Was at chemo last week and the guy in the next chair and I were talking about spring. He moved into an apartment and said I could have his Garden Decoration. I went over the next day and found out it was a force pitcher pump. Model PHB Pitcher Pump | Hitzer It is in good shape except it needs new leathers for the cylinder, about $40 and they are ordered already. It is made by the Amish and is an updated version of a pump that came out in the late 1886 made by Heller - Aller and has been made ever since. They were designed to be used on a sink cabinet with either a rain water cistern or a shallow well, limit about 20 feet down, and were known for two things. They are a can't freeze model, with no foot valve, if you lift the handle all the way up, the cylinder will drain dry. You will have to reprime it, but they have a prime fitting so it is very easy to do. The second is that the pump rod is sealed and you can pump water to an overhead tank or to a tank heated by the wood stove. Thus you can put a tank higher than your toilet and pump water to the tank and have a "flush" toilet even if it is on the second floor or having the pump in the basement. The cylinder is a 3 in brass piece, much less rusty water and I think it takes about 20 strokes to a gallon. https://sep.turbifycdn.com/ty/cdn/k...ller-Aller-Model-PHB-Manual.pdf?t=1713181670& The one we had as a kid had a float in the tank with a cord that ran down over pulleys and down a tube in the wall and came out next to the pump and a weight with a line painted on it. That lined up with a chart on the wall that told how full the tank was. The tank was about 10 feet higher and 20 feet away from the pump I want this one so I can run a garden hose from the pump to my greenhouse and refill my water storage tanks for my tomatoes. Save carrying 5 gallon buckets. Truth is I just want the pump and to hook it up for old times sake. Now here is an item that is designed to be repairable and that for about $50 worth of spare parts you could expect to use for generations and with the parts that wear out designed to be made in a low tech manor. Mostly horsehide seals in 1880's, that takes no non human power, can give you running water to a kitchen or a toilet, don"t look like some high tech tool made out of plastic, and does just what it claims to do. Note, most of the "cheaper" pitcher pumps made today do not have the pivot link, B-3, or the stuffing box, B-6, and thus they can not pump water under pressure, only into a Ta DA, a pitcher. If you do wish you can mount the pump on a pipe stand at your well or on a sink cabinet. https://www.bisonpumps.com/pdf-downloads/model-1900-pitcher-pump-stand-installation-manual/ You can mount and use a Heller - Aller pump in the same manner as the Bison as described in the Bison booklet. https://www.bisonpumps.com/pdf-downloads/model-1900-shallow-well-pump-owners-manual/ Bison pumps makes an excellent , if modern, pitcher force pump. Model 1900 Stainless Steel Pitcher Pump Basics Model 1900 Stainless Steel Pitcher Pump System Bison has an option to prevent freezing as well, not part of standard pump , Drain Back Feature And of course here is Amazon's take on it. Amazon.com Wonder why 5 sets of parts to repair it? Haven't had to do anything to my large Baker deep well pump in last 30 years. It is fun to compare the Bison with the Hitzer, Bison is 20th century, piston rings, welded up parts, etc. The Hitzer is 19 th century, castings, leather cup seals, flap valves. Hitzer is old tech, repairable with hand tools except castings, parts made from leather and such, lubricate with olive oil, Bison needs tech to make rings etc. Forest Service pump book. Details in safe installation and in taking care of pumps. https://www.fs.usda.gov/t-d/pubs/pdf/99231209.pdf The Baker hand pump. See pages 34 thru 39. https://www.bakerwatersystems.com/u...dated 8-9-2018.pdf#page=34&zoom=auto,-261,682 Mods, might be almost a resource?
Good write up Dwayne. Brought back memories. In the early 90's I was asked to drill a well for a fella in his basement of his new home. We backed the rig over the basement wall and drilled in the basement floor. Water was at 17' and he put his parents old pitcher pump on it and later built a kitchen sink like he grew up with after the floor was poured and the house built. A lot of people back home still had outhouses and pitcher pumps when I was a kid.
If you have a shallow well pump, pump mounted on tank and "one" line" running to the well. page 20 and figure B- 2, in the Bison 1900 booklet, you only need 1 T. two 1/4 turn valves, a washing machine hose, and a anti back flow hose bib to pump water to your house if the electric fails. There are similar, but better systems for permanent hand powered water supplies, using a larger pump with a longer handle and even pumps that pump on both up and down strokes. https://www.bisonpumps.com/pdf-downloads/model-1900-shallow-well-pump-owners-manual/ 1 Put hose bib on pump outlet. Will have pressure there when pumping. 2 Turn off all electric to pump and heat sources to water heaters etc. 3 Turn off valve that is above T and nearest to tank. 4 Let water pressure drop to minimum. Usually toilet tanks don't fill any more. 5 Record pressure on tank pressure tank gauge. Usually only a few pounds. 6 Connect washing machine hose from pump bib to drain on pressure tank. 7 Open 1/4 turn valve that is between well line and pump inlet. 8 Open hose bib on pump and pressure tank drain faucet. 9 Prime pump if needed and start pumping. The pump will have little back pressure as the toilet tanks will need to fill up first before any pressure is built up. Makes pumping easier and limits pressure in the system. We use if yellow mellow, if brown flush, and with the toilet tank full and the system pumped up to about 25 lbs pressure, get about 1 more set of flushes. If you wish to build the pressure up to about 40 lbs, then you have the pressure tank supplying water. They are often on at 20 or so lbs, off at 40 to 50 lbs. A whole lot different than 6 to 25 or so. The lower pressure gets you by, the higher is just like down town. With a good pump and some muscle, 50 lbs is reachable, but I never tried to reach it. This supplies water to sinks, tub, toilets, anywhere there is a faucet. I have only used it a couple times as we have our shallow well, 110 v, on a generator. The deep well is 220 v. I like it as I don't have to go outside to start genset, uses no gas, and is silent. Also, the water only flows for about 3 or 4 gallons, good opsec, don't know how that happened! In the long run an elevated tank would be much better. The head is supplied by the height and 100 % of the water is available, not the amount displaced by the air bladder bladder and you aren't wasting energy compressing air. Might be some slight reason in why it is still in production after 136 years for those who do not want or don't have electricity.
And if you really want to dream, Aeromotor has all the things you need to power that off grid, wind powered system with over a hundred years to get the bugs out. A very deep rabbit hole with a lot of information. The section on how the windmills work, parts breakdowns, and ho much water you can expect to use are very good. Aermotor Windmill Company - Wind-Powered Water Pumps Aermotor Full Windmill Parts Diagram Windmills do best in about 10 to 15 mph winds. They have a spring loaded system that turns the tail to the side and a physical brake that can be set from the ground as well if the wind gets to strong. The one at the home place has been rebuilt, but was bought new about 1895 and still pumps well. It is turned off, tail and fan side by side, and the brake set when not in use. It has withstood winds that ripped the shingles of the barn next to it with no damage. It is a 10 foot wheel.
What a great gift. My neighbor next door has one that looks almost exactly like it. Definitely more practical than just decoration if it is in working order.
