Portable ram pump
If it were practical to move a ram pump from one
location to another, then a single pump could supply
water to a large area on a periodic basis. An example
that comes to mind is a tree farm.
Where it might be impractical to carry water to
seedling trees, a ram pump might be used perhaps once
a week to provide a good watering. A drip irrigation
system might be the best way of doing this. The drip
tube could be rolled up a to another site at the end
of the day.
We used to use what was, in effect, a portable ram
pump when we were doing ram pump demonstrations years
ago.
What would be a practical way of building and using
a portable ram pump?
A portable ram would probably not use a canal to
supply water to the pump.
Most likely the most practical water supply would be
a flexible plastic tube with an intake filter and
running downhill alongside the stream from which the
water comes. This tube would have to be long enough
to provide pressure needed to run the pump.
The pump might be mounted at the base of a tower a
few meters high. This tower would have a small tank at
the top supplied with water by the tube running down
the stream bed.
From the tank a drive pipe would extend downward to
the pump mounted below. Whether the drive pipe would
be vertical or at an angle and whether the impulse
valve of the pump might be mounted downward of
horizontally would determined by experiment.
Other consideration would be whether a float valve
would be used to control the water entering the tank,
and perhaps it would be practical to have a float
valve that controlled the water entering the drive
pipe to prevent the pump running dry and stopping.
In this sort of arrangement the drive pipe would be
very short compared to normal installations, perhaps
only 3 or 4 meters. How this would affect the
performance would have to be determined. The best
diameter of the drive pipe would also need to be
determined experimentally.
If such a system were practical it would mean that
the ram pump would be independent from the landscape
alongside the stream supplying water to the pump.
where to start
I would start the experiment with a small tower,
perhaps four meters high with angle iron legs, a small
100 liter tank at the top made from half of an oil
drum, a 2 inch vertical drive pipe, and a 2 inch ram
pump at the bottom.
Measuring performance
Comparing the quantity of water entering the pump
with the amount being pumped at various pressures
produced by a valve on the outlet would reveal basic
efficiency and practical function.
Adjusting the spring tension and travel settings on
the impulse valve would affect the speed of operation.
Then I would experiment with having the impulse
discharging the water straight downward rather than
horizontally. The next experiment would be changing
the height of the
Small is beautiful
It would be interesting to see how short the drive
pipe could be, and least amount of water that could be
used to obtain satisfactory results.
While a larger fall produces more power, and pumps
more water to a greater height, there are a great many
more places in the world where one can obtain a 3
meter fall than where a 5 meter fall is available, and
far, far more places where 2 meters is available. So,
it would be very interesting to determine what the
minimum parameters would be to obtain a useful
results.
While this proposed system is presented as
portable, it could also be considered a sort of kit,
which could be purchased and set up for permanent use
wherever there was sufficient fall along a stream or
riverbed.
This system would not rely on constructing or
maintaining a canal to supply water to the pump. This
feature alone would be a deciding consideration in
many locations. It would be a truly independent
pressurized water supply.
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