[NAFEX] pumping water

Donna &/or Kieran holycow at cookeville.com
Wed Jun 20 23:59:48 EDT 2007


Thank you for all the helpful advice!  My husband got out the ram pump he 
put together over 10 years ago, which we have never needed till now.  He and 
my son spent a hot afternoon sloshing around in the shade in the cold spring 
fed creek (a thankless task but someone has to do it.)   They put everything 
together using pipe we'd bought in years past for other purposes.  The pump 
would start and stop, and did worse on the second day, but straightening out 
the intake pipe helped.  They sat and watched the 100' of 1 1/2" intake pipe 
and noted that it creates a rhythm of it's own, the water running smooth and 
steady, then becoming chaotic and jerky, without the pump even attached. 
There are some small holes in the intake pipe which may be creating 
turbulence, but they also allow air to escape.   They've blocked and 
unblocked those holes repeatedly, with inconclusive results.  Any comments 
on this might be helpful.  I note that some say to bring the water to a box 
and get all the drop in one go to the pump.
    My son's been looking on the Net for the latest on Ram pumps and has 
done some modifications, using a spring loaded valve to replace a simple one 
way valve.  We have a crummy little brand X impellor pump, wish it was a 
Shurflo, but it's based on the same principles.  I figure if we can get the 
water partway up the slope into a big barrel, we can get it the rest of the 
way with the 12V pump and a deep cycle battery.   In the meanwhile, we 
actually got a whole inch of rain yesterday, so the garden shouldn't keel 
over dead till the weekend.   The ram pump is by far the cheapest solution 
to our problem, and the marvel of having seen it in action is enough to keep 
us working at it.
     Typically we have enough water delivered via the sky to make do, but 
not this year.  We've had just over 12" rain in the first 6 mo of the year, 
under half of normal with much higher than normal evaporation.  The ground 
is so dry that I found it was still dry an inch or two down even after the 
rain.  It was in time to save the wild blackberries though.  The bushes are 
loaded, but some were just shriveling up and dying in the drought.  I was 
figuring on making wine as there is no other fruit this year. 
Donna 




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