How To Make A Water Pump At Home

Having access to a water pump can be a really useful thing to have. Such pumps are ideal for providing clean water supplies, as well as removing excess amounts of water. Whilst many people would simply go out and buy the best pump to suit their needs it is possible to make fully functioning water pumps.

Pumps can be made from materials, which are readily available and with a minimum number of tools, alongside a little bit of know how. The combination of these things will enable people to make a perfectly fit for purpose water pump.

Just follow the instructions below and you will soon have the pump that you need. The instructions are to make a small pump from materials easily available from hardware stores, supermarkets or even sheds.

The following tools and instruments are needed when making your own water pump:

Cut 1 foot / 12 inches of 2 1/2 inch thick PVC piping. Then cut a small circle similar in width to that of the PVC pipe opening from a flat piece of the flexible rubber sheet. That small piece of rubber sheet serves as the flapper provided that you leave a tab 1/2 inch long at the end of the rubber.

Then use the waterproof glue to stick the tab of the rubber flapper onto the inside of the PVC piping. Get close to the edge then score the point at the place where the tab joins to the whole of the flapper.

Now for the next step take off the cap from an empty soft drink two liter plastic bottle. Then proceed to cut off the top part of this bottle. After that use the tube of strong quick drying marine glue to stick the top of the bottle to the outer part of the PVC tube in the same area that the flapper has already been fixed to.

Following on from the last step fix the caps to the edge of another 1 foot measure of PVC pipe. After cutting out the new tube proceed to gluing a few strips of previously cut out felt close to the bottom of the tube. Then layer the the strips of felt deeply enough till they only just fit within the original PVC tube. That is basically the seal the pump will need to prevent it leaking out from the base as water is pumped through it. Then you will need to give the felt extra protection against leaking. At this point cover the felt strips with Vaseline to grease them. If the pump is going to be used on a frequent basis then the strips will need to be greased regularly.

You can then provide yourself with a handle by gluing another plastic strip to the PVC cap at the other end. Having this handle will make it easier to pump out the water later on. The handle makes the pumping action easier to carry out.

Getting hold of a piece of garden hose you will then need to cut 20 inches off it (length may have to vary depending on the length of the bottle used). Then put a hole less than the diameter of the hose right at the base of the furthest away of the PVC pipes. Once the hole has been cut stick the hose to the pipe with the glue.

Then make yourself another flapper out of the rubber sheet, only this time make it slightly bigger than the end of the hose. As before stick the tab to the outer part of the piece of garden hose using the marine glue. After the glue has set and is holding the flapper in it's place move the flapper until it is rested by the end of the hose itself.

Now place the base of your plastic water pump into some water while pulling it up using the handle at the top. You will notice that as the handle is pulled the suction created will open the bigger flapper to bring in water, whilst closing the smaller flapper at the same time.

The pump works as you push down on the handle the resultant pressure will shut the flapper at the bottom, and then opens the other flapper at the top of the hose, which in turn makes the water come out of the hose.

Simply carry on with pumping until the water has gone. Be careful for making a water pump.

Larger 3 liter or 5 liter plastic bottles could be used instead of a 2 liter one, though the length of hose may have to be adjusted.

This design is not suitable for using battery or mains power, with the suction provided by the pump action being good enough to get the job done.

Though this plastic pump is easy to build it should not be used for the making of battery powered or mains powered pumps. As this simple pump is only intended to remove water do not drink any of the water.

As this design is ideal to show children how things can be made with few available resources please be aware of the risks even small amounts of water can pose to children.

Make sure all parts of the pump are sealed and grease parts before each use. This design is more a demonstration of how pumps work, and is not intended for frequent use.