TECHNOLOGY > PUMPS

Water pumps for wells

An Afridev hand pump installed by KWAHO.

Introduction

KWAHO supplies villages with Afridev hand pumps for wells ever since.

The Afridev handpump is the result of a design and development process which started in 1972 and has been evolving ever since. The orginial pump was designed to the following criteria. It:

used appropriate technology;
used lightweight, non corrosive components;
could be maintained by women;
could be manufactured locally to an excact specification;
needed only one or two simple tools for installation and maintenance;
was relatively cheap; and
was designed with preventative maintenance in mind.

Over the years some design features have been modified and improved to aid village level operation and maintenance (VLOM). The Afridev has been specified for standardisation in many countries including Ethiopia, Cambocia, Pakistan, Malawi, Ghana and Kenya.[1]

Further the Afridev pump is designed to minimise forces, withoug reducing the discharge, by using a small diameter, long cylinder.
The number of spares is minimised by using the same cylinder size for all depths.

Technique

Description

The AFRIDEV Pump is a conventional lever action handpump. The configuration includes an open top cylinder, i.e. the piston can be removed from the cylinder without dismantling the rising main. The footvalve is retractable with a fishing tool. The riser pipes are made of u-PVC. The pump rods are of stainless- or mild steel with hook and eye connectors, allowing removal without tools. Engineering plastics like POM and PA 66 are used for the pumping elements, plunger/footvalve and for the bearings. This pump is corrosion resistant in the stainless steel rod configuration. [2]

A girl services a valve of the Afridev pump.

Technical data

Cylinder diameter (mm): 50 Maximum Stroke (mm): 225
Approx. discharge at about 75 watt input m3/h:
at 10 m head 1.4
at 15 m head 1.1
at 20 m head 0.9
at 30 m head 0.7
Pumping lift (m): 10 – 45
Population served (nos.): 300
Households (nos.): 30
Water consumption (lpcd): 15 – 20
Type of well: borehole

Material

Pump head galvanised steel
Handle galvanised steel
Pump stand galvanised steel
Pump rods SS or galvanised steel
Rising main u-PVC pipe 63 mm
Pump cylinder u-PVC pipe 2 inch
Plunger/footvalve Polyacetal POM

Click on the image
to enlarge it.[3]

Installation

The installation of the AFRIDEV Pump is not difficult and does not need any lifting equipment.

Maintenance

This pump has an excellent “Community Management Potential”, it is reliable, easy to repair by a village caretaker and popular with the communities. The only tools needed are one spanner and the fishing tool.

Suppliers

The Afridev is a public domain handpump.
KWAHO has many printed materials on detailed technical specifications training for O&M available at the headquater in Nairobi. Technical information and a list of recommended manufacturers are also available from HTN SKAT, homepage: www.skat.ch

Description of project areas where hand pumps are implemented:

References:

[1] Wood, 1993; Skinner, 1996; in Guidance manual on water supply and sanitation programmes, published by WEDC for DFID/WELL (1998).
[2] BAUMANN, Erich, Water Lifting, SKAT, Switzerland (2000).
[3] NAMPUSUOR, R., MATHISEN, S., COWAP Field Paper 27, The Performance of Afridev and Nira Handpumps on the Upper Regions Community Water Project (COWAP), Ghana, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF CANADA (2001).