If you want to pump water from a river or creek that is mostly flat water you wont be able to use the ram pump. This ingenious pump works by spinning a tube into the water and gulping water and air consecutively. These pumps have been around for a long while and they work very well.

The basic principle behind ram pumps is to use a large amount of water falling a short distance to pump a small amount of water to a higher elevation. Typically, only 2% to 20% of the water flowing through a ram pump system will actually be delivered to the storage tank or trough.

Hydraulic ram pumps are very inefficient, generally pumping only one gallon of water for every eight gallons of water passing through the ram. They will, however, pump water up ten feet (or more in some cases) of vertical elevation for every foot of elevation drop from the water source to the hydraulic ram.

To use a ram pump, you must have a source of water situated above the pump. Once the water reaches its maximum speed, this valve slams shut. As it slams shut, the flowing water develops a great deal of pressure in the pump because of its inertia. The pressure forces open a second valve.

The automatic hydraulic ram is a pumping device that has been widely used for nearly a century in rural areas, for lifting water to heights of over 100 meters. It cannot be used to pump still water from a well, pond or lake, unless there is a Separate, flowing water source nearby. …

A Hydraulic ram pump needs a constant flow of water to power it. It can then pump a fraction of that water to a higher height than where it got the water. Most wells do not have any significant flow of water, so you could not operate a ram pump using the well water.

Joseph Michel Montgolfier

Materials for the Pump

1. 1-1/4″ valve.
2. 1-1/4″ tee (buy two of these)
3. 1-1/4″ union.
4. 1-1/4″ brass swing check valve.
5. 1-1/4″ spring check valve.
6. 3/4″ tee.
7. 3/4″ valve.
8. 3/4″ union.

1 : a pump that forces running water to a higher level by utilizing the kinetic energy of flow, only a small portion of the water being so lifted by the velocity head of a much larger portion when the latter is suddenly checked by the closing of a valve.

Water at the height of 10.3 meters puts the same pressure per square inch as atmospheric pressure on the surface of the earth. In practice this means that if you put the pump at the top of the well, the furthest that it can pull water up is from a depth of 10.3 meters.

You can’t suck the water up more than about 25 feet, but once you get the pump behind the water you can push it virtually forever. The maximum theoretical suction height of the water, at sea level, is about 10.33 meters. in practice we consider the NPSH of the pump and the pressure losses due to fluid flow.

Example – Horsepower Required to Pump Water

approximately 15 ft