I've been looking around for other means to get water out of my well should we lose power at some point.
I found this: http://www.survivalunlimited.com/deepwellpump.htm
A very viable means of getting water from a deep well and it can be placed into the casing with the original pump still down there.
There is also a solar pump system so you don't have to stand there pumping the water when you need to be doing something else.
A side note, this thing is expensive so I'm still looking at other types of pumping systems.
You are correct on the price being expensive, although it looks well made. Thats a lot of moola for water. How deep is your well's water level? If your well water is deep it may be worth the expence because without some sort of alternate pumping method you will be in deep doodoo when the grid goes down. The hand pump, while being a major pain, will still function during long periods of cloudy days as long as your arms don't fatigue.
Another option is to place a holding tank on a hill above your place and gravity feed from it during periods of no power.
I am furtunate to have a well that has water at 11 feet below the surface. This is rare in most parts of the country but is common in the local area. It would be easy to open the trap door and bucket out water by hand for drinking. I have a portable one inch line gas powered water pump that will push water 78 feet straight up for emergencies and am currently working on installing a Shurflow solar pump that will pump from the well up to a holding tank on the side of the mountain above my house. During the winter rainy season I can collect rainwater into the tank and use this water when the power goes down.
Right now it's a no-go as I am unemployed and it's not a likely acquisition for some time after I get another job.
My current plans are to produce a well bucket out of some pipe and a fitting or two and, I have means in the garage to produce a surface pump to draw water through the main riser from the deep well pump I have.
My well is about 140' deep with 20' of water and, with the pump having an internal check valve, the pump I build will pull water up without having to sink it to the water level. Might take some effort but it ought not be too difficult.
I live on flat land so, any tank would have to be placed on stilts to get sufficient pressure. When TSHTF, I'll also be putting the rain barrels out to collect as much as possible and, there's a creek not far where I can draw other water if getting the well set up becomes a bit problematic.
I have several alternate methods, that's just the most expensive. I've been making a serious effort since before I became unemployed to keep the costs of my preparations down while keeping the quality as high as possible and to build, my stores as quickly as possible. That's on a hiatus right now but should get back in gear soon enough.
Here is a site to drool over while you still have some unemployed time on your hands. These people have very competative prices and know what they are talking about. I have purchased several solar components from them over the years and everything worked as advertised. www.advancepower.net/waterpum.htm
Besides solar powered pumps they also sell water powered hydraulic rams that use water pressure to pump water to your location from a creek or pond. No other power source required.
