I was watching with a friend a dvd from sepp holzer and it was mentioned something about his water pumps not using electricity. Perhaps I misunderstood. What sort of pumps is he using to pump water up a hill? This seems to defy my logic.

We have a pond. It is about 20m (60') from a creek 4m (13') wide that we would like to consider as an alternative energy source. Most of the year the water flow is minimal and a small dog could hop across it, but during autumn and winter it is gushing. I am wondering what options there are, perhaps if we could use a pump to pump water into the pond like a water feature / mini water fall to oxygenate the pond and have fresh water flow.

Is this sort of thing possible without plugging into a power source?

Many thanks,
Rob

I'm not sure if he uses a ram pump, but a ram pump doesn't use electricity. Amish approved.

William

I thought it could be something like that William. But I don't recall he has a spring on his property, so I'm guessing he is using one of his ponds up the top as a source of initial water pressure. My understanding is though that there will be more water lost than what is able to be re-pumped to the top. So I'm just scratching my head about how this is done without draining all his sources from the top.

"Double Barrel Ram Pum" designed by Sepp.



See 2:50

I think he solves the "emptying" of the top ponds by pumping directly to those ponds. I don't think he's using it for irrigation purposes (does not irrigate). It's for cycling the water again.
William

Thanks for this William!

We're not wanting it for irrigation either, just to bring some life to our ponds and for the fish.

Now to see if I can find a ram pump that works for a small running stream.

Many thanks,
Rob

there might be more detail about the pump in one of the Sepp videos. You can find them via permies or youtube.

Or find the continuation of that video where it goes into more detail.
William

Rob : As Paul W. Alluded to, the double barrel Ram Pump is for using the latent energy of one stream to pump water from another source, usually a 'cleaner source'
of standing water ( I Think! )

In the not too distant past there was an Australian Water Ram company that was claiming to be the best, and there is a N.G.O. group in Canada with some good stuff
I am merely without a good site to use a ram pump so I am not current on what is out there ! Big AL !

I like the ram pump.

My experiments with the low velocity slack-ditch that undergrounds at my property started off with variants on the Rife River Pump and the Spiral Pump.

First idea: fail - not smooth enough for water flow (friction)

My current design is waiting for the spring flow. It's kind of a horizontal river/pump spiral.

I am trying to get about 12 feet of head pressure, so that I can eventually fill and maintain a pond system.

I am also interested in the 'Pulser Pump' Seems like Sepp's "Monk" could be adapted to the Pulser Pump, two for one!

Why? I use electic now. I can really do solar/dc for the pump, but I like the idea of gravity and water and nothing else.

A ram pump can be made for $50-80 of parts and some pvc. The core of the design is using check valves (also called one-way valves).