Draw Water From Your Well Without Electricity

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With little money but a lot of ingenuity, Clifford Gwinn built his own self-filling well bucket.
With little money but a lot of ingenuity, Clifford Gwinn built his own self-filling well bucket.
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Figures 1, 2 and 3
Figures 1, 2 and 3
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The author built his own well bucket for less than $5.
The author built his own well bucket for less than $5.
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Figures 4 and 5
Figures 4 and 5

Click on the article’s Image Gallery for referenced figures and illustrations.

QUESTION: How do you draw water from a deep well without a pump?

ANSWER: Let Clifford Gwinn tell you!

Last year’s mid-July found us in something of a bind. We had just moved onto our homestead, canning season was upon us, and my wife was pregnant and due to deliver in early August. Our needs, in short, were great . . . but our resources were small. We were, to put it bluntly, [1] without electricity, [2] without water, and [3] to a large extent, without cash.

One of the reasons our finances were at such a low ebb was because I had invested a large chunk of our dwindling bankroll in the drilling of a well. And, after we’d paid for the job, we simply couldn’t see our way clear to both have the house wired by an electrician AND install an expensive submersible pump in our new source of water. So we hired the electrician and then sat down to contemplate our remaining dilemma: How would we get water up out of the well, without dipping further into our perilously low bank account.

  • Published on Jul 1, 1976
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