Hydraulic ram pump?

[Fuddy1952]

Curious if anyone has made (or bought) their own water hydraulic ram pump?
As a kid my Grandfather next door had one that pumped spring water into a holding tank in his house attic. From there it gravity fed down to bathrooms and laundry. He had a hand dug well for drinking. This was in 50s, he sold pump long ago, but rise was about 80 feet, run about 700ft.
I have a great set up here, a spring that's in a small pond, about 50ftx20ftx8ft that's about 10 ft. above a creek. So I could incorporate both into a ram pump going up for garden irrigation, etc. (not drinking).
I have lots of plumbing supplies around, all I need is maybe 600ft pipe to bury, although I'd winterize/drain it Oct-Mar.
Thanks!

 

[Ken]

When the Army built a military post called Fort Apache South of Wilcox Arizona.
A spring at bottom of clift was used to supply water. a 2-inch pipe would fill and weight would force 1/2 in water into pipe then dump the water and refill the 2-inch pipe to again force water into 1/2 inch pipe. Understand it was enough to water the horses and men at the fort.
simple idea and low maintenance.

 

[Doofy]

I started reading about Ram Pumps again after reading some of these posts. Ingenious and simple. There are some good videos out there that help explain it all, if you are a visual person.

 

[plowhog]

I have looked into them but have not yet built one. They have only two moving parts and can pump water uphill.

If you build one, use galvanized pipe instead of PVC for the long pipe run. The galvanized pipe produces a greater water hammer, which is what is needed to cause the pumping effect.

They are advertised to pump water up to 8x or 10x higher than the amount of fall in your feeder pipe. But, they are also only about 10% efficient. So if you feed 100 gals through your feed/intake pipe, you will get only about 8-10 gallons at your uphill location. The rest exhausts out at the location of the ram pump. For some applications these are ideal. Also be sure to screen the inlet pipe. Any debris in the two valves can cause it to stop operating.

 

[RalphVa]

If I had the neighbor's property where the overflow from the pond goes through the back end of it, I'd maybe try this. Think you need maybe 20 or 30 feet of water drop to make it work.

Ralph

 

[plowhog]

You can also buy them pre-made.

The Ram Company, Pumping Water without Electricity.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Thanks!
I think at this point I'll make one and do some experimenting. I saw this ad, great price for 1000ft 1/2" irrigation pipe. Galvanized would be unaffordable I'm thinking. It would be great if I could make it work for $400 or less. I'd be happy with a small amount which I could fill a storage tank with. I have two pumps I could use.

 

[Doofy]

I tried poly pipe one year and the porcupines wouldn't leave it alone, same with the vinyl garden hoses. Haven't had that problem since.

 

[caver]

I have an antique one and made one but have never tried them out on my spring since I don't live there.