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2. Self­Reliance
Homemade Ram Pump
Here's a low­tech way to irrigate without the pain of
high­dollar
by Thomas Kirchen on Tuesday, February 18th at 9:11pm
Have a spring or flowing stream on your property? You
may have a source of running water that you can use
for irrigation. A ram pump is a low­cost solution for
pumping water without electrical power since it uses the
kinetic energy from flowing water. This old technology
utilizes the momentum of falling water to power a pump
using two valves to generate a water­hammer effect.
Ram pumps take their name from the noise they make
when water under pressure comes up against a closed
valve.
For the pump to work, water must fall at one flow rate
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3. For the pump to work, water must fall at one flow rate
and output water (at a higher pressure) at a lower flow
rate. The pump needs a water supply from an elevated
source and a delivery pipe that provides a drop of 1 foot
for every 5 feet of length from the water source. This
source pipe needs to be full of water at all times.
The pump has only two moving parts, a primary (waste)
valve and a secondary (check) valve. The momentum of
the water in the delivery pipe builds to eventually close
the primary valve. This causes a water­hammer effect
that forces water back into the delivery pipe and into a
pressure tank. The pressure tank absorbs the hammer
shock and improves the smooth flow of water in the
delivery pipe.
Due to simple gravity, the water velocity in the delivery
pipe builds up to close the primary valve (1) in the
bottom chamber (see drawing). Water is then forced
into the pressure tank (3) and through the one­way
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4. into the pressure tank (3) and through the one­way
secondary valve (2), compressing the air in the tank.
The air pressure increases, forcing the water back,
closing the secondary valve (2) and sending water into
the delivery pipe/faucet.
Meanwhile, the pressure drops in the chamber beneath
the primary valve, forcing it to open (1), and this
pressure relief allows the water in the delivery pipe to
fall again. It builds up velocity flowing into the bottom
chamber, starting the cycle again. This is not a
perpetual engine model. The energy efficiency is around
70 percent. The amount of water delivered is related to
the ratio of the source head to the supply head. For

5. example, if a source is 5 feet above the pump and the
water is pumped 25 feet above the ram pump, then 20
percent of the supplied water would be reduced to 70
percent of 20 percent (about 14 percent), with the
remainder being spilled by the waste valve. While not
super efficient, remember that this ram pump can be
running 24/7.
Boise Pont’s Lessons Learned
“I started building my first ram pump after seeing an
article in a magazine about how to build one. I thought
it would be neat to have our creek pumping it’s own
water to our garden and the rest of our property. I
didn’t have all of the materials listed but used some that
I already had on hand.
“I used an old, small air tank for the air chamber and
another smaller air tank for the impact chamber, a rear
leaf spring from a car for the clapper spring and 30 feet
of 3­inch steel pipe for the delivery. The valves I made
from steel plate. For tools I used a welder, a cut­ ting
torch and some wrenches.
“I put this thing together and installed it in the spring of
1978, and it worked right off, pumping water to my
garden. But it stopped working after a while. It was
losing its air in the air chamber. Without air, the force of
the water was impacting my pump like a jackhammer.
Eventually, there was no air in the air chamber and the
pump would stop working.
“I decided to build another one that would add air to

6. “I decided to build another one that would add air to
itself while running. This time I used a small air tank
and common galvanized pipe. I placed the secondary
valve higher than the primary valve and drilled a very
small vent hole in the standpipe, under the secondary
valve, so the pump would sniff a bubble of air with
every stroke of the clapper valve. I built it and it has
worked great, pumping water and air for itself. It has
run two sprinklers, 24 hours a day, wherever we need it,
for several years.”

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RAM PUMP LINKS
To learn more about ram pumps and how to calculate if
a ram pump will work at your site, visit these excellent
websites:
• buildarampump.com
• clemson.edu/irrig/equip/ram.htm
• instructables.com/id/Worlds­greenest­water­pump/
•lifewater.org
TAGS: DIY, Irrigation, The New Pioneer, Water Pump
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