Compress Air With a Hand Water Pump

Reader Contribution by Linda Holliday
Published on August 2, 2014

While we’re constantly on the lookout here for simple ways to do chores without electricity, sometimes slick solutions surface quite by accident. Using a hand water pump as an air compressor to pump up a flat tire was one of those serendipitous discoveries.

After using our hand pump to fill the pressure tank for watering our vegetable gardens, my husband commented about the amount of compressed air in the tank.

Pointing to the condensation line on the outside of the tank, he said, “You know, I bet I could fill a tire with this.”

The next thing I knew, he was digging through miscellaneous parts in the shop. In no time, he came out with an air chuck, hose and fittings. To test his theory, he used the compressed air in our 40-gallon pressure tank to fill an inner tube.

The 14-inch inner tube filled in just a few seconds, without using all the air in the tank. Even if the task required filling a tire to 35 PSI, it could be done. We would simply drain the water from the tank (preferably by watering some plants), and then pump it up again. After repeating the process, pressurized air is transferred from the tank to the tire – all without energy of any sort except human power.

Most homes with private wells have cold water pressure tanks. When the water is forced into the tank (by hand pumping or electric pump) the air above the water is compressed. As we found out, this compressed air can be utilized.

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