# Water ram pump



## Highground (Jan 22, 2003)

Our spring delivers one half gallon a minute to a 210 gallon tank located 40 feet below the spring.
I'm looking into using a water ram to pump the water to a tank buried near the house. House is about 100 feet higher and 100 yards from the spring.
Anyone have any experience on water rams?


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

With that much lift, you need a professionally made one, and it will cost a _lot_ of money. I checked into the prices and found them too spendy.

We have a very similar situation, and I use a $30 harbor freight sump pump and a $30 water pump in series. About once a week I flip a switch and wait a few hours for a fill. A couple of regular outdoor extension cords are sufficient to get power to them. A couple times a year a snail will get in the sump impeller or the other pump will seize and need to be turned by hand to free it. Rarely, I'll have to replace a pump. Other than that the system works well - MUCH better than when I tried to use a gas powered pump.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I wonder what the limits are on a airlift pump?

I would think the smaller the pipe the higher the lift potential. 1/4" ID pipe might be small enough for surface tension to hold the bubbles together until they exited at the top.

A friend of mine used to have a wind powered air compressor that he used to aerate his ponds. If you have a lot of regular wind that might be an option.


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## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

Clemson University- Home Made Hydraulic Ram Pump I have this in my favorites. Don't have URL sorry. MIght be of help. Could build for under $150 and might do the trick.


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## Mickie3 (Aug 28, 2010)

oldasrocks said:


> Clemson University- Home Made Hydraulic Ram Pump I have this in my favorites. Don't have URL sorry. MIght be of help. Could build for under $150 and might do the trick.


http://www.clemson.edu/irrig/equip/ram.htm


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## artificer (Feb 26, 2007)

How much water do you need per day? If you get 1440gallons/day now (1gpm) You'll get at most around 10% of that pumped. If you use the equation from the link above, its less:

0.6 x Q x F/E = D, Q=inlet flow, F=inlet head, E=lift height

and have a 6' head height, then you end up with:
0.6 x 1 x 6/106 = 49gal/day

The problem is that you are trying to use very little water to pump with. You're output at the house is going to be a max of:
(total water flow) x efficiency x (pumping head height)/ (pumping head height +lift height)

Even at 100% efficiency, you only get 81gals/day with a 6' drop. If you can get 21' of drop below the spring, then the theoretical max is 250gal/day. It takes 300' of pumping drop to get to 75% of flow to the house, btw.

If you're stuck with a low pumping head (vertical distance from the spring outlet to the pump), you might consider a spiral tube waterwheel pump.

Michael


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