Two irrigation needs: pasture grass and fruit trees. I believe the 1" brass impact sprinklers use 16 gpm each. (Need to check again.) I am can only run two at a time (32 gpm) so I don't overtax the incoming water (45 gpm.) And the fruit trees I "flood irrigate" by dragging hoses and leaving it run. I want to improve this method of watering the trees to drip or soaker hose around each tree. Soaker hose is probably better and less maintenance as I need to periodically remove all irrigation of this type before mowing.
The videos of Fleming (or other ram pumps) look very inefficient. It looks like it exhausts a *lot* of water out the bottom to only pump a little water uphill. So I am guessing it would take .... forever ....
Also, to use a ram pump, I would have to seal off the end of the 6" line that supplies the 45 gpm. The ram pump won't work otherwise. But once I seal that pipe off at the end I believe the flow would go significantly below 45gpm. The only "flow" would be what was being exhausted out of the ram pump.
From what I've read, ram pump waste is anywhere from 70-90%.
Fleming says 15-20% delivery, so that's in line with the thinking.
With that said, what's the elevation drop from your water box to your pond through that 3" pipe?
Using some of the ram pump calculators out there, is that drop in the 3" pipe with 45gpm enough to pump water up to a higher elevation tank that would supply enough PSI to your sprinkler system?
That pipe is flowing anytime you are not using irrigation water out of the box, correct? If so, you said the box gets 45GPM from the 6" pipe to the water box. So I'm assuming when you're not irrigating, the 45GPM is flowing out of the waterbox through the 3" pipe to the pond. With that flow, if you get just 10% out of a ram pump, you'd be getting 4.5GPM back up the hill to a taller storage tank. 4.5gpm X 60 minutes = 270GPH = 6480 gallons per day.
How much water do you use per day or per sprinkling session, etc....? Can you break up the watering schedule to consume less than 6480 per day? Questions like that.
I'd switch to drip as it uses a lot less PSI and can target better than impact sprinklers and you'd not have to change anything in your delivery system. Look at the costs of both methods. A ram pump on the 3" line if it's got enough drop + pipe back up the hill + large storage tank on legs could add up to a lot of cost that could be put towards a drip system that ends up being more efficient.
Good luck with your project. :thumbsup: