If you don’t want to buy all the individual pieces for your own ram pump like we did, you can buy an already assembled pump on Amazon with the link below www.amazon.com... Email us at hometownacres@outlook.com
If you don’t want to buy all the individual pieces for your own ram pump like we did, you can buy an already assembled pump on Amazon with the link below www.amazon.com/shop/hometownacres
When I built my first ram pump (about 20 years ago) I used a small pressurized pump tank with a bladder. It made the pump cycle about three times faster and thus pumped more water.
Show a diagram or working model please sir. What I'd really like to know though is can you turn your existing well into an electric free well thus becoming energy independent
I was about to mention the same thing. Or just extent the hose so that it lays flat on the ground instead of pouring out and falling. I’ve seen this exact scenario with an overflow pipe causing a pond dam to wash out losing all the water. Then costing thousands of dollars to repair. No his isn’t going to effect the dam, but it can still cut a deep hole and channel that could get below the clay layer or hit fractured rock resulting in a leaking pond.
I was thinking that I would have run more pipe or a larger pipe through the trench before it was covered up also. That way more pumps could be used to get more water into the pond.
Hi Adam, great video. I have a smaller ram pump, 1/2”, I use to irrigate my garden with. I fill a 55 gallon drum that then overflows back to the stream. I use a battery powered automatic ball valve to supply my drip irrigation. Unfortunately my little creek won’t support a larger pump, but it still works. I initially I built a 1” drive/1/2” out pump that works in the spring, but I don’t have enough water flow in the summer to run it. You were correct about the air in your driveline when you started. Also no discharge back pressure will effect it. You can throttle closed on the discharge valve until the line is filled. Then open up the discharge valve. Mine is all plastic accept for the swing check. Also I have my check valves swapped from your positions. I didn’t have to modify the spring check valve to make it work. After four summers, I’ve just have to replace the swing check valve every year. I’ve never checked my flow, but it’s a pencil stream. My issue is that I’m only lifting the water about 10’. So for it to work properly, I have to keep the discharge valve throttled. In my driveline, I put a bucket as a silt trap in addition to the intake screen. I put the water in bucket about 2/3rds of up the side of the bucket. Then tapped off the side of the bucket at the top to feed the pump. If we get heavy rain it usually stops the pump. I just dump the bucket over to empty it. Then just let it refill the bucket, reprime/restart the pump, and it’s off and running. After the initial investment, mine has been pretty cheap to keep going. I just pull it and and pipe for the winter. I drain it and hang it on the shed wall. Also to fasten it in the creek, I drove a tee post in the ground. I then bought large hose clamps and fasted the pump to the tee post. Great video and explanations. I’m glad this works for you. Have a good day!
I'm thinking your outlet pipe to the pond could easily handle double it's current flow, maybe a little more. Put 2 or 3 more ram pumps feeding the IBC tote, an overflow pipe that returns water to the creek (basically just dump it out a few feet away), and with the head pressure from the IBC tote, you'd easily be more than doubling your flow, and only for the cost of 2 or 3 more ram pump assemblies. The siphon idea a couple people have mentioned is also intriguing, and pretty easy to test without disassembling much of the current set up at the IBC tote.
An inexpensive option and certainly worth a look at adding more pumps. As for the siphoning effect, worth a test but my guess is that it would be detrimental to the operation of the ram pump as it would fight the incoming nonreturn valve.
you require one feed line for every pump, the longer the better, for the hydraulic ram to appen in a controlled way. Also if you add more pumps you require more water, but the stream was already near capacity
Over time the ram pump can cause cracks in your connections due to the harsh stop/start of the ram. We found that swapping to a bunyip pump (made in Australia) that the water flow was a lot more progressive, and less harsh on the pipe and connectors.
@@frosthoe sure, you could do this. But then it's starting to over complicate a pump that by design is simple. This is the pump that I am referring to. It actually catches the fall before bottoming out, so you don't get that hammer: ru-vid.comCLXalUmRikg?feature=share
That's cool these things have been around for a long time. My parents bought a farm in so. indiana in the 60's it had a big spring and the neighbor used those pumps to pump up to his house uphill all the way about 300 feet. He called them ramjets and had about 5 or 6 of them they were made of cast iron and had a check valve made of brass. I wish I had one of those old ones just for memories.
I clicked on this randomly because I'd never heard of a ram pump. Thank you for the video. I cant say how much of your content I'll watch, but if its this interesting it will be a lot! I've liked and subscribed.
These old school science really are needed, and water is such a powerful resource, it can really be incredibly useful, imagine you have a stronger flow of water (maybe use damming), you can make yourself a hydro electric plant, I’ve seen small designs generate 1Kw power 24/7 and it’s free and environmentally friendly.
We drained our pond in July. It's been quite the journey. We've got like 5 springs running into it, so that even during a drought-like season, our problem was the muck. We syphoned then pumped for weeks as we also cleaned out lily pads, lilies, and tons of mud. We finally got it fixed up enough for us and it's been filling about three weeks. I've been following your journey. Thanks so much for sharing.
It's a lot of work, but cleaning out a pond like that is so rewarding. Ours would halfway disappear behind cattails and murk. after cleaning it all out and letting it fill again I had to keep reminding myself that we had not made it any bigger, we had just become so used to seeing less of it!
Nice video. Setting it up so that the outflow pipe is continuous from the pump to the pond should work fine and increase the flow a bit. I don't think that you will get a siphon condition anyway because the flow isn't enough to fill the outflow pipe. My Dad first encountered a hydraulic ram pump in 1929 when he was a kid at Boy Scout camp. He was fascinated by it so then he researched about them. He taught me about them in the 1950s and then I learned again in the 1970s from Mother Earth News Magazine. Adding a little more weight to the overflow check valve should increase the flow. Good Luck, Rick
You might be able to improve performance by building a tiny weir at the intake for the rampump to ensure good water availablity. Additionally, as others have said, you can add additional ram pumps to increase flow to the tote.
I spent 8 years as an irrigation technician, you might want to re dig up where you crossed the driveway put in 3" pvc then put your 1" line through the pvc, the pvc will be a sleeve and help from crushing/poking holes in your poly line
I’ve also been fascinated by the ram pump and how it works. I think I first read about it in “Mother Earth News” over 40 years ago! Very nice video Adam. - Dick
Adam… that’ll work! These pumps always fascinate me… it’s almost like discovering a perpetual motion machine… all of the energy is, gathered, channeled, and converted in that self contained air bubble!!! Nicely done bud.
This is a perpetual motion machine that runs on over unity created by the water hammer effect. But since over unity is impossible as scientists claim, it must be the water pumping gods that are really pumping the water.
I played around with ram pumps also. In my experience you will get more pressure if you use the flap valve for the waste and the spring check valve on the route to the pressure tank. So swapping the two valves. (with the spring mounted) I got 20m of lift with 1 m of drop in the feedline. Also using metal pipe for the last few meters in your feeding pipe will make a big difference. About the siphon, if you put your tank which is now on the highest point, about 5 m lower (this will create a 0.5 bar underpressure), you will have less counterpressure and therefore more flow. It might collapse your pipe though as you create a vacuum in the pipe, also the pipe should end under water in your buffer tank to avoid breaking the vacuum. With all these possible problems maybe not worth the trouble.
Cool, yes great service in the smaller local suppliers, great job too, and you could use the output in that tank to run a small water wheel to generate power too!
Remove the ibc and run the pipe all the way, that will reduce your effective head and the ram will pump faster. More water. If it siphons and stops the pump then put a valve on the hammer check valve,so once running you can syphon all the way.
I have looked into doing this and would really like to see a breakdown of the parts and the actual build. You are by far, very detailed with your videos, and I am sure many viewers would appreciate it. Great video as always. Thank you.
A simple tee fitting at the top of the hill would negate the need for the tote, as it would break the siphon. Also, try reinstalling the spring in the check valve now that the air is out of the line.
Using a larger pump on the discharge side would help deliver more water..Smaller pump cause friction which requires more pressure to get the same volume. Using a larger pump lowers the required pressure, and help it deliver more with less work..
My house was built in 1823 by the descendants of Meriwether Lewis in Ivy, Virginia (as in famed explorers Lewis & Clark). Around the turn of the 19th century the house was fitted with a copper tank on top of a staircase and bathrooms on each floor in a stacked configuration. The house had a kitchen in the basement and each of the 3 bathrooms was run by a gravity fed plumbing system from the tank. The tank was fed by a hydraulic ram in the creek. This system remained in place until the 1970's. When I bought the property in 1997 the tank and ram were long gone but I found remnants of the old led pipe line to the creek from the house.
You mentioned the bottom of the creek is 30' below the bank, and it appears the pond is more than 30' below the bank, and you mentioned you were worried about the pond pipe creating a siphon if you connected it directly to the the discharge pipe. The light should have come on in your head at that moment. If the elevation of the pond is lower than the creek bed, simply create a small weir in the creek and siphon the water over the bank. no ram pump needed, and you will increase the flow :)
There is a limit to how high you can lift water with a siphon which is around 30 feet at sea level and it's reduced a little in higher elevations. If his estimate is right then he would probably have a hard time unless he moved is intake pipe a ways upstream. That being said, I think his flow would only be improved connecting the pipes directly and deleting the plastic tank.
Even if the siphon didn't work the tank further down the hill would lower the pumps head and increase the flow. I'm sure the siphon would work without the pump the inlet a bit up stream to keep the max lift to below 9.8m.
I was thinking the same thing. Get rid of the ram pump altogether and connect the two pipes together, and add a valve at the pond end. Use one of those inexpensive power tool battery powered pumps at the pond to prime it, then once the pipe is full stop tbe pump and close the valve. Remove the pump, open the valve, and let gravity do the rest.
Because you can only lift (pull) water 30 feet with a siphon, and that is "theoretical lift", actual lift is probably lower, but it couldn't hurt to try.
Fantastic ingenuity Adam! I appreciate all the thought you put into making your home more self sufficient, and I didn't even know something like this was an option. One of the channels I subscribe to is Life Uncontained and I can't help but think they could be well served (no pun intended) with something like this for their water storage needs in TX. 1.3GPH for 10,000 gallons of storage could be gamechanging. Thanks for all you do and show us, and Godspeed. Ira
Nice Ram Pump project. I am interested to hear if the high output volume stops the pump. Often if you have over 1gpm on the delivery you have issues with back pressure loss unless you are lifting high enough to maintain that back pressure.
It has been running now for 3 days without stopping. We’re lifting about 30 feet with probably about 6 ft of head pressure. Maybe 7. It’s working really well. I like the spring check valve instead of the flapper valve. Maybe something to try on one of your future videos. Compare the 2 check valves
@@HometownAcres That is a good ratio. I have used a few of the brass spring valves. For some reason they got off center after a couple months and jammed. Might just be the quality I used. I am interested in your results with the valve you have. The swing valve typically lasts 3 years.
Interesting ram pump application. It was a good description of the way they work and will certainly be helpful to many. Having said that, I can’t understand why you are not using the siphon effect of the pond being below your creek. The ram pump could prime it and you could connect the two lines at the tank after you have good flow… you wouldn’t hurt the ram pump but the more superior siphon effect would make it unneeded until the next time you need to prime the lines.
Re. your comment about the need for a tank at the top of the high ground, rather than a continuous run of pipe; from what I've read about other people's installations, it's essential that the ram has back pressure to work against on the delivery side. This is so vital that one man found his ram was reluctant to get going until he poured a few gallons of water down the delivery pipe from his header tank - once he did that, the ram took off, cycling a treat. There's a company in England that's been making hydraulic rams for nearly 150 years, and some of the first ones they made are still in place, and *still* working to this day! Also, it strikes me that when you get a spell of rainy weather, and the flow rate in the creek increases, that will also increase the output from your ram. Depending on how much rain you get where you live (in this part of England, we get around 4 -5 feet a year!), you may end up getting close to the nominal 700,000 gallons per year which you calculated from the flow rate you're getting now. Nice work, mate!
In theory if you manage to make a perfect syphon on the pipe going to the lake, whitout bubbles, it will reduce the head pressure required for the pump and increase flow. You can tune your valve frequency by adding weights to it using a junction nut
using a second pressure vessel after the apex with a height taller than the apex is what would be needed to maintain the syphon from the ram pump. The ram pump becomes the priming method for the siphon as you know, the second pressure vessel is really an anti air gap vessel. You'll need to put a valve to allow air to escape for priming and then close the valve once the second vessel is full. Probably a good place for a simple air bleed valve so you don't have to maintain manually bleeding it.
That was cool to see. I have heard of a ram pump before but never knew what one was. The video makes all that hard ditch work look easy but that was a LOT of shovel work. One good thing is you know what you did now. If you see you would like to double your output, you could always run a second pump into your IBC. I assume the single line out to the pond would handle twice the volume coming from your IBC.
Super cool system you came up with Adam....never heard of one like that, but definitely going to look into doing the exact same thing on my property. FYI you should be able to get replacement valve components for your IBC tote from the hardware store and that will allow you to avoid another hole in the tank.....just run the line from the bottom valve out to your pond!
I must say that your ram pump probably pumps more water than any ram pump that I have ever seen. 1 gallon in 45 seconds is pretty amazing. Great job. 👍🏅👏👏👏
I'm pretty sure running the ram pump directly into a syphon would work perfectly. In effect you'd then have a self priming syphon - and your flow would be much better (once the air was purged all the way down to the pond). If you don't think it would work... test it. It would take half an hour to temporarily bypass the storage tank to confirm whether it would work as a syphon. All this is assuming the pond is lower than the water source.
Just make sure to put a check valve in line to prevent a broken hose down at the ram pump on the pond side causing a reverse siphon where your whole pond gets emptied into the creek. Or as has been suggested just put a tee in at the highest point with a short length of vertical open ended pipe to break the siphon and use a second or third pump to increase the water flow if needed. A reverse siphon event would be very bad and may not be noticed until the pond was emptied or at least emptied down to the level of the submerged pipe.
@@jaseastroboy9240 I'm pretty sure a ram pump is based on a check valve - so an additional one should not be needed. And breaking the syphon is exactly the opposite of what I'm suggesting - as, once the ram pump has primed the syphon, it would be better/quicker than the ram pump. But I'm not a smart man.
@@dav1dsm1th I think i just did a bad job of describing it. The check valve suggestion was for the pipe going from the top of the weir down to the pond. It isn't necessary for the operation of the setup, it is just a safety mechanism. If for example the hose from the output of the ram pump was a continuous line up over the weir and down to the pond then if the hose became detached at the output of the ram pump. By storm damage, sun damage, vandalism etc. Then depending on the relative heights you may get a siphon effect from the pond to the creek. The opposite of what is wanted and potentially able to empty the pond into the creek. A check valve could be added to prevent the reversal of the water flow, it would do nothing normally and would only close if the water flow reversed.If the pond is lower than the creek then this would not be an issue. If the creek is higher than the pond then a siphon would work better, especially if the pipe was cut into the weir a bit so that the "hump" that the water had to get over was less. I think somebody already mentioned that the excavator could probably cut a trench 10 feet deep from one side of the weir to the other, drop in the hose and then fill the trench back in. Basically the pipe would run through the weir 10 feet below the top of the weir. This should improve the siphon effect and the water flow rate. My suggestion of the vertical pipe at the top of the weir was to break the siphon as a way to ensure there was no chance of a reverse siphon effect. Not to improve the flow rate.
Ram pumps work fine, but slowly, and there are a few fine points to using them. One is the vent check can have a line running off to the side to keep a puddle out of your work area, but don't run it up hill because it will stop the flow. The filter sock you make is find for a few minutes, but you probably need one about five feet long. The other very helpful info is you should start with a 4" inlet, for the first 10 feet under the creek flow, the first five feet can be drilled and a sock put over the inlet all the way up over all of the holes, this can be held on with a band clamp. Before the 4" pipe elbows up add a 4x3 reducer, run a few feet of 3" then use a 45° elbow not a 90°, because each 90will have a 15% loss of flow. Reduce from the 3 to your supply line fitting and this contraption will give you a stronger flow. Where a lot of rise is needed, the trick is to build a series of thousand gallon ponds or tanks, run out of that into a second ramp pump, etc., until you get to the top. As long as the inlets don't clog or freeze, they will flow flow 24/7 and have little maintenance.
big RAM pump move lot water and fast, i used 200 gallon barrel to ram pump reserve and 4inch tube has fast move water big grown field one day has full water. about 10 agre size
To get more volume of water just parallel the ram pumps and lines to the storage tote tank. The single line to the pond can handle at least 4 ram pumps.
What is the elevation difference between the creek and the pond? If the pond is lower, you may be able to create a syphon. This would eliminate the need for a pump. Great video and knowledge shared ✌🏽
Actually - the SYPHON effect - will increase the flow of water - such that the pond can still be well above the creek, just as long as there can be NO air entry between the pump (near the creek) and the pond outlet. The reason is totally simple. A syphon works by having a completely filled (with water in your case) pipeline between the inlet & outlet. NOTE: You will still need a way to fill that syphon pipe that's above either the inlet or the outlet. Simply tossing a pipe over a hill - with a new pipe full of air - syphons nothing if the pipe isn't filled with water before you attempt to syphone anything (you need it filled with water or any air in that pipe will be removing any syphon- effect) No pump means the outlet MUST be below the inlet. And some means has to be added to allow you to fully fill the outlet (downhill) pipe, as well as most if not all of the inlet pipe Adding any pump that (as we can see) can pump anywhere up to a 30 ft head - means that the outlet of the syphon pipe (at the pond) can easily be close to that 30ft = ABOVE the pump itself. You can only determine how close, by ensuring all the air is removed from both the inlet & outlet pipes, before testing the tolerances of that system. As soon as the pump pipe is connected to a syphon pipe (one running down the hill) any water throughput will increase
The only calculation I haven't heard you make is what is the rate of evaporation on the open surface of the pond. I'm guessing it's a lot less than 1.33 gallons per minute generally. On extremely hot sunny windy days I'd love to know the worst amount that does occur. Thank you very much for going to all the trouble and videography of sharing this with all of us!
Seems like a good way to harvest a little water without negatively impacting the creek. A solar run low flow pump emptying into the IBC tote might also be worth considering. I reckon a couple of years to fill the pond, couple more for fine clay sediment to seal it up, so 5-10 years and you'll have a pond/dam that will be enjoyed for decades or more.
Dude, at least by the video appearance, your pond is way lower than your creekbed. Assuming the creekbank is not more than 30 feet above the creek bottom, a simple siphon should give you 10 times more volume. But, this is still very cool.
This is exactly how water utilities supply water. Potable water is pumped into elevated tanks, then gravity will distribute the water thru out the system.
It depends on if the height gain is more than 10 m, if it is, a siphon can't work because you can only suck up water 10 m (in perfect conditions) so the limit is likely to be less. You could try from the where the water is being taken from, but you still need to find a way to prime the siphon.
The ram pump could still be used to start and restart the siphon, if the siphon works at all. Just as a side note, there is a process that uses something similar to desalinate water and make it drinkable. When a siphon is higher than 33 feet, a vacuum forms at the top, but it not really a vacuum, it is low pressure water vapor. What condenses on the other side of said vacuum is pure distilled water. It's an almost energy free way of getting drinking water from the dirtiest of sources. P.S. Other than sheer stupidity by politicians, there is almost no reason this technique isn't used by most cities. The technology isn't that complicated, and there doesn't even need to be any moving parts.
nice work Adam, not sure if you have a need or if your creek runs fast enough but I saw a great video from Marty T channel in new Zealand, he converted a washing machine into a generator to power his house. Looking forward to seeing more on your house build, and the differences in construction methods you guys use up there compared to us.
Looks like you might have the solution there for your ponds water needs, but, as others have said, IF the elevation of the creek is high enough, there is no reason you couldn't or shouldn't just run a pipe directly from the creek. We don't know the elevational differences between the two. Ok, if you have a 30' wall between the two, you still might well get it done with a siphon, if you were able to upstream even a little. Keep it below 30' (10 meters at sea level) and you should be fine. I've dealt with water for many years too. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people try to run a line between two systems and try to keep it "level so that there won't be air blockage. There is NO need to do that. Better for long distance running of water to NOT be "level". Run it DOWN from the source, and UP to the reservoir! then there will be little chance of a air barrier. Also you can put a valve at the bottom to drain the sediment if need be. The Ram pump is good, and a good solution if there is not much water. Another solution that many folks don't know about is the "high lifter" water pump. Again, no fuel, no electricity, almost no moving parts. It also uses the water pressure (gravity) to pump. With one of those you trade elevation for some use of water. you can pump using the head you have. If you have 10 foot of head, then you can pump 1/4 of that and (lose the rest into your creek) and you get 40' of head. Or, if you have to go higher, you can pump 1/9 and get 90 feet of head, (9 times the original head) There are advantages to each. There is less wear and tear on the system, and no "ram!" of the water, thus no "noise" (The rams do make a bit of noise that may or not bother you) The high lifters have a very good reputation, but I don't think you can easily build one yourself. Still they cost way less than a well, and they have a very long lifespan. IF you have a lot of water, (say 4 to10 times more than you need someplace) and you have head, then you can get pump water a very long distance with these. I've seen one that pumped the water over 1000 feet and an elevation from the pump of 200 feet. They had a creek with an elevational drop of 40' from where they drew the water to where they pumped it. I think they put the pump in 20 years or more ago and it is still pumping fine.... I don't have as much water, so I pipe to a holding tank and use a solar pump, (Lorentz) to pump mine up about 180 feet of head. But there are Chinese pumps that cost about 1/5th or less, and sound pretty good too.
Nicely done Adam. The accumulator will get water-logged with time (air disappears by disolving in the water) . To prevent this , fit a 'snifter' valve. It introduces a small amount of air per cycle to keep the accumulator fully charged. Cheers.
You can eliminate the vertical check valve by putting another vertical tank like you have Downstream of your swing check valve you could just simply copy that in place of the first vertical check valve that you call the spring check valve you can eliminate that and just put in another bottle on top of it
Total static head is the difference in elevation between the ram and the creek intake. It's what creates the velocity in the pipe that drives the ram. A siphon doesn't affect the total static head. More important is the diameter of the feed pipe which contributes to friction losses and robs the ram of its energy which it gets from the static head differential.
Unless I am mistaken, I think he said the creek is lower than his pond, that's why he has to pump water uphill to the tote then from tote he can siphon water to the pond since pond is lower than the tote but not lower than the creek...that's my understanding, please correct me if I am wrong because I am learning. Thank you.
These pumps have been out for almost 100 years. We used in Alaska for our 3 cabins. I filled 50 gal water tanks with filters. So we could drink the water also. As long as you keep your water flowing your water won't freeze either. I ran overflows on the tanks and I used them for years.
Hi @Adam, nice project.. Just a quick question: Could this system be build without the 2 red ball valves in the front and at the end? And also Is there a bike tire in the pressure tank?
Good Job man. Hopefully rain and snow can help. Curious with your design, could you make it bigger? Bigger, pvc, wider hose? Time is always a factor. Non the less, awesome work! Liked and subscribed
I worked in a small hardware shop and it was like that all the time, customer asked and we sorted it out with them. Very satisfying work and it resulted in lots of returning customers.
My state requires a permit to remove ANY water from a "surface water" source like a stream. Without a permit, the DNR would hand the landowner a citation which could be at least as much as a pump, and they might require you to remove the whole setup to boot, especially if you were reducing stream flow by 500,000 gallon per year. Maybe that is not an issue in the state where this video was produced. However, the host should have at least addressed the topic of getting a permit.
In Idaho, they don't even issue permits. One must have a legally recognized water right to the water source to use it. The water right will also indicate the acre-feet that can be drawn per day.
Several comments mentioned that the pond “looks” lower than the stream bed, so it could all be done by siphoning. However, if the pond is not lower, a partial siphon effect could still help if the reserve tank is eliminated. If the pipe stays continuous, it will have the effect of seeming to reduce the height that the pump needs to push the water. Once the water reaches the high point, where he put the open tank, it creates an air break. Instead, if the pipe continues unbroken downhill, than every foot that it drops will pull the water at least part way. If it only drops 10 feet, it will reduce the work the pump needs to push the water as though it was pumping 10 feet less to the high point. It will still need to pump to the full height, until the pipe is full, and the water starts to flow down the other side. However, if the downhill pipe doesn’t create a solid column of water, it will allow air to flow back up (from the pond side) and stop the siphon “assist” effect. It might help to use a smaller diameter pipe on the downhill leg to the pond. Depending on the amount of water flowing down, the water needs to block off air returning back up to the high point. Possibly a check valve at the pond end will stop air from going up the pipe, stopping the siphon effect. The reason a true siphon works is that the water on the downside weighs more than the water on the up side. The lower the outlet, the more difference in weight there is. But if air enters from the outlet, it will stop the siphon. If the down doesn’t weigh more than the up, it won’t siphon on its own, but will effectively reduce the pressure the pump needs to create, as though it was only pumping to the height difference to the pond. If it pumps 25’ up, then flows back down 15’, the pump only needs to lift 10’ (after initially filling the 25’ up)
my friend, it's a strange but actual fact that siphoning only works up to a specific pressure. I can't say what that pressure is or if that pressure would apply here. but I suggested this to the hydrology PhD that was installing my well and he says that the negative pressure will pull oxygen out of the water and generate an air pocket which will necessarily negate siphoning effect. I've been pumping water and building off grid water systems for over 30 years and my experience is you are correct, up to around 20-30 lbs negative pressure. good luck 👍
The problem is the ram pump itself need the pressure from the delivery pipe to work. If you siphon the water out (even partially) it will stop working.
@@sestun I disagree, if the ram has to push 30 ft up and siphon effect going down to the pond has a 15 ft drop down, the down pull of the 15 ft on the pond side would zero out 15 ft of the ram side having to be pushed up, leaving the pressure needed to the ram would have reduced load on the output side makingvit work to push the water only as high as the lowest point of the siphon outlet end or a head pressure equal to having it lift water only 15 ft rather than 30. For this to work,, the outlet side of pipe would need to be bled of all air, sealed, and it would have no need for an outlet check valve so long as the end stays submerged in the pond8s needed, so long as the end stays submerged in the pond no air could backtrack into the system causing a continuous reduced load so long as the pond outlet isn't lower than the creek bed it should actually work, and reduce the load needed to push the water the 30 ft elevation.
@@WeChallenge @WeChallenge I think you imagine that ram pump works like an electric or gas pump. The less load on it the better. But the ram pump needs the back pressure from the outlet pipe or it will stop working. @landtohouse actually has a recent install, when they wanted to lift the water only to a certain height, but then they had to move it much higher or the pump stopped working.
Of course this will cost $$, but you can hire a backhoe or rent one and add a couple more ponds below outlet pipe, and connect them together with a shallow ditch. When one overflows, it goes into the next one downhill. The ditch will allow the water table to regenerate and benefit all the permaculture downhill. I would not run plastic pipe from the outlet, but cut in a 4 foot wide ditch down to the next pond. Great vid out now called water wizard of Oregon. Dan tipping will take you on a tour of his pond set up. He is good at explaining what a number of ponds can mean for your land and believe me it is all good news for you amigo.
Hi a nice implementation of a ram pump. to enhance your setup consider the following: 1 - The source intake end should be much bigger, add a short length of 2 to 4 inch pipe with caps and loads of holes with screen wrapped around that, or a coanda screen on a dam box (as the large intake will keep the pipe full and at a consistent pressure). 2 - The pressure wave from the first valve of the pump needs to happen within a maximum distance from the source (within about 100 feet) otherwise its too long and looses effectiveness. Add a stand-pipe (a T with a vertical pipe to the height of your source, open at the top) closer than source to the pump. The stand pipe allow an exit for the air bubbles to leave before entering the pump and brings the pressure closurer to the pump keeping the pressure wave within the maximum distance that it has most strength. 3 - Have the source feed pipe drain into a bucket with a hole in the lid. Again this prevents air getting into the pump. Then have the delivery to the pump halfway up the bucket side, as that allows any silt (the other ram pump nemesis) to accumulate in the bottom of the bucket (which becomes a maintenance check) and less likely to make it to the valves and block them. I hope that helps, take care D
