How To Install A Pitcher Pump

Joy has lived the quondam-fashioned manner since 2022, when she and her husband bought a 1928 farm business firm, without improvements. What a journey!

This article touches on everything related to manus pumps, including necessary supplies, instructions for edifice, and an analysis of them.

What Is Your H2o Source?

When deciding what it volition take to install your hand pump, you lot must consider what kind of h2o source or cistern you have bachelor. This may profoundly affect the functioning of your h2o pump, as well as direct what bore pipe is best. A water barrel nether your countertop will practice as a cistern.

At whatsoever rate, for an average small manus-operated water pump, your cistern should not exist more than 21' lower than your pump, and 15' would be better. 28' is the maximum "draw" rating on most commercial hand pumps, and this may but work if you take a complete vacuum in your system. (That would exist difficult to achieve, normally.) I have only about half-dozen' of drop earlier my plumbing runs horizontally to my cistern in the basement. There is well-nigh 30' of pipe altogether, running to my kitchen sink.

Horizontally, your water source may be as many as 100 yards away from your pump without adversely affecting the pumping power or the h2o menses rate.

Regardless of what your water source is, you will want to install a bank check or bound-loaded foot valve at the end of your vertical piping, to prevent the water from flowing back down and emptying your pump. (Letting your pump sit dry can be hard on the leathers. If you intend to be gone for more than than a twenty-four hours or two and demand to empty your system, consider putting mineral oil on the leathers to keep them soft. Also, practice this prior to installing your pump.)

Two Hand Pumps in My Business firm

This classic-looking pitcher pump makes filling a dishpan or scrub bucket a breeze. Visitors seldom ask whether it'south new or original. They tin can't usually tell, either.

For washing easily, it takes merely two pumps into the stoppered sink to take care of even the grimiest child'southward "paws".

And I love how it looks. I take never regretted installing it. Even washing my hair is unproblematic and quick.

Advice on Choosing a Paw Pump

Make sure the pump you intend to purchase is designed to actually pump water. Some of the pumps on the marketplace are cheaply designed and are intended merely for ornamental utilise. Besides, pumps designed for other liquids, such as oil, do not take the same design for all internal parts, and may not work satisfactorily.

Secondly, make sure your water pump includes a check valve in the base, to prevent backflow. If you don't have one, y'all may have to re-prime your pump oft, and this would make water usage tiresome. If I drain all thirty' of line in my system, it takes at least fifteen pumps (sometimes closer to 30) to get h2o back up to my sink. My pump came with a swinging cheque valve in the base, but a bound-loaded 1 would be even meliorate, as information technology is stronger.

If you do not include a check or spring-loaded foot valve at the cease of your vertical pipe when installing your pump, you volition have to recollect to pump a cupful of water each evening to keep until morning time, for re-priming your pump each solar day.

Lastly, make sure there is nothing in your pump that would be destroyed or damaged, should your pump freeze. My bathroom pump froze twice terminal winter and was not injure. It did, however, require a long fourth dimension to thaw. (There was ice forming right up through the middle and out the pinnacle.)

Go practiced leathers for your pump, and be sure that they are kept in practiced condition. Modify them as frequently as necessary. My pumps were both installed in December 2022 (this is at present August 2022), and I have had no problems.

Here are the tools and supplies we required to install our pumps:

• 2 red pitcher pumps purchased off Amazon.
• Drill to make a hole for the pipe through countertop; a bit of appropriate diameter (hole saw blade, spade bit).
• Piping wrench.
• Galvanized steel pipe - three/four" diameter (ane/2" would do; ane" would accept too long to make full upwards to the pump spout).
• Pipe cutter and threader for steel pipe. Your local hardware store might exercise the cut and threading for you if you calculate the exact lengths of all the pipes needed.
• Pipage dope or Teflon record.
• Wrenches for bolts or lag bolts for attaching the pump to the countertop (ours were one/4" bolts, then we used a vii/16" wrench).
• Adjustable open-end/crescent wrenches for full general use – 6"-viii" length (2).
• Tape measure.

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Read More From Dengarden

If yous choose to use copper pipe, you will need a torch, copper pipe cutter, solder, flux, and piping dope or Teflon tape.

Rigid PVC pipage would probably work, too, only we chose to use something nosotros were sure would not suck in from force per unit area.

What We Started With

Here is the kitchen counter and sink equally it was before nosotros installed the pump. Yous can see the pigsty where a pump was removed, at the side of the sink.

The farmhouse sink is original, and appears to be one of the oldest models available, existence pre-1910.

Finished Product—Transmission Water Pump

You tin see here under the counter the hot and cold h2o pipes, with the valve switch attached. You won't need 1 of these if you have only common cold water available.

The finished plumbing under the bathroom (including the drain for both sink and bathtub). The galvanized pipes running toward the left go direct through the flooring to the pump.

Installation Instructions

I had to make up one's mind what sort of appearance I wanted the pump to have, too as how I wanted it to function. I opted to set the handles toward the edge of the counters, so that they would not take space out of my piece of work surface area, in guild to exist pumped. The handles on my pumps were designed to be adjustable, being able to be prepare at whatever angle around the pump.

Here is how we installed the pumps:

We began in each case at the countertop, measuring, cutting, and threading pipe every bit we went. Naturally, how much pipe you demand, and what other fittings are required, will be determined by how far it is to your water source. My cistern is about thirty' away from my kitchen sink, and less than half that to my bath sink. In both cases, we went straight downwards from the pumps and through the floors, then across the ceiling of my basement toward my cistern, hanging the pipes from brackets attached to the joists. I have both a hot and a cold line running to both sinks, with a valve switch under the sink to directly the flow from each one.

Once nosotros reached the cistern, we ran the pipe into it, and put in another check valve. You may wish to add a debris screen, depending on your circumstances, and the condition of your water source. We added a water filter just outside of my cistern, through which everything must period before it reaches the pumps, as my well water is somewhat silty.

I would similar to introduce y'all to the whole wood-heat hot h2o organisation another fourth dimension, but for at present, I take explained what you really demand to know in order to install a hand pump in your own home.

Should you wish to install a pump in an outdoor setting, a ane ane/4" diameter pipe would make the pump self-supporting (freestanding).

A Sampling of Styles, Types, and Colors Available in Hand Pumps

Have I Been Happy With My Option?

Yep, I take loved my hand pumps.

I have had some pleasant surprises. For case, water flow is easy to restrict. While growing upwardly, I had sometimes used the tall red pump my grandmother had at her cistern past her garden. Not merely had that one been more difficult to pump (and skreeked, needing to exist oiled, as well), but the water catamenia had not been adjustable. I got a gush, or zero. With my small-scale bullpen pumps, I tin can become either a trickle or a gush, as I wish. Furthermore, I can make full a sink or saucepan faster than with a conventional, modern faucet. Each full pump brings upward nearly a pint of h2o.

The pumps are piece of cake to utilize. Fifty-fifty my pre-school age daughter can pump water for herself, to wash her easily or brush her teeth.

On the downside, the pumps sometimes need re-primed subsequently I accept been gone a few days. Merely this is non hard. I simply pour a few cups of water down the top hole where the pump rod is, to get the flow started. (This removes air from the line, and allows the pump to describe.) Also, after a hard pump, the h2o sometimes splashes out the top hole, wetting my countertop. And until I designed a splashback guard, I always had a flake of a puddle in one case I was through pumping, at the base of the pump. But this was not much of a hardship as long as I kept a towel handy.

The pumps are piece of cake to wipe make clean, and don't look shabby, every bit a conventional faucet can, even when dirty.

I have loved the fact that the bullpen pumps become so well with the era and design of my 1928 Craftsman farmhouse. They bring a sense of completion to my surroundings, and make me smile when I utilise them. They remind me that dreams do come up true.

When Choosing a Pump . . .

Be aware that non all hand pumps or pitcher pumps are designed to be really used to draw water. In that location are quite a few decorative models on the market. So when selecting your pump, delight be conscientious to avoid lead paint, shoddy structure, and lightweight parts. Forewarned is forearmed.

Calculation Silicone/Caulk Around the Base

If I had this to do over, I'd employ articulate silicone . . . but I used what I had on hand.

DIY Drip Guards--3 Ideas

This pitcher pump drip guard is made from a plastic h2o bottle.

Baling Twine Splash Guard

In desperation, I 1 twenty-four hour period tied a piece of blueish baling twine effectually the terminate of my pump spout, forming a pretty bow. Their was a frayed tuft from a knot at the lowest point, which worked to guide all but the most vigorous of gushes into the sink--instead of astern onto my wooden counter.

The status of this lxxx+-year-old countertop is fragile where a pump was installed before, telling me that water seepage and splashing has been a trouble over the lifespan of the kitchen.

Why pumps are not typically designed with a drip guard bead on the underside of the spout, I don't know. but they aren't--forcing innovations from creative homesteaders.

Update – July x, 2022

From Jaimie, a reader:

Hopefully nosotros can get the hand pump fix with limited bug. Nosotros recently tried a small tank on the roof with a pump to get water to the tank, hoping that information technology could be gravity fed through all our existing plumbing. In that location was merely no water pressure level and all we got was a drip drip. Information technology seems that your manus pump and cistern idea is our best bet. We don't have a basement so we are thinking of burying it outside our kitchen window. Our water source is our hand pump well in our backyard. We already take the equipment to power information technology with solar to make full a holding tank.

My answer:

Sounds skillful! The only thing I didn't show in the hand pump article is the fact that nosotros had to utilize silicone effectually the kitchen pump and big sink, built up in front on the pump, and so that water stopped running back onto the counter. In other words, the pump spout does not extend far enough out to allow the water to fall into the sink without hitting the counter. Not a big deal - simply two applications of silicone congenital upward to seal everything, since one big awarding was difficult to guess correctly how much was enough. Some people solve this problem by extending the spout with a slice of conveyor belt, etc., looped over the spout with wire. Looks ugly.

So, photos of the caulk-silicone job are below. I apologize for the goobery pics; I was rushed.

The newly-practical silicone will need to sit undisturbed overnight, for best results. (No using the pump.) Since y'all will demand to use the silicone to clean and dry surfaces, this may mean you'd best apply it first thing in the morning (after everything has had a chance to get really dry overnight), and just use another water source for a mean solar day or two.

How Much Work Is it to Pump?

The figures on the far correct refer to the specs for a heavy-duty Bison brand pump (with which I accept no experience). Averages figured for other brands are given in the center column.

An Idea for Accessing Somewhat Deeper Water Sources

Why Did I Install Mitt Pumps?

Ever since I was a fiddling daughter, I wanted a chance to experience a 1920s-1930s kitchen like I saw in my dollhouse catalogs, complete with cellar, hardwood floor, and pitcher pump installed at the sink. It took over twenty years, but I got my dream.

In the winter of 2009, my family and I moved onto a rural property on which stood a 1928 Wardway'southward kit home. The house had never undergone improvements, and was in its original 1928 state.

Through looking over old receipts for the farm'due south goods—papers and belongings were scattered throughout the firm—and through talking to a neighbor who had known the family unit well, we determined that the appliances we found there were all the modernization they had cared to do. There was some electricity in the home, done in a 1940s practice-it-yourself fashion. (Electricity didn't come to this expanse of Colorado until the mid '40s, but the family did have a small generator previous to this.) There were ii refrigerators—no ice boxes—one from the tardily '20s. The kitchen also had a squeamish six-burner propane stove, which had conspicuously replaced a wood-and-coal cookstove. And in that location was a place where a hand pump had been installed at the kitchen sink. The pump had been removed, simply the sink and wooden countertop were fine.

I determined to install a classic crimson pitcher pump there, and 1 in the bathroom (which had never had fixtures installed, being used instead every bit a storeroom). This project required a new cistern (water belongings tank), some piece of work on the electric well (where in that location had once been a windmill), and a lot of new plumbing. I called my handy-dandy dad, and together, we designed a system to bring both hot and common cold running h2o into the home.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the writer'southward knowledge. Content is for advisory or amusement purposes simply and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional person advice in business organization, financial, legal, or technical matters.

© 2022 Joilene Rasmussen

Joilene Rasmussen (writer) from United States on Apr 22, 2022:

Thank yous Mikdee10. Nosotros get compliments from nearly everyone who visits.

Mikdee10 on April 04, 2022:

Very interesting, and a nice affect for a house :)

Joilene Rasmussen (author) from United states on August 07, 2022:

This link may be helpful:

http://simmonsmfg.com/downloads/pdf/ppump_instruct...

Endeavour these exploded views and caption, besides:

https://www.plumbingsupply.com/handpump.html

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/model-number/39027...

Joilene Rasmussen (writer) from Usa on August 07, 2022:

If it is a pitcher pump, you should be able to unscrew the meridian, pull out the plunger, and become to the washer to replace it. If it is a deeper-well type, yous'll have to pull the well and get to the necessary parts lower down.

les on July 31, 2022:

could you tel lme how to put a replacement washer on a garden bandage iron water pump pls

Joilene Rasmussen (author) from United states of america on April 29, 2022:

Cheryl,

How far you lot tin pump (either vertically or horizontally) has much more to do with the draw rate of your particular pump, than with the angles of your pipe.

Many small hand pumps are rated for xv' to 25' of vertical describe (suction).

Does this reply your question adequately?

CherylPatton on April 29, 2022:

Yous probably covered this but I need to ask again, does the plumping from the hand pump into the cistern demand to be totally vertical or can there be two elbows in the entire length? I would be pumping it from an above ground cistern into the house. Thank you!

Joilene Rasmussen (author) from United States on April xix, 2022:

Bethw67,

There does not appear to be whatsoever good reason why we should not use our detail pumps for drinking water. However, nosotros typically do not, as our cistern contains plenty impurities that it is safer and simpler to keep the drinking water carve up. (I don't enjoy chemicals whatsoever more than than I practice toxic anaerobic growths.) We typically do use the cistern water for brushing teeth, washing, and other activities during which the h2o is not directly ingested.

I don't call up the company from which our pumps came. I can try to check that if it would exist helpful.

Bethw67 on April 13, 2022:

I was only wondering near your pump - did they tell yous whether or not it was safe for drinking h2o? Or are you just using information technology to wash up? I recently purchased a bandage fe pump to convert to use as a bathroom facuet but when it arrived it had a sticker maxim (do not use for drinking water, every bit this product contains pb and other harmful substances that cause cancer and other atmospheric condition) I am nonetheless looking for a safe pump to use for people who want to castor teeth, drink water, etc.

Joilene Rasmussen (author) from United states on April 07, 2022:

My line length from the cistern to the pump is approximately 30 feet.

ridgetop from Kentucky on April 02, 2022:

Thank you lot. That appears to be very practise-able, and even as a permanent installation for when the power is off later on. What is your line length, would you say?

Joilene Rasmussen (author) from United states on March 29, 2022:

All the plumbing in our set-up is 3/4" galvanized fe pipe. Under the pump itself, in that location is a reducing bushing, that goes from i 1/4" (I believe) down to 3/4". If you lot have a piping coming out of your cistern, I would probably connect it with a matrimony. I suppose yous could employ blackness polypipe, so long as you lot believe it won't collapse under the suction. If information technology is only a temporary set-upwardly, you could use hose barbs and section of 3/4" blackness polypipe that is NSF approved.

We didn't use polypipe, but it would make the connections easier to practice for a temporary set-upward. Whatever kind of ridgid pipe (copper, PVC, etc.) ought to be used in a permanent set-up, so that at that place is no danger of it's collapsing due to suction of the pump. I wouldn't use piping which is smaller than 3/4".

ridgetop from Kentucky on March 26, 2022:

Useful information. Can you give some details apropos the connections at the cistern and simply under the pump itself? I'one thousand considering the same set-up, just my exit line from the cistern is 3/4 inch bore into the crawlspace.

ridgetop from Kentucky on March 21, 2022:

Very interesting. I'm interested in your cistern connections. I've plumbed my in ground cistern with 3/4" stub line into my crawl infinite, 3 feet below kitchen floor level, prepartory to an electric pump installation. However, information technology may be another year before I get electrical. Cistern is full and I'd honey to be able to use the water. Floating check valve is already in identify within the cistern. Thank you for your comments.

Joilene Rasmussen (author) from Us on September 01, 2022:

Simone,

Thank you for you very kind comment! I had fun putting this together.

And you are right about wasting water - we utilize the least water of any family I know.

Simone Haruko Smith from San Francisco on August 29, 2022:

What an incredible guide! I didn't know that many folks still used paw pumps in their homes. Now that I remember of it, it'd exist really great to see them more than ofttimes... when 1 has to pump one's own h2o, one is less likely to waste!

Your advice and instructions are splendid. Thanks so much for putting this Hub together!

Joilene Rasmussen (writer) from United States on August 28, 2022:

Trsmd,

Yep, as explained in the article, a manus pump does have limited depict. 15'-28' deep is the extent to which many are useful. However, a few are rated for much deeper describe. Ane of the links in the article above leads to a site selling a hand pump rated for a medium-depth well.

I cannot think of using a manus-operated pump on my well - merely on my cistern. My well is 300' deep...which is all the same considered a medium depth, every bit many of the local wells are 350-400 anxiety deep. A windmill and/or electric well are the only plausible choices with these.

Also, every bit mentioned twice in the commodity, a cheque or bound-loaded foot valve, installed beneath the "h2o table" for your system, is necessary to keep water from flowing back down the piping(s).

As to whether an electric pump is always a better choice, well...there are sure circumstances in which it just isn't.

Trsmd from India on Baronial 27, 2022:

A hand operated well pump has limited range. If water level is very deep, you lot may exist pumping for a while just to get water up to ground level. A check valve is needed to help keep it up too.

Its better to use electrical driven pump, go along hand pump at that place just for looks.

Source: https://dengarden.com/remodeling/Hwo-to-Install-a-Kitchen-Hand-Pump

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