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  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Ram pump rules of thumb
  • Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2006 17:08:30 -0700

SISU! wrote:

That sounds good to me, Bill.
We have a dry creek that flows if we get enough rain, usually in winter
only. I have been looking on freecycle for an above ground pool to use
as a artificial pond. I don't have enough head or flow for a ram pump,
so I snagged a submersible pump on sale a few years ago that is capable
of pumping water up out of the creekbed and into such a 'pond'.


Bill Jones wrote:


Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:



In the mean time, the dry took its toll on the creek. It was still
flowing but not enough to operate a RAM pump.


This is another reason to have a holding tank to feed into the
downpipe of a ram pump, besides excluding sediment and bubbles. You
can save up a day's water...

I should point out that this holding pond would need to hold the gross volume of water delivered to the pump, NOT the net volume received top-side. So that makes for a pretty large pond (and thus rather wide, if the height has to low to squeeze into the total vertical drop). On the plus side, if you're willing to start the ram twice (or even thrice) a day, you can get by with half (or a third) as big a pond. So overcoming low flow is possible, but there's no way I know to overcome flatness of terrain, without the energy from free-falling water. We don't have much flat land here.

Bill
S. Oregon coast




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