May 11, 2015
Remember that fantastic water pump I told you about? The one that goes with our barrels of drinking water? Well, not so fantastic after all.
I didn’t see that the pump had a huge drawback. It has to be lubricated. Meaning, it does a great job if what you want to pump is oil or petrol. But water? Bloody hard on the thing.
So, you may remember that I tested my pump in the kitchen sink. The next time I got it out to try on the water barrel, it froze in mid crank. Urchhhhhh! Several unboltings later, we see the problem. Rust. No lubricant (which we wouldn’t have wanted in our water anyway) and thus, no motion.
So, back to the Parkrose Hardware. They took back and credited me for the four un-fried pumps. I kept the one I ruined in case anyone in the neighborhood ever needs to pump oil from our vast underground reserves
And I bought a new pump. This time, I explained myself a lot more clearly to the fellow in the hardware store. He took me right to this pump which is designed for water only. Its plastic parts are not toxic. It fits exactly in the hole at the top of our drinking water barrel and . . .
Tah-dahhhh! It has the added plus that it is the same blue as the barrel.
I just knew you’d all care a lot about color coordination!
If you are getting your family ready for emergencies, the Barrel Pump at Parkrose Hardware (or any True Value Hardware) is SKU#8898728 and costs 39.99 . If you are buying for your whole family, ask about discounts for multiple orders of the same item.
Get ready for emergencies and I’ll see you after the apocalypse – or just after the next bug-in-the-water emergency.
We store the pump and other tools for the barrel in our garage. Small building, less lumber to plow through to get to the pump and the other storage. some storage is in our canning cupboard in the basement.