#ramPump update (https://blog.narf.ssji.net/2024/07/29/ram-pumps-are-almost-like-free-energy/).

With the summer arriving, the creek has reduced. The pump was still pumping fine, but no longer able to push the water high enough to reach the IBC: just about 1m too low.

I added 25m of polypipe to the in-take, to a total of 50m. This increased the drop to the pump. After a bit readjusting of the line, this seems to have done the trick, and the IBC is getting filled again!

While I was there, I added a convenient tee joiner between the two lengths of pipe. I'll try out a standpipe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG_Uw4KTnUs, which seems to be a useful addition for pressure and/or ram-effect mitigation. We'll see.

Next problem: the trickle from the #ramPump is not sufficient to start the #bellSiphon (which otherwise works well). I need some sort of non-linear system that would store water coming slowly, and release it all at once, without an equilibrium state.

I think this should be achievable with a #shishiOdoshi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shishi-odoshi. And sure enough, people with exactly the same problem as me already tried https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NK6iBVMHCfU

I started building one this weekend, and it works reasonably well. I plan to use the support cross-pipe as an inlet, so I drilled some hole on the inner section. This remains to be tested.

I finally got the whole system setup. The #ramPump pushes water up into an IBC (painted to reduce algae growth) at the top of the garden. The flow is not as dramatic as the early tests with the watering, but it's steady.

I had to fiddle quite a bit with the upstream polypipe again. It now seems to get more of the ram shock-wave, which unfortunately makes the in-take move out of its position and go dry. I think I managed to stabilise it (after taking the vid), so we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Hoping to find a full IBC in the morning!

The #ramPump is a-pumpin'! I had to fiddle quite a bit with the feed-in polypipe, as there's not much of a drop from its inlet 25m upstream, but that ended up being quite sufficient.

I had to artificially cycle the pressure by lifting and dropping a section of the pipe. Not sure if it helped, but the pump started after that.

About 1L/min. I now worry about what I'm gonna do with all this water.

Against all odds, the #ramPump turned out to be functional!

The flow is minimal as compared to the losses, but the little dribble filled a 10L watering can in a couple hours, so that should be enough to fill a 1kL IBC in a few days. Not bad!

The trickiest bit is setting up the feed-in polypipe so it has a constant gentle downslope, as the drop in the creek is not very steep, and any kink up in the hose stops the flow to the pipe.

But in principle, it works!

I made some progress on the #ramPump.

I got the missing bits, and started replacing some non-pressure parts where I had a chance, and will replace the others as/if they fail.

100mm pressure piping is pricey, so I used DWV pipe, which is thinner. Couplers for pressure and non pressure are incompatible, but I got away with it by using 50mm threaded adapters between the two.