Homestead mailing list

[Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

At 6/2/2005, you wrote:
> I have a similar fantasy. Once the ram pump is putting water in a high 
> tank 24/7 there will be surplus water up there. I know there are 
> generators that operate with low flow if the head is high. So I could 
> generate chunks of juice when needed.
>
> I don't know if the stream could do the job.

You are introducing several looses into the system.  The ram pump wastes 
water to pump a little.  How little depends on how  high it is raised. 
There are pipe losses in the pipe from the pump to the storage. Then you 
have line losses in the head pipe to the turbine.  So for power generation 
stay at the stream.

The ram pump requires a certain head to make it work.  The more head the 
more water it can move higher.  How much head do you have for the ram 
pump?  How much flow does the stream have on average?

Don Bowen                          Awl Knotted Up

My travel journal
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html

My present location is the star on the map in the link below
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=33.506083&longitude=-117.099019