For Dave In PA

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He left a comment on the “SOON” post from yesterday about an Uncle who had a water pump that didn’t use electricity,

“had a uncle back in KY that used a water ram to pump water up to his house. not really sure how they worked but it did not have a electric motor on it. and his “pond” was like 40 or more feet below his house

There are hundreds of Youtube videos that will show you how to build a Ram Pump that only has two moving parts that are both one way valves but I found this video with a gentleman showing one that is over a hundred years old that he got working again.

They have been around for over two hundred years from what I read.

From the looks of what may be coming down the pike, it may behoove all of us to run down to the nearest plumbing supply outfit and lay in several of those valves. Since they are the only moving parts, they are the only things that can wear out.

You have to have an elevation drop from a water source to make them work but they will pump a long ways and up hill twenty feet even with a small drop.

7 thoughts on “For Dave In PA”

  1. You can also set up a waterwheel-powered pump to pump water from a flowing waterway.

    There are lots of ways to do this.

    For more fun homesteading tips, get yourself a copy of Readers Digest’s “Back to Basics.”

  3. yup, it kind of looked that one above. I remember it in it’s own little house like structure he built around it. that was back in the middle to late 1960’s guys
    there was a big blub like part and a couple of pipes.

  4. I see a winter problem there for many of us . Might be a good way to water the garden.—ken

  5. History Channels “Mountain Men” had a piece in this pump a year or two ago. It didn’t go into two much detail. When they got it running, water was squirting out of a 1.5″ rubber water pipe about a foot before gravity bent it down to the ground, so there was good pressure.

  6. Several farms in my area use these. Due to the need for good water flow, these do not freeze up even in below zero temps. I call these 70/30 pumps, 70% of the water flow powers the pump to push 30% of the water. One farm pushes the water up hill 300 feet. The Rife ram pump company had a factory near me in the early 1900s.
    A lot of the old ways are good ways!

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