replying to danny burstein, power out again wrote:
An ordinary electric sump pump can lift five gallons of water nine feet in
under 20 seconds. That is an output of under 30 watts. An ordinary 15-speed
bike with a 26" wheel driving a 2" pulley could develop over 3000 rpm under a
light load, whereas sump pump motors run at about half that. Very doable, I
would think, depending on the pump efficiency. French drains can hold a lot
of water in the tiling, so a person wouldn't have to pedal as often as their
sump pump would normally run, which is to say that one could wait for hours or
even days and then pump many batches at a single pedaling session. In an
extended power failure, human-powered pumping might be the only practical
method. In rural areas, an ice storm can put the power out for weeks. The
cost of the setup would be the main or only deterrent for me.

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