power my well pump and pump water from making a bicycle connected to dynamo

[DeadPhan]

My friend is trying to tell me this will work. I think he bumped his head. been looking into other options to pump water. Generator expensive. Pump is 1.5hp. was considering getting a smaller less power dc well pump i can run off my solar array which is 10 panels @220v. they are cheap enough. friend telling me we can take an old dynamo from generator and hook up 2 crank or bike to power well. lmao. Not sure if hes lost marbles or im missing something. Generator produces more power than a dynamo bike would, no? he mentioned something about going backwards with it to generate more power with resistance?

[bcroe]

Do you think you can peddle the power of a couple work horses? DC is a good solution. Bruce Roe

[SunEagle]

Unless your friend is into a lot of exercising on a bike the idea to use one to power a pump will probably end up being used to just hang his cloths on like most stationary exercising bikes.

[Tecnodave]

A well fit human can produce 1/3 h.p. for a while, this is not nearly enough to pump any decent amount of water...

[J.P.M.]

A long time ago, I seem to remember learning that a human can do continuous work at a rate of something like 0.1 - 0.15 hp. and more for shorter periods. Either get a 10 person bike or work 10X as long as the pump runs.

[Tecnodave]

J.P.M.,

Im a hard core bicyclist and ride every day, I can't do 1/3 h.p. But I've read it can be done on a stationary bike expertly rigged with high efficiency generator , maybe Jack LaLanne could, I could catch him on a ride but never got a silly millimeter on him, but that did not stop him from telling me that I could.

[J.P.M.]

J.P.M.,

Im a hard core bicyclist and ride every day, I can't do 1/3 h.p. But I've read it can be done on a stationary bike expertly rigged with high efficiency generator , maybe Jack LaLanne could, I could catch him on a ride but never got a silly millimeter on him, but that did not stop him from telling me that I could.

I wouldn't worry about the generator efficiency. Work is work whether it goes to something useful or inefficiently gets dissipated as heat.

I ride too, just not as much as in years past. Back in the day, I might have been able to produce 1/3 HP, but I'd SWAG only for maybe 5-10 minutes tops in the best of times if someone strapped me to a dynamometer and used a cattle prod.

I can't recall where I got the 0.1 - 0.15 H.P. in steady state, but I think it was from some class in high school. Anecdotally, I loaded/stacked a lot of hay as a teen and lifting/hoisting an ~ 75 lbm bale through an ~ 5 ft. lift and toss onto a wagon every ~ 10 - 20 sec. ~ = 0.05 H.P. That was hard work for a skinny teen but sustainable.

I'd suppose the actual amount of work produced will be quite variable.

[Tecnodave]

J.P.M.

I think that you are correct in that you could do 1/3 h.p for 5 minutes or so, that's in line with what I've heard. That's a far cry from doing that all day, I don't think any human could sustain that. Maybe for someone super fit, 20 minutes or so.

[J.P.M.]

J.P.M.

I think that you are correct in that you could do 1/3 h.p for 5 minutes or so, that's in line with what I've heard. That's a far cry from doing that all day, I don't think any human could sustain that. Maybe for someone super fit, 20 minutes or so.

So much of the info on this anecdotal, it's sort of a waste talking about it. Beyond the idea of a draft animal walking around in a circle raising water, there's not much more to talk about.

[Tecnodave]

Yeah, you are right, not practical at all.

[peakbagger]

If you want to pump out a deep well with manual labor, you are far better off putting in deep hole hand pump. Dependent on your bore size some of them are designed fit in the well with the AC pump left in place. I think Bison Pump is one of the several firms that make these hand deep well pumps but there are others. They cater to the SHTF crowd.