Adventure 25 – Ram Pump Potential

I toss around the value that the ram pump can pump water up to heights based of a ratio of 1:7 meaning that for every one foot of head that falls into the pump you will get 7 feet of water pumped. This number is not always the case depending on the setup that you have. I figured that I would set up my pump with 12 feet of head and see just how high I could get the pump to go. Check out this video of the 1-1/4″ ram pump potential:

I will revisit this adventure on a later date to let know how well this works when its not so cold out.

Be sure to check out the hydraulic ram pumps for sale on the site here.

6 thoughts on “Adventure 25 – Ram Pump Potential

  1. I am attempting to use a 1′ ramp pump to push water up hill from our pond to a water container at my wife’s garden. I am going to attempt to attach the pump to the end of the overflow pipe at the base of the pond dam. This pipe sticks straight up in the middle of the pond keeping the pond a constant level. The pond is feed by an incoming creek and 5 underground springs so it is a constant flow of water into this overflow pipe. The end of the pipe sits about 20-25′ below the water level of the pond. My thinking is that I will use this pipe as the start of my drive line. The pipe at the base of the pond is a 4″ steel pipe. I plan on reducing this pipe down to a 2″ pipe and putting in a “Y” so that I can either have the water flow directly into the creek as it does now, or I can direct it into the ram pump when desired. The water flow doesn’t fill up the 4″ pipe but most likely will the 2″ pipe once I reduce it. I will then reduce it down to 1′ for the ram pump. I followed your directions and built the pump to have a 1″ drive line and a 1/2″ supply line.The kicker is that the garden is about 400-450 ft from the pond with an elevation increase of around 100′. I have no illusions of getting a single ram pump to make this push. I do have an idea I wanted to get your input on. I am thinking of pumping the water up hill about half way to a 275 gallon water container, then coming off of that container at its base with a 1′ drive line and another ram pump to push the water the rest of the way. (I plan on having the 275 gallon container full or near full to run the second ram pump and help with pressure.) Have you ever attempted or heard of someone attempting to “daisy chain” two pumps like this? If so will it work? I do have one concern and that is the spillage of the water at the second pump. The first pump is at the creek so the spillage isn’t a concern. I am trying to find a way to utilize the spillage water from the swinging check. Have you every tried building a second system to run as a slave off of the first? Is this possible? Connecting to the top of the swinging check valve and piping the overflow into another system with a separate check valve and pressure tank. Thoughts?

    I was able to rig up the pump this afternoon by just shoving a 1′ drive line into the 4′ overflow pipe end. This allow me to test out the pump I built just to see if it would run and pump water up hill. I was able to get the pump running and pumped water 100″ through the 1/2′ supply line. The elevation change was approximately 20″. Water was flowing filling up the entire end of the 1/2″ supply line at the end.

    1. Hello. Sounds like you have a fun set up for a ram pump. I actually have tried using one pump to run another pump. If you check my YouTube channel you can see this attempt in action. It was not as effective as I would have liked. It is possible to use a single Ram pump to get water to 100 feet. You will need approximately 15 feet of head pressure. It sounds like you have that coming out of the pond. You might consider siphoning out of the pond instead of using the outlet pipe. That way the pond can drain itself during heavy rains without issue and the ram pump can have a 1 inch Drive pipe from the very beginning. I would recommend finding a way to get more head pressure before you attempt to stagger pumps.

      1. How might you suggest siphoning out of the pond? Just using a hose and starting the siphon when needed?

        Also, would it not be best to start with a bigger pipe and then step it down. This would allow me to have a large standpipe to help build head pressure. My thoughts now are to attach to the 4 inch outlet pipe with a 4 inch pipe. Install a Y so that I can allow the pond to drain effectively when I am not using the ram pump. (The pump will not run all the time….only when needed to fill the tanks.) Then off one side have a tall stand pipe…to build as much head as I can. Then right after the stand pipe to reduce it down to a 1 inch or a 1/4 inch (step down gradually if needed) to feed the ram pump.

        Please share your thoughts.

        1. Use black flex pipe or pvc as the drive pipe and start a siphon right into the pump. If you dont need the pump at times you can turn off the ball valve on the delivery pipe and the water will still be in the pipe ready to go when you open the valve again. No need to restart the siphon.

  2. I am building a 1″ ram pump and need to run 400 feet with about a 50 foot rise in elevation. I have about 10 foot of head supply to the pump. 2 questions should I use 3/4″ supply line due to the length of the run or use 1/2″? And will the 1″ ram pump be able to pump the distance and elevation I need?

    1. Hello. The 1″ ram will work well for that setup. You can use either delivery pipe size. They will both supply the same results. Just be sure to keep the drive pipe 1″.

Leave a Reply to Gilbert Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *