Water

[glenn kangiser]

I hadn't got that deep into it but it is a very good idea.  No check valve then I assume.

[MountainDon]

There's some notation that says to drill a 3/16" hole in the drop pipe to prevent the pump from freezing.

[glenn kangiser]

That could only work with a rod setup where the pump cylinder is below the water level and a rod operates it. 

The rod force will overcome the leak you make but suction cannot.

It would make a pitcher pump where vacuum and atmospheric pressure work inoperable.  No way on a pitcher pump.

[glenn kangiser]

The one you mentioned above (raising the handle to allow air to leak ) or any way to break the suction will work as long as there is no footvalve to prevent back flow to the well but again you are limited to a pitcher pump and maximum lift allowed by atmospheric pressure.

[wildbil]

http://www.bisonpumps.com/

http://www.bisonpumps.com/photos-hand-water-pumps.htm

[hnash53]

Go to:

http://coyotecottage.com/water/water_home.htm

and read what they do.  It's pretty simple and they seem to do fine.  Their cabin is in Washington state.

Hal

[brian_nj]

we're lucky we have multiple natural springs on our property. We are setting a spring head and two 1500 gallon tanks about 100' higher in elevation than the cabin will be. This should give us adequate pressure and supply for the cabin. We are hoping to use the overflow once the tanks are full to power a small pico-hydro generator for some additional power.

We have also toyed with the idea of using a wind powered pump to draw from a well and deposit the water in the same tank as the spring and again link it to the hydro electric system for more power generation. 

[MountainDon]

100  x  0.433 = 43.3 PSI less frictional losses