Hi my name is Seth Johnson. In 2012 I purchased 8.5 acres of land with lots of trees, a creek, small pond, and much potential. I started Land To House to showcase the projects I get into on the land. Here you can find videos on Solar Power, Micro Hydro Power, Hydraulic Ram Pumps, Family Vlogs and so much more.
I take my channel serious and hope you will enjoy the 2 plus videos a week I post.
So Im not an engineer by any means, but Im fairly sure that decreasing the size of your intake pipe will create more pressure. Maybe worth an experiment once your down spout is converted to being entirely 6in. The vacuum remains the same with the down spout, but that pressure pulling the water through the smaller intake pipe will cause the water to come in faster which will turn the turbine faster. Its the same principle of going bigger on the lower end, but you have some room to maximize your energy output on the upper end too.
Found it from a year ago. This is more concise though. I will be purchasing one of these ram pumps mostly bc you've already done a lot of sizing tests and I want to obsess from your starting point. Have you considered combining a ram pump for upward flow and a hydroturbine for downward flow, potentially in a closed loop system, while harnessing the energy? Any results from this?
Thank you for the great video. Question for you. When using a ram pump to pump water uphill to a cattle trough which is set up with a ball float (similar to a toilet tank) to stop the water from pumping once the water reaches the desired height in the trough, does the ram pump keep pumping? And / or , is it possible to stop the ram pump from pumping once the ball float is deactivated, and restart once the float is reactivated? Hope this makes sense. Thank you in advance. Matt
When the delivery water stops flowing the pump continues to cycle in the creek. The pressure at the pump will reach max based on the input head pressure. Once the delivery pipe is opened again the water flows again.
These pieces of plywood, are grossly undersized, and the weakest part of these trusses. and the bottom cord might be a little too high. The lower the bottom cord, the stronger, pick you strength. In an area like east Texas, the wind would tear these apart. In a area of heavy snow load, there could be spreading.
I've got a bunch of leftover T-track, do you think I could replace the included bottom board with it and it would make things a bit more stable in the center?
Next time seal the joints so the pressure doesn't escape. The original pump isn't debunked. However, YOUR artistic interpretation IS totally debunked.. As for the 'lost cause'.., I won't be following you.
I did learn a few good things from the video. Thank you for making it. BUT, please please please for the love of your feet... PLEASE wear "not sandals"
I dont understand why spinning when using water? As it sound in video it hardly will make 20m3 before worn out, and not being effective when back flush and cleaning. I guess there was something wrong and should not spin during normal use, only during back-flush. Am I right or wrong?
Well done practical test. With the 6 ft. head pressure what was the minimum delivery height for the pump to keep running? Does this suggest a fixed ratio between drive head pressure and minimum delivery lift to maintain backpressure?
This was exactly what I was looking for! When I bought this switch I was under the assumption that this is how it would operate, before learning more and that what I want is a DPDT on off on selector switch. Thank you so much!
Very good tips on installing roof alone. I'm an amateur builder as well, always tend to over build. I use (8) 4x4's on footers that hold everything from floor plates and joists to the roof plates. Seems like simply framing on a platform is weak.
I just bought this and only using for my 8000 btu ac but it runs only 4 to 5 hrs with full tank of gas. Any suggestions how can i make this run longer?
This is a great video. I've been trying to figure out how to get my work/lab/studio space to be adaptable without looking like a horder with ADHD lives there and putting things on wheels means reconfiguring is a lot more flexible.
If your already generating a/c why not use that directly for normal use? This seems unnecessarily complex, and your losing some power with each change. Would a motor/generator be more efficient for the a/c - d/c conversion?
The AC that is coming from the PMA is wild fluctuating 3 phase. The power we use in our homes is locked down at 60hz and is single phase. Trying to use the power right from the PMA would blow up most appliances.
Crazy timing. Today I installed my ram pump that I bought from you. I used poly because that is what I had on hand. I was wondering about the jump and using PVC. I have a 2" supply pipe for 275' then a 3/4" drive pipe for 75'. Think I need a stand pipe or does the 2" supply line essentially act as one? I just came inside while I wait for the water to come up the delivery pipe which is 800ft long.
Hmm. no water. I must have miscalculated somewhere along the way. That being said, when I first bought the pump several years ago it worked ok. Unfortunately a flood washed it out the next day. I'm a little stumped. One thing that has been very difficult is knowing my true elevation at various points. My delivery pipe is 800' away from the pump.
Thanks for the info, I'd suspect that it would be better to use some metal pipe then because PVC isn't meant to deal with "water hammer" full time, it probably will develop cracks as PVS is rigid as you said, it's also kinda fragile too. This video was helpful though, thank you.
Hi Seth, I would like to see a comparison between poly, pvc and galvanised steel with respect to flow rate and maximum pressure ? Nice video as always! thank you.
I wonder how much gain you would gain on the poly pipe if the poly pipe were buried in gravel or buried with rocks on top of it so it wasn't able to move
It would help yes, the failure comes in the expansion of the walls of the pipe, pvc has more rigidity, steel will give a higher yield than either. Old school said you could only use steel, pvc is kind of a cheat anyway, down grading further just adds insult to injury, if you encased it in concrete poly would perform possible better than PVC
Length of drive pipe is supposed to be about three to seven times the head height for maximum efficiency. This means the vibration loss is minimized compared to a longer run of drive pipe. To accomplish this an intermediate stand pipe can be used as you stated and has the effect of arresting the vibration. Also, from experience, the pvc pipe will eventually develop cracks and fail since it is designed for rigidity but not the kind of constant water hammer that a ram pump has. This I know from experience. Usually the cracks develop lengthwise and can be difficult to diagnose as a reason for pump efficiency losses. The only solution that maintains the high output over many years is to use (stainless) steel drive pipe.
Great demo. I'm curious to see if you weigh down the poly pipe (or PVC for that matter) with a brick or other means to keep the pipe form bouncing. How much more water would be delivered up hill in 60 seconds?
That is a good test idea. Because my sample drive pipe is only about 30 feet long it might not have significant results. It's still worth talking about and showing a demonstration.
Good to know, as I will now not replace my 125' of 1" PVC drive pipe with poly pipe. We thought the poly pipe would be less noticeable in the creek, but I can't afford to lose the elevation loss in the supply pipe. Great test!
Hi Seth, love the video! I have a physical disability which would make it very difficult to build a system like this (and join pipes together etc) but I love the physics of it all! Thanks very much :)
I know it is very old video, just come a cross. I am mechanical engineer so lets clear this out the way. Under water , the volume of the water in bath tab creates a pressure, So, this is why you loose pressure on the gauge. Think like this ( I do dive ) , when you dive deeper you go, water pressure per sqm or inch by volume in ocean or sea this much higher obviously. So, this why your pressure is gone down due the water amount in the bath tab. On the other hand if you keep it close to surface and it will keep similar amount of pressure or close to same without water test. Second thing, you can create multiple ramp pump and connect to another one in line that will creat much higher pressure and volume. Also, amount of the water in source equal to weight and pressure, say 1 m3 of water and 1 meter high and in conical shape bucket or design, it will put all the water pressure in to single point 1 bar pressure will be achieved then ramp pump will increase the amount and you will get constant and higher pressure. I have a different design which I can not disclosure, but you can actually not only create higher pressure but continous water flow and create stand alone power house. I have already done some small prototype and still need a little more testing and adjustments, once completed actually you can use similar system to make power that I would say around 5 KW per hour , at lease this is my aim, but my set up already making 200 watts and continous. As the system gets bigger then some issues arised, So I need to solve them before I can say it is completed. Anyway, I just wanted to make an input. Thanks.
