Manual/hand-operated well pump

Hand-operated lift or force pump drawing from a well or borehole without electricity, lower flow rate and more physical effort than a powered pump, but keeps water access working through a power outage. A documented Low-tech Lab build (Pompe manuelle verticale).

Cost

Low

Upkeep

Occasional

Skill to build

Basic

Lifespan

20-30 years for a well-maintained mechanical hand pump; leathers/seals need periodic replacement every few years

Embodied carbon

Low

Space / material use

Low

Output timing

On-demand/controllable

Skill to repair

Basic

Regulation (FR example)

A domestic borehole or well must be declared to the mairie (art. L2224-9 CGCT). Water intended for domestic use must be tested, and the installation kept separate from the public network.

Note: Cost, carbon and footprint are rated against the other options for this same need, not in absolute terms.

What your site needs

An accessible well or borehole

Inputs

• Mechanical Energy

Outputs

• Unheated Water

Sources

• Low-tech Lab wiki, hand pump tutorial

Tutorials

• https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Pompe_manuelle_%28verticale%29/en
• https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Pompe_manuelle_%28verticale%29/fr

What this page does not tell you

No sizing or quantities: how much a technique yields, and how much a household needs, both depend on the build and the people, so the catalogue compares options rather than dimensioning them. It carries no bill of materials and no build sequence, and it is written for an oceanic, clay-soil climate (Normandy, France). Regulatory notes are indicative and need confirming locally.