CONSALLEN

- QUALITY HAND PUMPS

  for

  wells or boreholes

 

Links to items on this page:—

Introduction
Features
Design and Development
Maintenance
Spares
Installed in Uganda 1992: one of over 1000 Consallen pumps installed in Uganda to date
The Consallen hand pump shown above was installed in Uganda 1992. It is one of over 1500 used in a successful, sustainable, and on-going programme run by the Busoga Trust in Busoga and Luwero Dioceses in Uganda, East Africa. The pump shown here was installed on a sand filled hand dug well with a 4-inch plastic pipe lining. The scheme was started in 1983 using Consallen pumps supplied by UNICEF, who encouraged the then Government to adopt the design as their 'standard' pump. The programme has continued to use the same product because it has consistently performed well and economically, with the 1983 pumps still working, after 20 years of daily use.

Maintenance of this pump, including spares consumption and fitting amounts to about US$ 20 a year, of which, 20% accounts for the actual spare parts, and the remainder in the preventative maintenance system. It serves from 250 to 500 people, so the cost is affordable in any society. This is only possible because the pump is engineered to a quality suited to the very considerable task.

 
INTRODUCTION

The Consallen 'community' high performance hand pump, designed in 1976 and now in the 30th year of continuous manufacture.   30 years of years of continual development has improved both the performance and the methods of manufacture still further.   We have developed a unique method of low cost and effective total maintenance, based on the circuit rider concept, which supports the pump when it is used as the sole source of clean drinking water for beteen 250 and 500 people. This duty requires that between 6,000 and 12,000 litres of water is sustainably pumped per day, every day, without breakdown or failure.

Economical because it will reliably serve more people than the competition. Competing (cheaper) pumps will only reliably serve 100 people or less. Immediately the Consallen is less expensive to employ in terms of both first cost and in the cost of wells. This fact renders the Consallen pump HIGHLY COMPETITIVE for all community water projects. Fewer pumps and wells required to reliably serve communities of 250/350 people.

With the ability to maintain a quality permanent pump like the Consallen at reasonable cost, ($5 to $10 a year) the useful life is indefinite.   This is based on an amount of work done of 200,000 litre-metres per day.   A full discussion of what this means is given in the Specification, for which there is a link at the top of this page.   Essentially it means pumping perhaps 10,000 litres (10 cubic metres or tons) from 20 metres depth, or the product of litres per day and any other pumping depth up to about 60 metres (200 feet).

Our experience in the permanent operation and maintenance of Consallen hand pumps is available on request.   We have examples of use in Liberia for over 25 years, Uganda and in Zambia of over 20 years - with independent referees.

The original and still the only hand pump which uses entirely STANDARD spare parts, obtainable from Engineers' Merchants everywhere.   All wearing components like piston seals, bearings, bolts and O-rings are standard commercially available spares used and stocked for industrial use all over the world.   These spares are also available by mail order and from merchants in many countries, as well as from Consallen at the address given below.

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FEATURES
  • Long life pumps, easily maintained, spares universally available, from Enginerers' and Agricultural Merchants everywhere giving really good long term VALUE.   All major components such as rodding and rising main are permanent and not subject to rust or corrosion.   Only small affordable items required as consumable spares.   The high quality ensures that they last a long time. See the spares section and details of mail order whereby spares can be delivered by mail to any village in Africa.

  • The welded steel pump head is 'hot dip' galvanised after fabrication for strength and resistance to corrosion. We use high tech laser technology for accurate fabrication which contributes to the great strength and durability of this important item.

  • The Consallen will pump from up to 60 metres below ground level, but will also perform just as satisfactorily in shallow wells.

  • One full stroke of the positive displacement cylinder is 0.33 litres.

  • Everything below ground is entirely corrosion proof, being made of stainless steel and plastics with brass and rubber elements.

  • Pumping cylinders are fullu honed seamless drawn brass with brass pistons and industry standard hydraulic polyurethane piston seals with matching wear rings. For deep applications, honed stainless steel cylinders are available.

  • Three Rising Mains (drop pipes) types are offered. In addition to our traditional and well proven ABS pipe, we offer MDPe (polyethylene) alone, and thin-wall Stainless Steel lined with MDPe. The liner acts as permanent protection to the stainless steel against abrasion by the rodding system, and provides the means of sealing the pipe joints. Also under development is an extractable version based on the use of 63mm HDPe site welded into a bendable single length.

  • The standard cylinder and rising main may be comfortably installed in a borehole diameter of only 55mm, which can lead to big savings that may easily be greater than the cost of the pump.

  • Handle fitted with three industrial standard deep groove ball bearings with two rubber seals, centres and retaining bolts in stainless steel. The housings are push broached for absolute consistency and to allow the uncomplicated field replacement of bearings by pushing them out from one side.   The new ones can as simply be pushed in again using hand methods in the field.

  • Installation and maintenance using a simple 'bicycle' type tool kit weighing 1.5 Kg only.

  • Speak to us about low maintenance costs and systems to deliver assured and continuous availability with zero down-time, and a spares system to match, as mentioned in the Introduction.

  • Mail order spares delivery option world wide or in country;   ask for details.   We will also provide details of your nearest local Engineers' Merchant on request.
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DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY

No design can, or indeed should, remain static, and we have developed the pump design over the years since production began in 1976.   Improved materials and manufacturing methods have been introduced as they became available, but we have also ensured that no developments have made earlier models redundant.   All current and earlier versions of the Consallen hand pump are entirely spares compatible.   All current spares and all structural components will fit all Consallen hand pumps of whatever age or year of manufacture.

We intend to continue this policy, and all further development will also ensure that whatever different methods of manufacture or materials are used, spares will always fit retrospectively. The Spares are all STANDARD - of course.

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MAINTENANCE

There are three aspects of successful 'maintenance' so far as handpumps are concerned which are of equal importance. These are, 'is there a will to carry out maintenence', 'is the pump maintainable' and 'are spares available'.

IS THERE A WILL
If an organisation exists, or one can be set up, the first of the essentials is present at some point in time. It depends on the type of organisation whether the situation is sustainable over the longer term. The literature is full of ideas on the maintenance of hand pumps - mostly bemoaning the fact that it is a difficult problem or describing failed systems; successful schemes seem hard to find - you need to start by having a good design of pump and a committed manufacturer, like Consallen, who is interested in the performance of his product.

There are some good, practical, working schemes and we have details of these which we will share with interested parties. Our knowledge and experience is automatically at the disposal of users and specifiers of Consallen hand pumps. One example is shown below.

IS THE PUMP GOOD ENOUGH
It is more difficult to maintain anything that starts off in the 'poor quality' category than something which was designed originally to be easily maintained. The Consallen was designed from the outset to be easily and simply maintained using an affordable level of spare parts. The result has been a hand pump that it is feasible to keep in operation indefinitely using a low total cost of easily replaceable small size spares; a pump which is better value than any competing hand pump available.

SPARE PARTS DISTRIBUTION
The fact that the Consallen employs only wearable spares which are industrial standard components, means that the pumps can be maintained and supplied with spares which are obtainable locally everywhere.   Industrial 'standard' components are not only used in hand pumps.   They are also essential spares for a wide variety of industrial, agricultural and construction machinery, and are stocked everywhere by Engineers' and Agricultural Merchants.   Our piston seals, for example, are standard hydraulic seals used in agriculture, construction and manufacturing industry;   similarly with bearings, bolts, screws and O-rings.

Another good method of spares distribution is Mail Order. This is highly successful as a means of distributing of a wide range of goods all over the developed world, and can be used to do the same in the developing world.   A fact which many find surprising is that the postal services in many developing countries work very well. We can distribute spares by airmail cheaper than they can be stocked locally.

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A picture of an older 
installation that has 
been supported by good 
maintenance

MAINTENANCE - a good example from Uganda

This Consallen hand pump was installed in 1992 in the Iganga District of Uganda.   It has been maintained in the ensuing period in good continuous working order by hand pump mechanics (HPMs) working as independent itinerant 'circuit riders'.   The current mechanic has about 35 other pumps in his 'practice', and is one of 20 similar HPMs in the Busoga Diocese maintaining about 1500 Consallen pumps, mostly placed on shallow hand dug wells.

the CIRCUIT RIDER SYSTEM

This requires each HMP to undertake a preventative maintenance visit (PMV) to each pump on his list at 4-month intervals.   The Water Committee pays US $3 for each visit by the HPM.   He checks that the pump is working and the function & condition of the components on each PMV.   If he finds that a spare is shortly to be required, he informs the committee that this is the case.   It is their responsibility to buy spares before the next PMV, during which the HPM will fit parts at no extra cost to the committee.

In an emergency, the HPM is available just a short bike ride away to do repairs or maintenance between regular scheduled visits.   The hand pump maintenance done by a mechanic is generally in addition to his normal living.   They live in the community which they serve, and have other means of earning their main income.

There are three ways that the committee can obtain spares:

  1. Visit the Consallen stockist in Jinja and obtain the spare
  2. Order the spare by Mail Order from the stockist using the illustrated price list carried by the HPM to see a picture and the price of each spare. Payment can be made by Giro obtained from the nearest Post Office, and the HPM has Order Forms that can be helpful.

  3. Request that the HPM obtain any required spares at the costs shown in the Price List plus the stated Fixed Fee for the HPM also shown in the Price List.
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SPARE PARTS

Delivery of spares to villages in Africa is regarded by many as a difficult problem. At Consallen, we have solved this by making spares availbale to users of our pumps by making them available by Mail Order. By sending an e-mail to us, we will take the items from stock and pack them so that they may be mailed immediately we are notified that payment has been received.

Delivery by post takes about 7 days to most places in Africa - including the smallest Trading Centre post office. The cost of mail order averages about 8% of the cost of the spare item. This very small amount, while being easy for a manufacurer like ourselves, would be commercially unattractive to any local trader. The system ensures that spares are not only very readily available, but are low priced, with no intermediary's mark-up.

Payment can be by several different methods, but the most expeditious appears to be the PayPal system using one of the major Credit Cards. This system bye-passes the normal banking systems with the enormous delays, costs and bureaucracy and employs the international Credit Card system in widespread use. This allows donors and supporters to simply and easily give the necessary funds to support the pumps they give to villages, schools and churches everywhere.

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Having read about the hand pump, you may also be interested in a well drilling machine shown at:-   cable tool drilling