Difference between revisions of "Rope pump"

Revision as of 12:24, 24 August 2008

For wells down to 35 m, rope pumps are often five times cheaper and more sustainable than piston pumps. Evaluations show that rope pumps on communal wells are being maintained by the users, if introduced properly. 90% of rope pumps remain operational, even after many years. Because of its low cost, the pump is also popular for domestic use. A survey among 5,025 rural families in Nicaragua indicates that a rope pump increases income, even if used for domestic purposes only. Families with a pump earn US$ 220 per year more than families without a pump. In Nicaragua the pumps are now being produced commercially by 20 workshops. Different models of Rope pumps were introduced in Africa. This introduction has not always been successful: in some projects over 80% of the pumps do NOT work! However, with the "right" models and the "right" user training, up to 90% remain in operation in Africa, as the Victory model in Ghana and the Elephant model in Zimbabwe have proved.

Rope pump , (Victory model) on a hand-dug of 20 meters deep well, made in a local workshop in northern Ghana

Capacity

40 litres / min from 10 meters depth.

Costs

• US$ 30-150 depending on model and cost of materials and labour.

Applying conditions

• Numbers: 70,000 in Nicaragua, 20,000 in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam.
• Range of depth: 1-35 meter (60 m with two cranks).
• Application Communal wells, houshold, irrigation, cattle watering.
• Cost of introduction: US$ 10,000-30,000 per project, including 20 pumps, engineering and hands-on training.
• Rural water programme: US$ 150,000-200,000 per project, including 1,000 pumps, start up of production facility and hands-on training.

Rope pump construction manual

PRACTICA foundation and the Technical Training Programme of the ETC Foundation (TTP/ETC) have put together a really excellent manual on how to build rope pumps (PDF, 2.5 Mbyte). It is an 86 page long document with detailed instructions.

Movie

• Rope pumps around the world (Connect International, Netherlands, 2008)
• Small scale irrigation with a rope pump, Zambia (Connect International, Netherlands, 2008)
• Hand drilled borehole and rope pump in Tanzania (Connect International, Netherlands, 2008)
• Windmill powered rope pump in Nicaragua (S.J. Batchelor, 1999)
• Rope Pump animation (Resource Development International Cambodia, RDI)
• Water quality and rope pumps in Cambodia part 1 (RDI-Cambodia)
• Water quality and rope pumps in Cambodia part 2 (RDI-Cambodia)

External links

• Evaluations www.irc.nl
• Africa www.pumpaid.org
• General info www.ropepump.com
• How to build www.ropepumps.org
• Cambodia http://www.ideas-at-work.org/IdeasRopePump.html
• Rope Pump info at Demotech