Hydraulic Ram Pumps

[thaipod]

Is anyone using a hydraulic self driven ram pump that they have built them selves .I 'm thinking it would be ideal to feed my water channels between my fruit trees from the waterway next to my land .

My wife saw a elderly thai guy on T V that said he built it himself and was easy to put together , but not sure of the parts .

The main parts are PVC and a feeder pipe with a couple of valves and once it is operating it runs on it's own without electricity .

I think this would be ideal for a continious supply of water either to a tank or pond.

[Maizefarmer]

The concept is great ... and yes, they do work well - given the right conditions and circumstances.

But they are horribly in-efficient - a very large volume of primary force water has to be loaded (and it loads slowly) to get the secondery displacment, but if you have the flow rate and are willing to build whatever needs to be built for whatever volume you want your secondary volume to be, then go ahead - will be awfull slow as an irrigation method, will cost a bit to build (properly), but it costs nothing then to run.

By the way go back to around late 2006 early 2007 and somehwere on the Farming in thailand section of Tv someone put some diagrams up of one of these pumps.

[Pond Life]

Here's some links, the first has details of many types of water powered pumps.

The second two are videos of waterwheels i built based on information from the first link.

Using either type of pump you would be well advised to build a tank first.

both ram & waterwheels pump slowly but 24/7, storage allows you to utilise this.

http://lurkertech.com/water/

good luck

[howto]

The concept is great ... and yes, they do work well - given the right conditions and circumstances.

But they are horribly in-efficient - a very large volume of primary force water has to be loaded (and it loads slowly) to get the secondary displacement, but if you have the flow rate and are willing to build whatever needs to be built for whatever volume you want your secondary volume to be, then go ahead - will be awfully slow as an irrigation method, will cost a bit to build (properly), but it costs nothing then to run.

By the way go back to around late 2006 early 2007 and somewhere on the Farming in thailand section of Tv someone put some diagrams up of one of these pumps.

What he said is absolutely true.

Essentially he is telling you :

it is not enough water output for the cost.

For a lot of hard core data,

(that will explain Maizefarmer comments),

look at the data from USA Clemson University

www.clemson.edu/irrig/Equip/ram.htm

Perhaps after looking at the data...

you will find the ROI (Return of Investment)

to be excessive for the infrastructure...

considering their low output and high maintenance.

And somebody may want to "borrow" your pipe.

Simply stated...

there are only two ways to extract water...

(that is, without pumps or electricity).

1 - Ram

2 - Coil

In either instance...

they require flowing water,

and infrastructure cost will be high..

Ram is at very best 22% efficient, low output...

Coils can be 45% and outputs far more water.

But perhaps you have an issue with using a coil pump as

the klong or river is controlled by the local gov...

Traditional methods may suit your needs better...

that is the belt driven screw impeller,

or perhaps a pto water pump on your tractor,

or best, a "floated" centrifugal

with a generator on your tractor,

and drip irrigation.

The Coil pump...

Lots of info here (coil and ram pumps)...

lurkertech.com/water/

The family back home has several hundred acres...

a river runs through the bottoms...

in the early 70's,

I showed Grandpa the Coiled pump concept, he loved it...

they/we built 4, three meter spiral pumps...

essentially Wirtz spiral pumps,

but we added paddle wheels

(they obviously needed them) ,

so more like a Taylor or a Belcher Coil.

They feed the bottom 80 acres.

We used 3" PE pipes in the coils...

I measured their rotation at 8 rpm.

Each has a 40 foot head.

Output, I don't know...

each has to be at least 13,000 gallons a day.

They do not span the river...

since it floods there, they are built on floating docks...

with anchors on both sides for alignment (guide wires)...

(the fishing is great off these docks,

but my uncles also chumed the water weekly,

once I took a huge 2 foot catfish off a dock,

plus brim and crappie were always there)

When I read your post I called my uncle...

35 years later they all still work (minimal maintenance)

Twice a year grease the pillar blocks.

In the 80's brakes were added to them,

as they spin too fast during floods.

They are shut down in November till March.

Don't know how you can do it.

Seems you can't do it exactly like ours...

as you don't own both sides of land...

and you did not say if this is a klong or a river.

But I'm speaking of Coil pumps, not Ram.

Do read the Clemson Uni "ram" docs...

that will place it (the ram) into perspective.

Seems they are only 20% efficient...

Coils can be 45%...

and electric centrifugal 55~60% (depends).

Docs concerning the ram

were not available to me in the 70's...

I'm actually glad as it would have not sufficed.

The ram has limited applications.

As Maizefarmer suggested...

it will be a slow irrigation method at high cost.

Plus high maintenance.

You do have better alternatives.

[howto]

Here's some links, the first has details of many types of water powered pumps.

The second two are videos of waterwheels i built based on information from the first link.

Using either type of pump you would be well advised to build a tank first.

both ram & waterwheels pump slowly but 24/7, storage allows you to utilise this.

http://lurkertech.com/water/

good luck

Pond Life, I just saw your vid's...

excellent, great work!

[fremmel]

If you do decide to play with ram pumps a Thai link (in English) for a company with a discussion for using them in Thailand and some plans you can download is http://www.meribah-ram-pump.com/. Or if the link gets censored just Google Meribah Ram Pump. They do sell parts but from a quick glance it looks like all the parts can be bought from the local hardware store.