Sunday, August 15, 2010

Water Pump

The land doesn't have a well yet. We're planning to try our hand at pounding a sandpoint well ourselves and attach a hand pump. The other option is having a well dug by a professional which includes a price tag of about $3500. If we had the well dug it would include an electric pump. We don't have electricity yet which would be an additional $450 or so to set up. This isn't an option for us yet but we still need fresh drinking water while we're visiting the land.

I looked into buying or renting a water cooler holder but they're so expensive and if you want hot or cold water lines to function you have to have electricity. The cheapest one was also $40. While hunting up solutions on Amazon we came across this Dolphin Manual Drinking Water Pump.


For easy transportation (it comes in a little box), price and function it's a fantastic addition to our shabin. The bottles don't need to be tipped upside down (I can't be the only one that spills about half the jug attempting this), the pump easily snaps together and simply threads onto the bottle neck. There is a little learning curve to pumping, as the suction on the upstroke after depression continues to pump water through it but it's easy to figure out. The pieces come apart for easy and small storage back into the box it comes in. The longer neck also makes it suitable to position over a basin to use as a "faucet".

We did have to purchase the jugs from the grocery store. Filled they were about $12 a piece, $6 for the water and a $6 deposit on the jug which we'd get back if we turned them in. We were going to try and find them used but also need the caps for transporting such a long way.

I'm actually quite keen on the idea of keeping these. Using them to ration our water supply for washing but we'll see how it goes. Either way, this pump is a great investment for adding "running" water where there is none.

1 comment:

  1. We carry three 7 gal. water jugs when we go to the farm. Jeff got them at Bass Pro. They are blue cubes (about 15" each side). For transport, the spigot is on the inside. When you want to use it, you unscrew the lid and the spigot and turn the spigot to the outside. It has an on/off valve on it. We leave one sit on the picnic table in the sun for warm wash-up water later. In cooler weather, we throw a black garbage bag over it to warm it faster. We fill them at our faucet at home and throw them in the back of the truck. If you need the brand name or a picture, let me know!

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