[[Image:volanta pump2.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Volanta pump is easy to maintain. Photo: [http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/implementation/handpump-overview/volanta RWSN.]]]
The Volanta Pump , created by Jansen Venneboer B.V. is a reciprocating pump driven by a large flywheel for medium to very deep wells. It uses a retractable cylinder and a seal-less stainless steel piston. A crank and a connecting rod convert the rotary motion into a reciprocating action, which is transmitted to the plunger via stainless steel pump rods. The crankshaft and the flywheel run on ball bearings mounted on a plate that can be fixed to a steel or concrete pedestal. The cylinder is of glass fibre reinforced plastic with a close-fitting seal-less stainless steel plunger. The complete cylinder can be lifted from the well by the threaded pump rods, without removing the PVC-U rising main. The stroke is adjustable to reduce the effort needed at deep installations.
It is designed for heavy-duty use and the maximum recommended lift is 70 m.
The Volanta Pump is not in the public domain and information can be asked from the manufacturer. The Volanta Pump is fully corrosion resistant. It is rather difficult to install and it needs extensive masonry work. Maintenance is easy so that communities can care for the pumps.
====The Afripump, a Volanta upgrade====
Since the Volanta pump needs some spares every 5 to 10 years (due to the flywheel and the stainless steel T-piece pressure box), and because it is more expensive than other handpumps on the market, Jansen Venneboer B.V. created a the Volanta - Afripump (or in short, the "Afripump"). The major change from the Volanta pump is a handle instead of a flywheel and a simple PVC T-piece inside the blue box, otherwise all components in the borehole are basically the same. These changes greatly reduced the cost of the pump and eliminated the need for spares.
If a community would like to change any existing Volanta into an Afripump, (like when there is no regional support team to change parts of the Volanta every 5 to 10 years), it can simply change the flywheel arrangement to a blue box, since all the inner components are exchangeable. Also any existing Afripump can easily be converted to a Volanta.
The key success of the Afripump is its simple and strong construction and the fact that it needs no spare parts due to a new pumping concept.
====Why the Afripump won't breakdown====
When other handpumps break, it is often due to broken rods and broken pipes, leaking pipes, faulty piston rubbers seals, leaking footvalves or wrongly installed footvalves, etc. With the Afripump all this will not happen: i.e. the pump will not stop working due to wearing out or broken spare parts, simply because:
* The stainless steel rods have rolled threaded connections which don't brake,
* The heavy duty strong bearings are maintence free, lifetime 25+ years,
* The rising main is made from quality BOODE PVC pipes and don't break,
* For deep water levels the Afripump has a bottom support system,
* The piston has no rubber seal and is 100 % maintenance free.
==Suitable conditions==