If you don’t want to buy all the individual pieces for your own ram pump like we did, you can buy an already assembled pump on Amazon with the link below www.amazon.com/shop/hometownacres

Thanks for mentioning us! We are very happy that your pump is working and were more than happy to help you.

This is easily my favorite project of yours and love the updates on what you're doing and where that pond is at

Super cool system you came up with Adam....never heard of one like that, but definitely going to look into doing the exact same thing on my property. FYI you should be able to get replacement valve components for your IBC tote from the hardware store and that will allow you to avoid another hole in the tank.....just run the line from the bottom valve out to your pond!

Hi Adam! Great project! Ram pumps are amazing and you’ve got me think of an application for one. Thanks for sharing!

You may want to consider a splash rock in the pond, so the constant drip of water doesn’t erode the sidewall.

I love those Ram pumps. Amazing ingenuity. Great job, Adam.

Great job Adam. Impressive system. Simple and it works. Always best to keep it simple.

It’s worth a shot to try! With evaporation and soil percolating it’s going to be interesting. Give us monthly updates!

Pretty awesome, good you figured this out, hope it lasts long! Never heard of something like this before!

I’ve also been fascinated by the ram pump and how it works. I think I first read about it in “Mother Earth News” over 40 years ago! Very nice video Adam. - Dick

I'm surprised we don't hear more about this kind of ingenuity. Good job.

Thank you for this well explained video of ram pump. Priceless. With no out of pocket ongoing expense. Thank you.

I never new that pump existed. Pretty amazing. Great solution for extra water to the pond.

That's cool these things have been around for a long time. My parents bought a farm in so. indiana in the 60's it had a big spring and the neighbor used those pumps to pump up to his house uphill all the way about 300 feet. He called them ramjets and had about 5 or 6 of them they were made of cast iron and had a check valve made of brass. I wish I had one of those old ones just for memories.

I loved this video! And think you are correct with the open container up top (vs a closed pipe in the pond), you've basically removed the pond-gravity system from applying pressure back down the line into your pressure tank. You have a really strong flowing creek. I'm jealous.

Cool, yes great service in the smaller local suppliers, great job too, and you could use the output in that tank to run a small water wheel to generate power too!

When I built my first ram pump (about 20 years ago) I used a small pressurized pump tank with a bladder. It made the pump cycle about three times faster and thus pumped more water.

I'm thinking your outlet pipe to the pond could easily handle double it's current flow, maybe a little more. Put 2 or 3 more ram pumps feeding the IBC tote, an overflow pipe that returns water to the creek (basically just dump it out a few feet away), and with the head pressure from the IBC tote, you'd easily be more than doubling your flow, and only for the cost of 2 or 3 more ram pump assemblies. The siphon idea a couple people have mentioned is also intriguing, and pretty easy to test without disassembling much of the current set up at the IBC tote.

Great video Adam! This ram pump technology is absolutely amazing. I learned something new today. Thanks and keep up the great videos.

Can't wait to see your update. Thanks for sharing about your project. We're learning a lot from your experience, as we're about to dig our own.

Fantastic ingenuity Adam! I appreciate all the thought you put into making your home more self sufficient, and I didn't even know something like this was an option. One of the channels I subscribe to is Life Uncontained and I can't help but think they could be well served (no pun intended) with something like this for their water storage needs in TX. 1.3GPH for 10,000 gallons of storage could be gamechanging. Thanks for all you do and show us, and Godspeed. Ira

That was cool to see. I have heard of a ram pump before but never knew what one was. The video makes all that hard ditch work look easy but that was a LOT of shovel work. One good thing is you know what you did now. If you see you would like to double your output, you could always run a second pump into your IBC. I assume the single line out to the pond would handle twice the volume coming from your IBC.

Your ingenuity is absolutely amazing. I think it's pretty cool too.

And you are capturing water that would otherwise be lost down stream. Bravo! I like it. Thanks.

Great video Adam. Good old American edgenuity! A metal screen cover on the tote will keep leaves and debris out.

Hi Adam, great video. I have a smaller ram pump, 1/2”, I use to irrigate my garden with. I fill a 55 gallon drum that then overflows back to the stream. I use a battery powered automatic ball valve to supply my drip irrigation. Unfortunately my little creek won’t support a larger pump, but it still works. I initially I built a 1” drive/1/2” out pump that works in the spring, but I don’t have enough water flow in the summer to run it. You were correct about the air in your driveline when you started. Also no discharge back pressure will effect it. You can throttle closed on the discharge valve until the line is filled. Then open up the discharge valve. Mine is all plastic accept for the swing check. Also I have my check valves swapped from your positions. I didn’t have to modify the spring check valve to make it work. After four summers, I’ve just have to replace the swing check valve every year. I’ve never checked my flow, but it’s a pencil stream. My issue is that I’m only lifting the water about 10’. So for it to work properly, I have to keep the discharge valve throttled. In my driveline, I put a bucket as a silt trap in addition to the intake screen. I put the water in bucket about 2/3rds of up the side of the bucket. Then tapped off the side of the bucket at the top to feed the pump. If we get heavy rain it usually stops the pump. I just dump the bucket over to empty it. Then just let it refill the bucket, reprime/restart the pump, and it’s off and running. After the initial investment, mine has been pretty cheap to keep going. I just pull it and and pipe for the winter. I drain it and hang it on the shed wall. Also to fasten it in the creek, I drove a tee post in the ground. I then bought large hose clamps and fasted the pump to the tee post. Great video and explanations. I’m glad this works for you. Have a good day!

Very nice video, we love to see the increasing awareness of ram pumps!

Nice work Adam. Ram pumps are popular among bush people. You can always add a well if it comes down to it. Well worth seeing what this ram does.

Awesome idea. I have a need to get water from my creek to water animals and for the wood fired hot tub.

Nice work Adam. To get more water you may want to consider a second ram pump feeding the IBC tote.

Awesome explanation of the science behind the pump. Great content!

Excellent delivery of info, Much appreciated from Lismore NSW Australia

Over time the ram pump can cause cracks in your connections due to the harsh stop/start of the ram. We found that swapping to a bunyip pump (made in Australia) that the water flow was a lot more progressive, and less harsh on the pipe and connectors.

You mentioned the bottom of the creek is 30' below the bank, and it appears the pond is more than 30' below the bank, and you mentioned you were worried about the pond pipe creating a siphon if you connected it directly to the the discharge pipe. The light should have come on in your head at that moment. If the elevation of the pond is lower than the creek bed, simply create a small weir in the creek and siphon the water over the bank. no ram pump needed, and you will increase the flow :)

This is so cool , it’s the first time I hear of such a pump. We can use this back home in the Caribbean.

Great solution Adam, well done!

Nice video. Setting it up so that the outflow pipe is continuous from the pump to the pond should work fine and increase the flow a bit. I don't think that you will get a siphon condition anyway because the flow isn't enough to fill the outflow pipe. My Dad first encountered a hydraulic ram pump in 1929 when he was a kid at Boy Scout camp. He was fascinated by it so then he researched about them. He taught me about them in the 1950s and then I learned again in the 1970s from Mother Earth News Magazine. Adding a little more weight to the overflow check valve should increase the flow. Good Luck, Rick

I have looked into doing this and would really like to see a breakdown of the parts and the actual build. You are by far, very detailed with your videos, and I am sure many viewers would appreciate it. Great video as always. Thank you.

Nice work. Thanks for including some of that troubleshooting.

Very Cool Adam, I can't wait to see how it all works out

I played around with ram pumps also. In my experience you will get more pressure if you use the flap valve for the waste and the spring check valve on the route to the pressure tank. So swapping the two valves. (with the spring mounted) I got 20m of lift with 1 m of drop in the feedline. Also using metal pipe for the last few meters in your feeding pipe will make a big difference. About the siphon, if you put your tank which is now on the highest point, about 5 m lower (this will create a 0.5 bar underpressure), you will have less counterpressure and therefore more flow. It might collapse your pipe though as you create a vacuum in the pipe, also the pipe should end under water in your buffer tank to avoid breaking the vacuum. With all these possible problems maybe not worth the trouble.

Adam… that’ll work! These pumps always fascinate me… it’s almost like discovering a perpetual motion machine… all of the energy is, gathered, channeled, and converted in that self contained air bubble!!! Nicely done bud.

We drained our pond in July. It's been quite the journey. We've got like 5 springs running into it, so that even during a drought-like season, our problem was the muck. We syphoned then pumped for weeks as we also cleaned out lily pads, lilies, and tons of mud. We finally got it fixed up enough for us and it's been filling about three weeks. I've been following your journey. Thanks so much for sharing.

Great video great explanation. Absolutely amazing view from your tank out over the pond

You might be able to improve performance by building a tiny weir at the intake for the rampump to ensure good water availablity. Additionally, as others have said, you can add additional ram pumps to increase flow to the tote.

nice work Adam, not sure if you have a need or if your creek runs fast enough but I saw a great video from Marty T channel in new Zealand, he converted a washing machine into a generator to power his house. Looking forward to seeing more on your house build, and the differences in construction methods you guys use up there compared to us.

Physics - so fun! We always enjoy your high-speed walking edits. Nice project, Adam.

I must say that your ram pump probably pumps more water than any ram pump that I have ever seen. 1 gallon in 45 seconds is pretty amazing. Great job. 👍🏅👏👏👏

These old school science really are needed, and water is such a powerful resource, it can really be incredibly useful, imagine you have a stronger flow of water (maybe use damming), you can make yourself a hydro electric plant, I’ve seen small designs generate 1Kw power 24/7 and it’s free and environmentally friendly.

The only calculation I haven't heard you make is what is the rate of evaporation on the open surface of the pond. I'm guessing it's a lot less than 1.33 gallons per minute generally. On extremely hot sunny windy days I'd love to know the worst amount that does occur. Thank you very much for going to all the trouble and videography of sharing this with all of us!

I built one of those about ten years ago after seeing one in the hills nearby, but never had a stream nearby to check its reliability. I was able to verify the functionality, and was amazed that it worked so well.

Great deal , I’m glad you found a solution

A simple tee fitting at the top of the hill would negate the need for the tote, as it would break the siphon. Also, try reinstalling the spring in the check valve now that the air is out of the line.

Interesting ram pump application. It was a good description of the way they work and will certainly be helpful to many. Having said that, I can’t understand why you are not using the siphon effect of the pond being below your creek. The ram pump could prime it and you could connect the two lines at the tank after you have good flow… you wouldn’t hurt the ram pump but the more superior siphon effect would make it unneeded until the next time you need to prime the lines.

Amazing project 👌 definitely one to remember. Great work

Always enjoy your videos. Thanks!

Remove the ibc and run the pipe all the way, that will reduce your effective head and the ram will pump faster. More water. If it siphons and stops the pump then put a valve on the hammer check valve,so once running you can syphon all the way.

Dude, at least by the video appearance, your pond is way lower than your creekbed. Assuming the creekbank is not more than 30 feet above the creek bottom, a simple siphon should give you 10 times more volume. But, this is still very cool.

Fascinating. Depending on the water demand of the pond, you could always add another one or two.

Nicely done and documented, sir! 🙌

Seems like a good way to harvest a little water without negatively impacting the creek. A solar run low flow pump emptying into the IBC tote might also be worth considering. I reckon a couple of years to fill the pond, couple more for fine clay sediment to seal it up, so 5-10 years and you'll have a pond/dam that will be enjoyed for decades or more.

What is the elevation difference between the creek and the pond? If the pond is lower, you may be able to create a syphon. This would eliminate the need for a pump. Great video and knowledge shared ✌🏽

Thank you for your time and information it will come in very handy in the future

Great job! pretty good explained how this dynamic water column "swing" pump works" Thank you , I enjoyed 🙂

Great job Adam! Those ram pumps are so cool. Take care!

Love projects like this. And local shops are almost always best, even if prices are higher the level of service is worth the price.

Good job. I saw a small hammer pump, pump from a creek up into a storage tank in a cabin in Alaska. Then gravity feed the plumping in the cabin. Very cool idea. You did a great job. Hope it worked out well for you.

Cool video. You could double your capacity by making a second pump that's relatively cheap since both pumps could share the same black tubing after the IBC tote.

Ram pumps work fine, but slowly, and there are a few fine points to using them. One is the vent check can have a line running off to the side to keep a puddle out of your work area, but don't run it up hill because it will stop the flow. The filter sock you make is find for a few minutes, but you probably need one about five feet long. The other very helpful info is you should start with a 4" inlet, for the first 10 feet under the creek flow, the first five feet can be drilled and a sock put over the inlet all the way up over all of the holes, this can be held on with a band clamp. Before the 4" pipe elbows up add a 4x3 reducer, run a few feet of 3" then use a 45° elbow not a 90°, because each 90will have a 15% loss of flow. Reduce from the 3 to your supply line fitting and this contraption will give you a stronger flow. Where a lot of rise is needed, the trick is to build a series of thousand gallon ponds or tanks, run out of that into a second ramp pump, etc., until you get to the top. As long as the inlets don't clog or freeze, they will flow flow 24/7 and have little maintenance.

In theory if you manage to make a perfect syphon on the pipe going to the lake, whitout bubbles, it will reduce the head pressure required for the pump and increase flow. You can tune your valve frequency by adding weights to it using a junction nut

Nice video I built one Years ago but had forgotten about them they work just as you described definitely a slick way to get yourself some pressure water pressure when You’re a living out in the sticks

I worked in a small hardware shop and it was like that all the time, customer asked and we sorted it out with them. Very satisfying work and it resulted in lots of returning customers.

Looks like you might have the solution there for your ponds water needs, but, as others have said, IF the elevation of the creek is high enough, there is no reason you couldn't or shouldn't just run a pipe directly from the creek. We don't know the elevational differences between the two. Ok, if you have a 30' wall between the two, you still might well get it done with a siphon, if you were able to upstream even a little. Keep it below 30' (10 meters at sea level) and you should be fine. I've dealt with water for many years too. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people try to run a line between two systems and try to keep it "level so that there won't be air blockage. There is NO need to do that. Better for long distance running of water to NOT be "level". Run it DOWN from the source, and UP to the reservoir! then there will be little chance of a air barrier. Also you can put a valve at the bottom to drain the sediment if need be. The Ram pump is good, and a good solution if there is not much water. Another solution that many folks don't know about is the "high lifter" water pump. Again, no fuel, no electricity, almost no moving parts. It also uses the water pressure (gravity) to pump. With one of those you trade elevation for some use of water. you can pump using the head you have. If you have 10 foot of head, then you can pump 1/4 of that and (lose the rest into your creek) and you get 40' of head. Or, if you have to go higher, you can pump 1/9 and get 90 feet of head, (9 times the original head) There are advantages to each. There is less wear and tear on the system, and no "ram!" of the water, thus no "noise" (The rams do make a bit of noise that may or not bother you) The high lifters have a very good reputation, but I don't think you can easily build one yourself. Still they cost way less than a well, and they have a very long lifespan. IF you have a lot of water, (say 4 to10 times more than you need someplace) and you have head, then you can get pump water a very long distance with these. I've seen one that pumped the water over 1000 feet and an elevation from the pump of 200 feet. They had a creek with an elevational drop of 40' from where they drew the water to where they pumped it. I think they put the pump in 20 years or more ago and it is still pumping fine.... I don't have as much water, so I pipe to a holding tank and use a solar pump, (Lorentz) to pump mine up about 180 feet of head. But there are Chinese pumps that cost about 1/5th or less, and sound pretty good too.

I'm pretty sure running the ram pump directly into a syphon would work perfectly. In effect you'd then have a self priming syphon - and your flow would be much better (once the air was purged all the way down to the pond). If you don't think it would work... test it. It would take half an hour to temporarily bypass the storage tank to confirm whether it would work as a syphon. All this is assuming the pond is lower than the water source.

Great video Brother, very informative and straight to the point, thanks for sharing 👍🇮🇪

Of course this will cost $$, but you can hire a backhoe or rent one and add a couple more ponds below outlet pipe, and connect them together with a shallow ditch. When one overflows, it goes into the next one downhill. The ditch will allow the water table to regenerate and benefit all the permaculture downhill. I would not run plastic pipe from the outlet, but cut in a 4 foot wide ditch down to the next pond. Great vid out now called water wizard of Oregon. Dan tipping will take you on a tour of his pond set up. He is good at explaining what a number of ponds can mean for your land and believe me it is all good news for you amigo.

Good Job man. Hopefully rain and snow can help. Curious with your design, could you make it bigger? Bigger, pvc, wider hose? Time is always a factor. Non the less, awesome work! Liked and subscribed

Hi @Adam, nice project.. Just a quick question: Could this system be build without the 2 red ball valves in the front and at the end? And also Is there a bike tire in the pressure tank?

Well done. (NPI) As watching was wondering if you had purged the air, makes a big difference. The concept isn't new but that looks well built with inexpensive parts. I have worked maintenance for a water processing plant, and came up with a solution for pumping up steep hills. Same concept applied, the "hammer" effect especially. It allowed the pumps to to be switched more accurately. Ended up building and selling more , not the same but is amazing how it can work, Some of the old fountains 2000 yrs. ago worked on this concept. Thanks for the info, I have a great application for very similar scenario. Going to build one. Keep up the good work!

Great video!!! Lots of people in SE Georgia use ram pumps to water their livestock. Have a Safe Day

Adam, have you considered running a larger ram pump setup or perhaps running a second ram pump in parallel to increase output?

You can eliminate the vertical check valve by putting another vertical tank like you have Downstream of your swing check valve you could just simply copy that in place of the first vertical check valve that you call the spring check valve you can eliminate that and just put in another bottle on top of it

I spent 8 years as an irrigation technician, you might want to re dig up where you crossed the driveway put in 3" pvc then put your 1" line through the pvc, the pvc will be a sleeve and help from crushing/poking holes in your poly line

Very cool, wish I had a creek to use this.... My pond is land locked and only fed by mother nature.... Thanks for sharing.... Pete from Canada 🇨🇦

For siphon not to happen, add a standpipe on the hill of delivery pipe, it will allow air to enter the pipe and not create siphon effect.

Cool project! If the pond is lower than the stream, why not just direct siphon?

Good for you, Adam, trying out something new on your property!

Great project! Cheers from London England 👍😎🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Incredible! What about freezing, Adam?

This was VERY interesting..nice work Adam..

Awesome! thanks for sharing.

Why not just use a siphon** line? Seems to me that you don't need to use a ram pump... Or you could use both to get a greater amount of flow into the pond. (the siphon line could use the same discharge line as the ram pump' or a separate (larger diameter?) line could be run to the pond... ** The siphon line would need : a line from the stream to the pond ... with a line fill port at the top of the bank and two on/off valves in the siphon line. IE; place intake valve #1 in the creek (under the creek's water level) and place the discharge valve #2 down the hill (such that it's lower than the creek level intake valve #1) . Initially you would need to close both valves then completely fill the section of line between the valves... to get the siphon started, 1st open intake valve #1 and then the discharge valve #2. Once the siphon starts, water will continue to flow until the intake line is lifted out of the creek or the creek runs dry...

Several comments mentioned that the pond “looks” lower than the stream bed, so it could all be done by siphoning. However, if the pond is not lower, a partial siphon effect could still help if the reserve tank is eliminated. If the pipe stays continuous, it will have the effect of seeming to reduce the height that the pump needs to push the water. Once the water reaches the high point, where he put the open tank, it creates an air break. Instead, if the pipe continues unbroken downhill, than every foot that it drops will pull the water at least part way. If it only drops 10 feet, it will reduce the work the pump needs to push the water as though it was pumping 10 feet less to the high point. It will still need to pump to the full height, until the pipe is full, and the water starts to flow down the other side. However, if the downhill pipe doesn’t create a solid column of water, it will allow air to flow back up (from the pond side) and stop the siphon “assist” effect. It might help to use a smaller diameter pipe on the downhill leg to the pond. Depending on the amount of water flowing down, the water needs to block off air returning back up to the high point. Possibly a check valve at the pond end will stop air from going up the pipe, stopping the siphon effect. The reason a true siphon works is that the water on the downside weighs more than the water on the up side. The lower the outlet, the more difference in weight there is. But if air enters from the outlet, it will stop the siphon. If the down doesn’t weigh more than the up, it won’t siphon on its own, but will effectively reduce the pressure the pump needs to create, as though it was only pumping to the height difference to the pond. If it pumps 25’ up, then flows back down 15’, the pump only needs to lift 10’ (after initially filling the 25’ up)

True about free flowing intake in the reservoir then taping into the reservoir. Free flowing downward prevents creating sucking pressure may affect the PSI at the source. And you can filter some particles in the reservoir (tote). Thx for sharing & Great job. If you need more water, just add another one. You may have enough pressure to add a water turbine and make electricity !!

Great video. Thanks for sharing!

My state requires a permit to remove ANY water from a "surface water" source like a stream. Without a permit, the DNR would hand the landowner a citation which could be at least as much as a pump, and they might require you to remove the whole setup to boot, especially if you were reducing stream flow by 500,000 gallon per year. Maybe that is not an issue in the state where this video was produced. However, the host should have at least addressed the topic of getting a permit.

Totally awesome my main man! Thanks for sharing this wonderful idea 💡 😀 😊 ❤️

very interesting! thanks for sharing, love your channel!!

*Nice Toys. Next time I want something I will show my wife this vid! LOL!! Kudos.*