Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> What kind of pump did your
> cousin have?

Don't know the brand. Very small, simple 12V thing that pumped slow  
but sure 24/7. He may have bought it from Real Goods. Not sure. He's  
a master plumber, so he may have used a plumbing catalog. If anyone  
needs to know I will contact him and ask.

To me, we've been presented a false trichotomy.  Our apparent choices
> are 1) nothing at all; 2) an electric pump; or 3) a thousand-dollar
> windmill with a $400 rotary-linear motion converter from the Lehmann's
> catalog and a 100' long driveshaft ending in a $200+ solid brass deep
> well pump.

My present choice is a ram pump. I have the stream and I have a hill.  
But my mind is open to anything else that costs less or has less  
maintenance. The stream flow energy is free. The dam provides other  
important benefits: a fish pond, and an all-weather crossing. A ram  
pump can cost from perhaps a hundred dollars for off-the-shelf parts  
to this:

2" SS Ram Pro  	2.0"  (drive pipe)	1" (delivery pipe) 	8 gpm  	30  
gpm  	3' (minimum fall) 	$1,445  	Stainless/ Stainless

http://www.rampumps.ca/pricing.php

For anything but a well, there is also the issue of water quality,  
certainly with a surface source. I have not resolved that issue yet.  
I have a good spring about four hundred feet from the house but  
strongly suspect it is subject to surface contamination during heavy  
rain.