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The treadle pump is based on a design developed in the 1970s by Norwegian engineer Gunnar Barnes. It can be made locally. A group based in the United States, IDE, International Development Enterprises, has created programs in different countries.

The program in India won an Ashden Award in 2006 for using local sources of energy to improve quality of life. Last year the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded IDE 27 million dollars. The money is to be used to expand small irrigation projects to the other half of India’s 28 states.

The treadle pump is easy to build from bamboo or other wood and two metal cylinders with pistons. The pistons go up and down as a person stands on lever devices — treadles — and uses a natural walking motion.

How many hours a day the pump needs to be operated depends on the season and how much water is needed for crops. It could be two hours a day. It could be seven hours a day.

Small children sometimes stand with their parents on the treadles. Everyone in the family can take turns operating the pump.

The Acumen Fund is a nonprofit group that invests in business projects to fight poverty. It studied the effects of treadle pumps in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh has three treadle pump manufacturers and more than 73 thousand pumps.

Acumen reported that families using them ate more vegetables, because they were able to grow more to eat and to sell. Many of these families also drank more milk, because they bought a cow with their added earnings. Men with treadle pumps often no longer have to leave the farm to seek extra work in cities.

The pumps can also improve education. Farmers often use their extra earnings to buy books for their children or to pay for schooling.

A farmer in Zambia said he hoped to have enough money in three years to buy a diesel powered pump. Then he could grow more crops over a larger area.

But the world economic crisis has had an effect on some farmers. IDE executive director Zenia Tata says some who were able to buy diesel pumps now do not enough money to buy fuel. So they are using their treadle pumps again.

This submersible pump is from Taizhou Kaili Pumps Co., Ltd. The company established in 1994,  is one of the largest pump manufacturers in Zhejiang China. Since established, The “XIONGLI” water pumps have been honored as “the famous product of Zhejiang Province”, “new millennium high quality science and technology symbol product of Zhejiang” and “Reliable and credible enterprise” etc.
Taizhou Kaili Pumps CO., Ltd won the production license of the national industrial products in 1999, gained the popularizing license from the Ministry of Agriculture in 2000 and past the international quality system ISO9001 and CCC authentication in the same year. People’s Insurance Company of China has taken the Quality Assurance in 2002.

This submersible pump has been Approved by CE.This series pump’s model is QDX, QX series, consists of pump, mechanical seal and motor. Pump is at the bottom part of pump, which is adopted centrifugal impeller. Motor which is monophase or triphase is at the upper part of pump and seal is used where pump and motor combine, which is a kind of doubleend mechanical seal, O rings are applied to all static joints.

This series pump is small and light, which is widely used in countryside for elevating water from well, irrigation, sprinkling and domestic water supply, and also used in draining off water for fish pond and building site.

If you want to buy such submersible pump, you can click the link above to contact the company, or have a look at other pumps .

The Army Corps of Engineers has broken ground on a serious construction project: a 150,000-gallon-per-second, $500m pumping station charged with keeping the city of New Orleans a little, uh, dryer than it has been in the last few years.

The pump is just a small part of a larger $14bn plan to seal up New Orleans’ levees and bolster the city’s disaster preparedness, but it’s without a doubt the most visually impressive. PopSci’s thrown together a couple of diagrams to give us a sense of scale, and trust me, they’re necessary—see that little white thing next to the diesel engine? That’s a full-sized human being. There aren’t a whole lot of companies that make combustion engines that cartoonishly huge, so my money’s on something from a company like Wartsila-Sulzer, which makes engines like this to spin the props on ultramassive cargo ships, and conceivably, pumps:

At any rate, the pump is expected to be operational—and NOLA slightly safer—by 2011.

This is a very usful invention for people who offen go out for camping or survey.  In the field, we can’t find water that can drink although there are a lot of lush vegetation surrouning. If you have this portable water purifier, it will become better.

You only need to find a water source, then repeatedly squeezing the pump, about two minutes late, the special suction device can absorb water and expel through the pipes at the other side, ultimately. The build-in filtration sterilization system can ensure the water is safety. And it can prevent the iodine-deficiency diseases because adding a small amount of iodine to sterilize. Each portable water purifier can absorb and filter 5 liters drinking water at most.

This portable water purifier has passed the test of  London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

It’s cost £ 30.

Consider a typical sewage collection system. At the initial point of discharge, water first flows (by gravity) into a network of (sloped down) drain pipes, which gradually intercept a larger main pipe. Eventually, all this water needs to be lifted to a sewage wastewater processing plant.

The lift varies from several feet to hundreds of feet in some cases. To accomplish this eventual lift, there are several options:
1. Archimedes Screw

Archimedes screw is the oldest known pumping method, and it is rarely used today. The obvious benefit is its simple design, with no seals or packing to worry about. However, it requires significant space to accommodate the necessary low angle of incline, which also increases weight substantially. Typically, only one bearing near the discharge (drive) side is provided, so the entire rotor sits cantilever at a tight clearance required to keep water from flowing back.

Eventually, the rotor sags through the clearance and wears the bottom trough, requiring frequent-and rather expensive-repairs. When a second (lower) bearing is provided, it is lubricated by grease, which-due to submergence-eventually washes out and is difficult to reduplicate. Removal of the unit for maintenance is also difficult due to weight and inaccessibility.
2. Self-Priming Centrifugal Pumps

Self-priming centrifugal pumps are common, mostly for relatively low flow applications (under 1,000-gpm or so). Like any other pump, it has pluses and minuses. Maintenance is easy since the pump sits on the surface, and trash can be removed by the access ports at the side of the casing. Priming is achieved by:

a. Foot valve

b. Check valve

c. Auxiliary vacuum pump evacuation of the inlet air

Both (a) and (b) options are the Achilles’ heel of the method, and a vacuum pump adds complexity to the system. However, if these issues are understood and pumps regularly and properly maintained, a reliable operation results. If an install-and-forget maintenance is practiced, these applications become a problem after three to five years, when wear opens clearances and priming no longer looks or works as good as promised in the glossy paper brochure.
3. Vertical Sump

Vertical sump design solves priming problems by submersing the pumping element under water. A long shaft connects it to a surface-mounted electric motor, which keeps it from getting wet. The maintenance of packings or seals is easy since the pump does not need to be pulled for repacking service. However, with a long shaft comes an alignment problem, unbalance or wear of the line bushings. Lubrication of bushings can be problematic, due to plugging or breaking of the long (and often flimsy) grease tubing. When tubing, bushings or impeller require maintenance, the entire unit needs to be pulled, which can be an issue for hard-to-access places.
4. Submersible (Wet) Pumps

Submersible (wet) pumps have an electric motor directly coupled to a pump. The entire unit is compact and relatively light, which makes it acceptable for relatively low depth wet wells (10-ft to 20-ft) at horsepower typically under 30-hp. Submergence of the motor, while a benefit, can also be trouble. To ensure water does not get to the motor windings, a double mechanical seal, filled with oil, is installed. As the impeller wears out (wastewater applications can be nasty!), unbalance and vibrations eventually tend to deflect the cantilever shaft and fail the seal.

Given this issue, submersible pump motors are typically made with better quality stator windings as compared to dry, surface application motors. Even after being flooded, the windings continue to function without shorting for some time. Moisture sensors are provided to detect, warn and alarm, but unfortunately, many operators do not have these connected-or disconnect them on purpose-to avoid nuisance alarms, and thus set the units on a road towards eventual undetected failure.

Even for a perfectly maintained submersible pump, with no impeller wear and resultant unbalance to consider, a mechanical seal life has a finite lifespan. While the secondary seal sees a better environment (clean oil), the primary seal is in direct contact with dirty sewage and eventually wears. While the exact value of such seal life depends on the application, it will likely not significantly exceed five years on average, so the pump cannot be viewed as install-and-forget.
5. Submersible (Dry) Pumps

Submersible (dry) pumps are similar to the wet submersible except that they are installed in the dry well, and connected to the wet well via suction piping. Servicing and pulling such a pump for maintenance is easier with simpler, obviously cleaner access. The issue of mechanical seal life, however, remains the same as for the wet submersibles. Since cooling of the motor is no longer done by submersion, dry submersibles require circulation of a portion of the pumpage through the cooling passages of the motor housing, which can clog these passages with dirty pumpage and overheat the motor.
6. Dry Well Sewage Pumps

The expense of constructing a dry well next to a wet well is often justified by the elimination of a long shaft (as in (3)) or the dangers of flooding the motor windings (as in (4) and (5)). Such installation looks no different than any other surface-mounted pump with a vertically oriented shaft coupled to the motor shaft. Packing or mechanical seals are a matter of choice and preference, with decisions on that very similar to regular surface-mounted pumps.

The main concern is the potential of flooding the entire pumping station, in which case a dry-designed motor fails quickly. Any corrective action is difficult until the entire station gets pumped out on emergency service.
7. Dry Well U-Jointed Shafting Pumps

Dry well U-jointed shafting pumps solve the concern of possible station flooding. However, all issues of longer shafting come into consideration. Typically, two, three or even more segments of the pump-to-motor shafting are present, with pillow blocks guiding the shafting along the way. Alignment of such shafting is critical. Just as critical is a need to balance the shafts and (preferably) the entire shafting train, with balancing machines designed to accommodate very long shafts (a difficult or expensive process). Lubrication of the bearings of the U-joints as well as pillow blocks is also critical, and needs to be followed by the proper preventative maintenance procedure. If neglected, high vibrations and failures would be the norm, not an isolated event.
Recommendations

There are several methods to lift water to the surface, each with pluses and minuses. None allow an install-and-forget attitude. The modes of failure, critical path to failure and root cause for each of these are different. By understanding the fundamental principles and applying proactive maintenance and operating strategies, you can prevent or significantly reduce failures.

Which of these methods works best for you? What are the issues you may have had and overcame by implementing this methodology? Let us know. Pumps & Systems and Pumping Machinery present this series to help build awareness and knowledge of how these alternatives work and when. Don’t fear the pitfalls-instead, understand the potential issues and apply the best options for your application.

As always, a parting quiz! Which other method of water lifting is common and what are the benefits and drawbacks of it? The first three people who answer correctly will get a free pass to a Pump School session.

Sump pumps really aren’t very complicated devices compared to some of the other things you have in your home. And yet their service can save you thousands in water damage, should flooding occur. Yes, the sump pump is the unsung hero of our basements.

1. Sump pumps generally fall into two categories:

submersible and pedestal. Both of these models serve to pump water out of the sump and away from where it can harm your property. Both kinds of sump pump sit at the bottom of your sump and activate based on a float switch that tells them when the water level has risen to a certain height. In fact, the parts of a sump pump are pretty much standardized these days. The main difference is that the pedestal sump pump has a motor that sits atop a pedestal, which stretches out of the pit and in plain view. This motor is supposed to remain dry, and the visibility can make repair a bit easier.

2. Power.

For most households, a 0.33 horsepower sump pump will serve adequately. If you feel that your basement suffers greater amounts of water than the average household basement, then you can use a 0.5 horsepower sump pump - it can pump more gallons per minute (standard unit of flow rate) and can pump the water higher.

3. Drainage.

In older homes, sump pumps are often set up to drain into places that, by today’s laws, are illegal. Check your local laws to make sure that your sump pump empties legally; often the older sump pumps are set to pump into the sanitary sewer (often illegal) as opposed to a storm drain or other legal setup. I’ve seen sump pumps that just pump the water right out onto the street, which can also be illegal. Check your local sump pump regulations to make sure your sump pump removes water at a legal distance and to a legal destination.

4. Maintenance.

Sump pumps don’t often require maintenance, but you must check on them once in a while. Once you see the evidence of a sump pump problem, all too often the damage has already been done. It’s best to be familiar with some of the main causes of sump pump failure so that you can occasionally check the condition of the sump pump and prevent that awful water damage. Any time you perform maintenance on the sump pump, unplug it!

• Check once in a while to make sure that the switch float inside your sump pump is floating freely; if it gets stuck, the sump pump won’t be able to detect the water rising.
• A plug in the opening to a sump pump can obviously make it difficult for a sump pump to fulfill its vital duty. Check your sump pumps occasionally to make sure that screens and openings aren’t clogged.
• Clean out the sump pit occasionally as well, since it accumulates dirt.
• Compressed air trapped between the pump and the check valve can impair a sump pump’s performance or simply render it inoperative. This is a pretty common problem in sump pumps with a solid pipe that leads to the check valve. If your sump pump has a solid pipe there, cut about a 1/8-inch hole through the side of the pipe within the sump; this will prevent compressed air from becoming a potential problem for your sump pump.
• Power outage will prevent any sump pump from working if it runs only on electricity. If your drainage problems often coincide with power outages, then a plug-in sump pump spells disaster for you. Consider buying a sump pump with backup battery power instead, or one that runs entirely on battery power.