Well pump (by Marchan)

Do you remember a well pump?
It reminds me of the sound.
When I heard it creaking, I could always find my mother at well.
That was usually when she was doing laundry.
Then I gave her a hand. Bit surprised, because it was heavier than I had expected.

My hands remember that well water was relatively warm, even if it was cold outside.

Quote:
Just as you say.

I had a well at my home, with lever placed a bit too high for young kid to reach.
Hanging on it though, only to find weight of my little body wasnt heavy enough.

Sometimes water never runs even if we pull lever over and over.
Thats always the case when we havent used it for a long time.
Then how we could pump water up from well?
Easy.
Just pour water, and keep pulling lever.
After a while, you see water running over.
It just made sense to me for a word priming water, which is used when something happen through something. I learned it from this experience.

I had no well at my home, but when I visit grandmas home, I could find a draw well in the middle of the earth floor in the kitchen, and outside, I could see pump well.
In summer, well water was cold enough to be substitute of refrigerator.
Ice-cold watermelon was ready when I arrived.

Grandma was using well water for bath.
It means she had to carry the water from the well in a pail.
Thats one of domestic labor---how backbreaking it was!!
People at that time could never use it like water.

Karei

There was a parish pump near my house, though my family didnt have one for us.
As I was a child, I used to carry the water from it in pail with other kids whenever there were cuts in water supply.
I have a memory that I often spilt half of it on my way home.
Id know better. I could have saved it if I hadnt filled it up.
I was just a small child.

Moms enjoyed parish-pump conversation at the well in certain time of the day.
Well, thats how they were networking each other, but in retrospect it was sort of funny.

Karei

Quote:True. We used to see well for common use in my younger days.
Villagers spent times to gather and wash radish for making pickles.

Parish-pump conversation...that I saw often was sometimes for talking bad things about others, but thats not everything. Parish-pump communication was useful in view of sharing wisdom of living, like, tips for making good pickles.

Marchan

Marchan
Quote:Well water is suited for chill fruits, while refrigerator sometimes makes them freezing.
Quote:Clothes are washed only when they get dirty, but now they are washed just because they are worn for once.

Marchan

Okabeno-san
Quote:
I wonder what kind of mechanism it has. Tell me something.

Marchan

Marchan
Quote:It has something to do with negative-pressure, which is less powerful than atmosphere pressure. The creaking point of the pump is fulcrum of the lever. On the end of the lever, it has a piston connected to shaft. The piston does up-and-down movement inside cylinder with packing inner wall. The piston goes down when lever is up, and vice versa. Well pump is applied the principle of leverage.

The cylinder has valve, which closes when the piston is up.

The under part of the cylinder has a pipe inserted into well hole, and it is underneath water surface. The diameter of a pipe is less than that of a cylinder. This has something to do with Pascals principle.　

When the lever is up, air exists lower part of cylinder is flooded out through circumference of piston or interspace of valve, and when the lever is pushed down swiftly, valve closes and piston goes up. This situation makes well water come up with negative pressure inside pipe, and it gushes from outlet of pump. When you continue making lever up and down, you can get water from well pump as much as you need.

Now let me explain Pump-priming effect.

As you know, up and down movements of lever never works for waters coming out when it is not used for a long time. This is because air inside pipe cant get out since it had already entered into lower part of piston through its circumference or interspace of valve. This makes water level equal inside pipe and well hole.

Priming water fills the space under piston. Then pump well gets back to normal, and spits out water.

By transposing airspace to water, water comes out from pump outlet by negative pressure.

Does that make sense?

Okabeno

Okabeno-san
Quote:Wow, that's difficult.
People in the past make use of this principle in daily life...an empirical fact or what.
I guess this explanation is good for junior-high classes rather than for elementary ones.
I'd suggest that someone makes the animation of this mechanism.
It might make it easier for future generations to understand.
Well, thank you for your information.

Marchan

Marchan

I used to live in Yahata(Yawata) of Ichikawa city after I had come back from Korea.
At that time, neighbors shared a pump well in the town.
My dad liked well water. He said it tastes sweet because it's chlorine-free.
As for me, I hate it.
It smells like rotten eggs, and lets out burps, however, I believe well water in countryside with less houses tastes sweet.

Ragora