# Motorless water pump



## radmers (Feb 17, 2014)

Hi
A while back I saw an ad for a motorless water pump. I thought I saved it but now I can't find it. It kind of looked like a megaphone. It just goes in the current of a stream and pumps water. It was fairly inexpensive. 

Appreciate any information or advice on where to get one.

Thanks.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

google centrifugal pump. Be prepared to read a while.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

narrow down the search by including "ram" ....


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Warrior hit it. You're referring to a ram pump.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

Yep, a ram pump. You cn either buy one or use plans online to build one from PVC pipe.


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## Anthonyx (Mar 14, 2015)

The ram pumps I know about only work on hills and have to be supplied by an uphill water source.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

FoolAmI said:


> ...or use plans online to build one from PVC pipe.


That has my vote. They aren't too complicated.


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## Anthonyx (Mar 14, 2015)

I imagine there is at least one someone somewhere who bought a ram pump and hooked it to a well.


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## azrancher (Dec 14, 2014)

Yes I have several "ram" pumps, they are the antique types, they run around $500 on Ebay, there are many plans out there that make them out of PVC pipe, try mother earth news, they will pump water with as little as a 1 foot drop in elevation, they don't look like a megaphone. You could probably build one for around $50.00. They work by the property of water hammer, i.e. the water is running, you shut it off by means of a swinging gate check valve, the pressure builds up, pumps up into an pressure tank which also has a gate valve, water stays there and flows out via a connected pipe, process repeats and you have water under pressure flowing to some higher elevation.

*Rancher*


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

These will work on a well?


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## Anthonyx (Mar 14, 2015)

No they won't work on a well.

The water source has to be above the ram pump.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Even if you could pump a fair amount of water to a level high enough for the ram pump to function, it would a problem of diminishing returns. It would use more water than it would bring up.


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## Anthonyx (Mar 14, 2015)

Not the way it works.
The water source has to be a stream or stream fed lake. You run a feed pipe from it downhill to a use point.
If you pour 50lbs of water in the pipe it "hammers" the end of it with 50lbs of weight - if the pipe holds 500lbs of water it hits with 500lbs.
That weight compresses air in the chamber of the pump. Normally the water in the pipe will go no higher than the level of the water source, but with the boost of the "rammed" air some water will go higher than the level of the water source.
That height depends on the volume, angle and length of the feed pipe. If these are sufficient the pump can send water into an elevated tank that is higher than the level of the water source.
If the water source is a closed lake or pond, a ram pump will drain it.


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