My name is Rod. I live in Bristol, Connecticut, USA, and own 20 acres in Charlestown, New Hampshire, with a stream. I measured 20 feet head, over about 600ft. I havn't measured flow yet, as there is no easy place to make a weir, however (looking at the weir tables) I estimate 200-400 GPM, in summer, and 1000+ GPM in winter. My only experience with hydropower consists of sticking a brushless permanent magnet Cadillac blower motor (with the PC board removed) in the stream and lighting a bulb,(Not very impressive, but an encouraging start) and reading all the messages from this group.(Not that I will remember everything, but interesting nonetheless) Next I decided to try building a ram pump. I want to thank everyone for all the valuable info and links regarding ram pumps. It works. I will say this. Looking at all the designs, and shopping was discouraging. I chose the design on the Clemson University Web Site. My budget consisted of a handful of Home Depot gift cards. The parts list didn't match the shelf stock, so I ended up with: 100 FT roll of 1.25" plastic pipe a few bushings (2) 3/4" swing check valves 10' 1.5" schedule 40 (2) 3/4" tees (5) 3/4" nipples a coupling adapters a hose spigot. 150 feet of 5/8" garden hose. The site I chose has 40 inches of head over 100 feet, and it is 150' away and 15 feet up to camp. Although the parts are mismatched, it delivers about 12 gallons (US) per hour to camp, with pressure. If I close the hose nozzle and let it build up pressure in the hose for a minute, then open it, it will send a stream over the camper for several seconds. I am sorry that I didn't have a pressure gauge handy, and also that my digital camera batteries were dead. Maybe next trip. The hardest part of the project was getting the air out of the drive pipe. Lessons learned: 1 Understand the concept 2 Don't listen to the neighbor who says you're nuts 3 There must be no air in the drive pipe Pump-$80.00 Hose to camp-$20.00 Impressing the guy across the street-Priceless. Thank You all for sharing this info, so that I can share it more. Rod Lavoie.
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