Ram Pump From a Pond

I was contacted by a good friend of mine who was in need of a ram pump. He said that he had been spending over $150 a month to run city water for his very nice garden. Basically this is the price of setting up a ram pump once. He has a nice little creek running alongside his house of around 20gmp. In this video you can see how the pump is setup and how well it works. He can now save all that money for other things.

6 thoughts on “Ram Pump From a Pond

  1. Hey Seth,
    first off, thanks for posting all your helpful information online. I am a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama and although we get plenty of water, it is often not where we want it to be to grow crops. I have had many people ask me about cheap ways to get water from streams to their crops and I decided to make a ram pump as a demonstration. I have downloaded your ebook and checked out your videos but for some reason I am having some trouble getting my pump tp work (I have scowered the troubleshooting part of your book but the problems you addressed dont seem to be the problems I am having).
    I am running a 1″ pvc pipe (about 40 feet in length) to a 1″ check valve, to another 1″ check valve to a 3″ pvc tower that is 27″ tall (I also put about 16″ of a swimming noodle in the pvc) and out to a 3\4″ hose. I have over 3 feet of vertical drop and I have put the hose aover 12 feet into a tree. I have bled all the air from the system and ensured enough time for the pump tp fill the tower with water but no water will come out of the hose.
    I have both a video and a picture of my setup if there is any way I can send them to you (describing ther setup is a imperfect).
    I would really appreciate any help! I am currently shlepping 5 gallon buckets uphill to water my starts, seedlings and everything in my mini greenhouse!
    Also please excuse any slow response. My access to internet is not always the easiest.

  2. Hi Seth,

    I ran across your videos and ebook about ram pumps and absolutely loved it! Now I want to make a ram pump that will work for me. I have a nice little stream that will give around 30 gallons per minute but the water reservoir is 150 feet away (100 feet almost vertically and uphill and 50 feet of flat land). What are the specs for a ram pump for that kind of application?

    1. Hello,

      30 gallons per minute is a nice flow. The 3/4″ ram pump only needs about 3GPM to run and the 1-1/4″ needs about 6GPM so you are going to be just fine with that flow. 200′ of horizontal distance does not effect the pump. The vertical part is what matters. If you have 100′ to climb then you will need roughly 15′ of head. (water falling into the pump) The ratio is typically 1:7. For every one foot of water that falls into the pump you will get seven feet out. I would recommend placing a oneway check valve in your delivery pipe 30′ in or so to keep the back pressure lower. … So if you have 15′ of head you are good to go!

  3. Hi Seth — Happy Turkey Dance Day! Love your videos and your energy to get things done. You da’ man!

    My question…. while I don’t have a stream nearby, I am on the side of a mountain, and have decent elevation front-to-back, I’m thinking at least 100 feet of drop. I have several acres, but I’d like to keep the system with a single acre. Is it reasonable to have a small pond feeding the system up the hill, and that feeding perhaps a small water wheel with flow back down to the pond?

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