Help me move water?

I have a drilled pump (static water level at 32') and a hand pump to bring it to the surface. I'm looking for a metal bathtub to recycle into a tank for holding the water. My problem is how to get the water 25' higher and about 100 yards horizontally to the water tank on top of the trailer without having to carry it in 5 gallon buckets. I'm not very experienced in building things or particularly adept at it and I don't have a lot of money to spend or even electricity at the property yet. Does anyone have suggestions for me?

Sounds like you want another pump, be it powered or manual connected to a hose.

That's the thing. - I'm new to wells and pumps and I don't know what's available (or buildable) that will move water that far without electricity. Asking for ideas, sources, - ?

Maybe not what you’re looking for, but there are 12v water pumps available.

Before we had water at the barn, I used one of those successfully to fill big tanks from which I’d then fill water throughs for cows and other critters. They’re slow, but it sure beats carrying water several hundred feet with buckets. I’ve done that…

Ours was fed from a battery that we would charge at the house periodically.  I assume one could make a small solar system if electricity is not available at all.

What volume of water are you trying to move?
The 25' elevation may be the problem.
A solar pump can push it 25 feet.

I have no idea how hard it would be to use something like this to move water that distance, but this is a basic hand-powered water pump for boats.

It's pretty cheap, but it might not be up for the job.

There are not much options.

a good 100 USD solar powered well pump is what you want before you spend for the wrong solution and end up with a bottomless barrel.

How much it cost you to refurbish the bath tub?

You can get rainwater 65 gal barrels cheap for 19.99 USD in the builder's depot when they are in the promo week.

In my humble opinion: For me it looks you save at the wrong end.

I thought a ram pump was what you needed though when I asked Mr. Google I was given the suggestion of a "Spiral pump".

Here are some threads that might help you or others:

https://permies.com/t/4884/spiral-pump

https://permies.com/t/59151/spiral-pump-calculations

https://permies.com/t/1635/Creative-watering-techniques

Depending on what handpump you have, you might just need a hose connected to it and while your pumping it out, you yourself are pumping it up the hill and far away. My handpump would easily do that

Liv Smith wrote:Maybe not what you’re looking for, but there are 12v water pumps available.

Before we had water at the barn, I used one of those successfully to fill big tanks from which I’d then fill water throughs for cows and other critters. They’re slow, but it sure beats carrying water several hundred feet with buckets. I’ve done that…

Ours was fed from a battery that we would charge at the house periodically.  I assume one could make a small solar system if electricity is not available at all.

I hadn't thought about battery operated. I wonder if something could be rigged up to attach to my car battery. I would think it wouldn't need to be used more than a few times a week, unless I get a bigger tank, which would mean less often. Yes, I've moved a lot of water in buckets too. At my age it's time to start working smarter, rather than harder.

John C Daley wrote:What volume of water are you trying to move?
The 25' elevation may be the problem.
A solar pump can push it 25 feet.

I need enough water to live on. I can get a local gym membership and take showers on my way to work every morning so just other uses. I have 2 RV tanks. One is 15 gallons and the one installed in the trailer I haven't found yet so I'm not sure how big it is.

L. Johnson wrote:I have no idea how hard it would be to use something like this to move water that distance, but this is a basic hand-powered water pump for boats.

It's pretty cheap, but it might not be up for the job.

This is the kind of thing I was hoping to find. I'm wondering how durable it is, though, and whether it would be strong enough to move water more than a few feet. Anyone with experience with these?

See Hes wrote:There are not much options.

a good 100 USD solar powered well pump is what you want before you spend for the wrong solution and end up with a bottomless barrel.

How much it cost you to refurbish the bath tub?

You can get rainwater 65 gal barrels cheap for 19.99 USD in the builder's depot when they are in the promo week.

In my humble opinion: For me it looks you save at the wrong end.

Hi. I have not seen rain barrels for 19.99 but I will look. I won't refurbish the bath tub, just plug it or attach a hose to the outlet. The tub will be a temporary receptacle to catch the water when it comes out of the first hand pump. I will look into a solar pump. It wasn't really feasible for the permanent well pump. There is a whole lot of thievery in my area and it would surely disappear almost immediately. Unfortunately, because that would have been my first choice. Thank you

Eric Hammond wrote:Depending on what handpump you have, you might just need a hose connected to it and while your pumping it out, you yourself are pumping it up the hill and far away. My handpump would easily do that

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that. Seems like it would be a whole lot of weight to be pushing by the time it finally got to the trailer though. I'll look into it. Thanks for the thought.

Anne Miller wrote:I thought a ram pump was what you needed though when I asked Mr. Google I was given the suggestion of a "Spiral pump".

Here are some threads that might help you or others:

https://permies.com/t/4884/spiral-pump

https://permies.com/t/59151/spiral-pump-calculations

https://permies.com/t/1635/Creative-watering-techniques

Thanks for this. The spiral pump looks pretty doable. Does anyone have experience with these? Any advice or size suggestions?

Here are some bicycle water pump systems, cancel the Gym membership!
One from England

Another from India

Another from Ireland

John C Daley wrote:Here are some bicycle water pump systems, cancel the Gym membership!
One from England

Another from India

Another from Ireland

Oh, yeah. This looks very doable. I think I'll still keep the gym membership. I'm rather fond of WARM showers... But can use this for both practical water movement and exercise. Thanks to everyone who's contributed to this thread.

You did not say how big the well casing is and that matters when locking for a pump.   Moving the water hirazotaly is no problem.  Bigger pipe faster easier flow. Pushing it at ft after the pump is not difficult. The water weighs 1# for each 2.3 ft. So 10psi will get your water up the hill.  
 The problem is the lift out if the well.  The theoretical limit is 35ft to suction lift water at sea level.  Practical limit is about 22 ft.    

If your water is actually 32ft down you will need a pump the fits down in the hole.  

An electric pump that goes in the well is the modern answer.  

A jack pump has a shaft done into the well and  1 way valve on the end of it.  There are plans for a PVC diy pump around.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/pvc-manual-well-pump-zmaz00jjzgoe/

The home diy I always wanted to try is called a rope pump.  Tie knots in a rope fish it through a PVC pipe lower the pipe into the well and pull on the rope up the pipe.   With a pulley system at the top.  
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_pump.  Tom

Carmen Rose wrote:

See Hes wrote:There are not much options.

a good 100 USD solar powered well pump is what you want before you spend for the wrong solution and end up with a bottomless barrel.

How much it cost you to refurbish the bath tub?

You can get rainwater 65 gal barrels cheap for 19.99 USD in the builder's depot when they are in the promo week.

In my humble opinion: For me it looks you save at the wrong end.

Hi. I have not seen rain barrels for 19.99 but I will look. I won't refurbish the bath tub, just plug it or attach a hose to the outlet. The tub will be a temporary receptacle to catch the water when it comes out of the first hand pump. I will look into a solar pump. It wasn't really feasible for the permanent well pump. There is a whole lot of thievery in my area and it would surely disappear almost immediately. Unfortunately, because that would have been my first choice. Thank you

Hi Carmen! You can get an 80 gal rain barrel from the county when you attend one of their free workshops.
https://piercecd.org/548/Rain-Barrels

Have you heard of an air well?
It uses compressed air to lift water.
I think 15psi is often used.

There are a number of options.

Most likely answer long term is going to be a solar driven in well pump.  Get the right one and it will easily lift your 60+ feet.  Problem is likely cost short term.  Might still want to look at a dc pump and run it off your vehicle battery short term till you can afford the panels to drive it.

Here is a deep well pump with enough lift for a 3" well casing.

DC deep well

Short term do you have a generator?  

If so any deep well pump should work.  For example here is a fairly cheap one.  Be aware the flow rate is at 0 lift and the max lift is at nearly 0 flow.  Would easily support household use though.  Would probably need a 1000 to 1500 watt generator to run though.

deep well pump

Now a different type of sprial pump.  These scale up easily and if you have enough hose on hand could be built fairly cheaply dipping out of your bath tube



Now if your well casing is deep enough you might want to look at an air lift pump and run it off a compressor.  The problem is the water needs to be roughly 1 1/2 times deeper than the height you want to life  So if it was 40 feet down to the water the well below it would need to be 60 feet for a total depth below ground of 100 feet.  Likely you well casing is no where near that deep.  The big advantage to this type pump is it fits down a really small bore hole and still works.

Finally for lifting from the tub up can you do 2 intermediary steps.  Fill one bathtub at a time and lift it to the next one.  If you have a cordless drill you might be able to do one of the cheap drill driven pumps that will lift 10 feet per stage.  They don't have great life expectencies but they are really cheap.

drill pump

Thank you for your thoughts. I don't currently have electricity at the property and, to be honest, I can't stand the stench and deafening noise of generators (besides the fact that the last 2 were stolen). I do quite like the spiral pump. I'll have to read up on those and see if one will do the job for me.