Plumbing plan for a foot pump sink

[LauraD]

Some of you may have seen the foot pump set-up I made for the sink on our property. (See page two of the thread about our property) Well, it's not working so hot. After running into several problems - each one different - I've decided to scrap my set-up and redo it. Garden hoses are out this time; I'm going to go with rigid PVC instead.

I'd like y'all to take a look at my plan and let me know what you think. Here's a quick run-down of the drawing (below).

1. The diagram show the important parts and their approximate relationship to each other, but not all at the same angle. Think ancient Egyptian paintings.

2. The compression fitting are to allow me to disassemble and drain the set-up, as we are only there on weekends.

3. The valves are for draining before disassembly.

4. The bulb is from a turkey baster and serves as the foot pump mechanism.

5. There is only 6 inches between the floor and the bottom of the bottom shelf.

5. The washers are to hold the faucet in place so it can't move up or down (or sideways, for that matter!)




Here are my questions:

1. What do you think about the overall set-up?

2. Will I need to "prime the pump" through the valve by the water reservoir after changing the water?

3. Do I need to use 45-degree connectors, or will 90-degree ones work just as well? They would certainly save space.

4. I just realized I will probably need to add another compression connector under the first set of clamps - either that or make the clamps easily removable so I can remove the bottom piece to drain it thoroughly. Thoughts?

5. Any other issues that I need to consider?

Thanks, everyone!!!

[Bear Foot Farm]

Why go to all the trouble of building something so elaborate that probably isn't going to work when you could buy a battery powered pump?

Another option would be a large pump-up garden sprayer to provide the pressure, and you could eliminate all the check valves.

Any container with a tight fitting lid could be used by adding a tire valve and using any type of air pump to add just a few pounds of pressure.
Use a "thru-hull" marine fitting to route your water outlet from tank to the faucet

Using air pressure to push the water negates the need for all the extra plumbing.

You could simply go straight from the tank to the faucet

[spacecase0]

I built a portable sink system with a hand pump
spacecase0.blogspot.com/2009/08/mobile-kitchen-cart-with-sink-water.html
the reverse osmosis water I was using in it broke the hand pump, so I converted to electric,
have about the same plumbing as you are thinking only have an electric pump in there, and it does need primed.
the electric pump could not deal with the one way valve, so I removed it, and the water level falls back into the tubing now, it was a perfect mix of air and water for mold to grow...
so my suggestion is to make sure to keep at least 1 one way valve no matter what.
the batteries on the electric pump are kind of a pain, I should convert to some other system.
and if you do go with an electric pump, make it foot controlled, you spend way to much water with hand controls.
also, any pressurized water system will use about 3 times the water of manual pump (my tests when trying very hard to save water)

[Cabin Fever]

This would also work. I forgot to if put a check valve at the bottom of the pipe.

[Deleted]

Trust cabin
He gets my seal of approval with pluming, water and sewer...firewood and whiskey fun!

[LauraD]

Folks,

Thank you for the suggestions and feedback. I'm specifically interested in a foot pump setup for three reasons:

1. So I can save water. We don't have a source of potable water on the property yet, so we have to bring it all in when we come to visit.

2. We have no electricity, so something manual is preferred - especially since batteries cost money and need a charging method.

3. Having a foot pump keeps me from having to touch anything with dirty hands.

In addition, I need to be able to disassemble it when there is still water in the tank. Being able to completely drain it at the end of a visit is an absolute must, as I want to avoid the mold problem that Spacecase0 mentioned. I also don't want to spend a fortune. There are nice commercial foot pumps out there that are designed for boats & such, but you pay accordingly. Hence all the effort on this concept.

My initial thought - way back when - had simply been to build a high shelf, put the water container on that, and gravity-feed it with basic PVC. I decided against that for the reasons listed above and because it would not be that easy to lift a 5-gallon container of water up that high.

I may need to compromise and go with the hand-pump idea, as it does everything except keep my hands free. Of note, my current system works; it just likes to spring leaks and the garden hose is either stiff & inflexible in the cold, or kinking at key junctions.

Any additional thoughts/comments would be much appreciated!

[hermitjohn]

May 7, 2017 3:20:31 GMT Bear Foot Farm said:

Why go to all the trouble of building something so elaborate that probably isn't going to work when you could buy a battery powered pump?

Another option would be a large pump-up garden sprayer to provide the pressure, and you could eliminate all the check valves.

Any container with a tight fitting lid could be used by adding a tire valve and using any type of air pump to add just a few pounds of pressure.
Use a "thru-hull" marine fitting to route your water outlet from tank to the faucet

Using air pressure to push the water negates the need for all the extra plumbing.

You could simply go straight from the tank to the faucet

They make foot powered tire pumps and I think also something similar to fill air mattress for camping.  So yea you could make your own "garden sprayer" type setup.  Larger tank, maybe could use a five or ten gallon mini water heater or well pump pressure tank,  and foot powered tire pump to provide pressure.  You would want water exit towards bottom of tank, and air input at top.  you also need a filler pipe on top of tank, probably have to use funnel to fill it.  And a gate valve on filler pipe so after filling you can shut down pressure escaping through it. 

I am old enough to remember farm houses with the pitcher pump next to the sink as CF suggests.  They pumped water to sink from cistern in or next to a house before electrification.  Downside, although there were some enclosed ones, most including available reproductions are open style so easily contaminated.    I imagine one could come up with Rube Goldberg treadle setup where you could use your foot to power treadle (think something similar to antique sewing machine only with longer stroke)  to move the pump handle up and down.  Also these pitcher pumps  (I lived with one outside, atop a driven well point,  for some years) is that they quickly lose their prime.  The lower flapper leather that acts as a check valve isnt very efficient.  You might want to remove the flapper and install a more efficient check valve just below the pump.   For outdoor use in cold weather the leather flapper was ideal, you didnt want water remaining in the cylinder where it would freeze.  But for inside use, constant priming is a pain.

You might also forget pumps and use gravity.  My paternal grandparents lived in old farmhouse setup with cistern in the attic.  Windmill pumped water to the attic cistern and gravity did the work.  They no longer used it, but somebody did before electrification.  Also remains of a Delco Light Plant in the basement.   I thought it was interesting as a kid.  Alas not old enough to ever seen it in use and it was beyond repair by that time.   Anyway even in cabin you could have storage tank above sink and there would be enough force from gravity to give a flowing stream out of faucet.   Depending how you designed it, could fill it with bucket or if larger or in attic or something, use a small engine powered pump from outside.   It wouldnt take long for the engine powered pump to fill tank so it wouldnt be running very often.

[Ken]

Maybe grab some ideas from this build: Field Sink

Especially the marine primer bulb. It has a check valve inline.
To make it more disassembly-ready, add valves at each end. To disassemble, close the valves, disconnect the hoses and drain the hose into whatever/outside by opening the valves and squeezing the bulb to empty it.