Sunday, February 7, 2010

Home made Well Bucket

In one of my earlier posts I made a Home Made Water Filter which could be used in an emergency if the public water was contaminated and I had to use my well water. I now have taken my preparations a step further in regards to obtaining water from my well. If my power went out on a long term basis and the public water was contaminated I needed a way to retrieve the water from my well.  Therefore, I created my own well bucket. After constantly searching the internet for a simple design, I found one on the Alpha Rubicon website on the Build A Well Bucket page.  Of course in order to lower the well bucket I will need to remove the water pump so using this well bucket will only be for a real emergency/disaster.  In addition, this bucket will only bring up about 1.5 gallons at one time. 

I recommend that if you have a well you should have a simple way to obtain the water from that well when the SHTF.  Even if you have a generator or solar powered water pump you should have a backup.  You can never be too prepared.

Below are some photos of my Well Bucket.  Although I have not tested it in my well, it seems to work pretty good in my bathtub! 

Live the Motto - Be Prepared!














Parts: 3" diameter PVC Schedule 40 pipe, 3" diameter PVC end cap, Plumb Pak Red Rubber Sheet, 100ft Nylon rope, 2 Washers with 1/4" hole, 1/4" nylon nut, 1/4" screw, PVC primer and cement.

 
Outline on End Cap is a little crooked. LOL


 Holes drilled on End Cap.


Rubber flap attached to End Cap.


Rubber flap attached to End Cap (interior view)

End Cap test - Start

End Cap filling up

End Cap has sunk!

End cap attached to PVC pipe with PVC cement.

 
Finished Well Bucket.  FYI, I cut the PVC pipe to 3 feet length.

Drilled 2 holes to top of Well Bucket for rope attachment.  Remember to use a good knot.  For all the Boy Scouts out there, you do remember how to tie a Bowline?

5 comments:

  1. Interesting. We looked into a manual pump when our well was destroyed this past summer, but found it cost prohibitive....$1500-2500. Our well is nearly 200 feet deep and the water level is somewhere around 180 feet...that's a lot of rope! Thankfully, we have a lot of water available closeby...a pond across the road fed by a spring that runs into the lake 2 miles away. And with the homemade filter, we shouldn't have to worry about water purity.

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  2. That's one thing I forgot to mention. In New Jersey it is not uncommon for a well to be less than 50 feet deep, so I don't have too far to go down.

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  3. Awesome! Got to show the hubby this one. We live near the lake and our water level is not deep either. We have several wells on our property 2 electric (But we have to use a handle for the ones by the barn,but is powered with electricity) and one we don't know. The spring is broke on the handle. Do you know if a manual well can go into an existing well? The handles are ancient and are afraid we'll cause more problem and expense we don't need so left it alone. I hope this all came out right.

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  4. You CAN add a manual well pump onto an existing electric well. That was our plan until we received the estimate! BUT if your well is shallow, it should be much cheaper. I know I've seen instructions online for DIYers too. Check www.Instructables.com

    We're just shy of the highest point in the county....no flooding here, but no shallow wells either!

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  5. Outstanding post. Thank you. This could be very handy to know if that lights go out for an extended period.

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