Having a creek nearby your home could be a blessing for all of the utilities and water needs you may encounter. But using the creek to its maximum potential could be tricky if you’re not optimally prepared. Pumping water uphill could be an issue hard to deal with, but not impossible! The DIY community has an answer to the problem in the form of a homemade ram pump. For this project to be successful it will be required that you have a basic grasp of technical jargon, tools and procedures. Watch the video in full length and you can see how a hydraulic ram pump, more precisely a homemade one (4′ of fall 15′ of head, 1″ drive, 1″ pump, 1/2″ output) is functioning. If this encourages you to try and make your own, than the DIY community has helped another person and all we could say is good luck on your own ramp pump project.
images via BuildARamPump
Very interesting, I live on top of a hill near a swift moving river and this may come in handy.
A quick question however; is the open swing check valve neccessary? Wouldn’t the pressure lost by venting be better used by propelling the water into the bladder and further down the system?
The check valve is for maintaining the prime of the system while it moves UP the hill. Without the check valve you would not be able to pump UP.
Wonderful video and design. I know of many, many people living in remote locations in Central America who would benefit from this! What type of debri screen or filter would you recommend to place at the water source?
i have liked this innovation.
How do I get the directions for this?
Goto their home page: buildarampump.com/?page_id=14
What is the country of origin for the equipment and what size would you recommend for a 20,000 litres reservoir?
All ways wanted build one
Would be glad to have the plans on how to
Cheers Tom
I tried to watch the clip on my galaxy phone but the sound is on super slow ehile the video runs normal speed. Cannot hear anything
ingeneous, as stated it may be inefficient, however it needs zero power source, well done
Yes, share plans please…
This is fantastic. Do you have plans please.
plans please. Nice
I made one of these over a year ago, still working fine with no problems take a look at my youtube videos showing how to make it
I am a gold digger requiring high pressure water to break the soil and I require a pump that breaks the soil and not to worry about digging.
Could I get the plans please. Great project. How big can you practically get? Is size increase volume or pressure. Both? Thank you
Please send me a list of parts ? Detailed instructions on how to build this ram pump. Thank you.
From Wikipedia Hydraulic ram, Efficiency :
The portion of water available at the delivery pipe will be reduced by the ratio of the delivery head to the supply head. Thus if the source is 2 meters above the ram and the water is lifted to 10 meters above the ram, only 20% of the supplied water can be available, the other 80% being spilled via the waste valve. … Actual water delivered will be further reduced by the energy efficiency factor.
I made a1″ ram pump, with 5 meter vertical from the source tried to lift approximately 40 meter vertcal lift but no succes. Because of strong volume and pressure i add 3 additional waste valve from the original one and have a very good result. My ram pump can deliver approximately 3 liter a minute. The only problem now i encountered is the check valve is damage or leaking. Any recommendation of what kind of check valve is durable and long lasting.