage control. We used a
portable water pump called a Handy Billy. It had a gas engine that drew
water from a long hose that was dropped into the flooded area. It's
maximum lift was listed as 30 feet. If the water level in the flooded
area was more than 30' from the pump, then the Handy Billy could be
moved to a lower deck that was within the 30' limit, if possible, and
its discharge could be hosed to a higher level and over the side, or
through discharge ports in the side. The pump then becomes a lifting and
pushing pump
The most use of the discharge port that was in our shop was to wrap a
piece of wire around our AM radio antenna and hang the other end out the
port, so we could pick up a signal. :-)
The Handy Billy could also be used to fight fires when the ship's power
was lost, drawing its water from the sea (as long as the sea level was
not more than 30' below the pump), and using the discharge hose as a
fire hose.


--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
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