Ram Pump Improvements (Modified Foot Valve & Snifter Valve)

The pump is tilted upwards so snifted air goes towards the pressure tank.

[tux]

Fantastic 👍👌👌, as a person who has successfully built a working RAM pump, I can appreciate this content ever more better, thanks a lot, keep them coming 🙏

[temptail]

Nice creative mods Joe.Very impressive

[PoconoPlaces]

Of all the explanations I have seen on YouTube, even from some really good channels, this is the first explanation that’s almost complete about the operation of the pump

[johngodwin]

Awesome. I am a land to home FAN! Your content is great. I wish I could buy a snifter valve like that. My tank keeps getting waterlogged.

[j.a.]

I really like the snifter idea.
Idea: put a shut-off valve between your pressure guage to keep it from wearing out. Use it for testing only.

[robgad]

We used a cast iron foot valve that was on a 4" supply pipe, from the creek to the settlement pond where the ram pup was located, with 11 ft of drop over 1/4" mile. The settlement pond caught the check valve discharge and this flowed down hill to a catfish pond. The ram pump lifted water to a cattle watering system parallel and 1/2 mile away through more 4" pipe. After the check relief valve there was a 12" diameter and ten foot tall open ended stand pipe instead of a pressure vesicle, and i the pipe was clogged or turned off at the watering system, the stand pipe overflowed into the catch pond that still had a place to run off into the lower pond. This is how water was transferred to the steam engine during the logging days, and we used it to just maintain the ponds and get water to the animals.

[adrianserradilla]

Love the snifter valve idea. Thanks Joe!

[jerry-leehanson]

Nylon cutting board to make a bushing....works great

[bentheiselberg]

Good idea with a sniffer valve. I drilled a 1mm hole under my check valve, but it didn't work. Have looked at your setup and have together with a friend changed the sniffer valve a bit, as my grease nipple is made of hardened metal. We removed the bushing at the bottom and spring. Then a small steel tube with an inner diameter smaller than the ball was inserted was inserted. The ball now has a few mm clearance and can sniff freely. Will be tested in Greenland in August.

[shamirmelendez]

Just by watching this it inspired me to do the same! Thanks man..

[xboxlover]

If you can find a valve made of bronze, that is a lot more wear resistant and often used as bushing material

[geoffupton]

fascinating! now could you use that water for something? maybe a pump to push the water back up the hill a short way to a supply back to the system?

[irskee]

Nice application.. Try a ceramic washer/bushing from a sink faucet.. i would recommend stainless over brass too.

[BlossomMntLavender]

Another way to improve the efficiency of the valve is add one or more small magnets onto the valve stem. This increase the duration the valve stays open and increase the amount of water pumped. If your source water is not enough, you can remove the magnets again

[carllatta]

Try UHMW (ultra high molecular weight plastic) for a bushing.

[waterlily]

we had a customer inquire about pumping water ... sending them here :)

[danratsnapnames]

hay, that snifter was a great idea...

[stevendegonia]

A Delrin bushing for the brass valve shaft, bored slightly oversized to allow for free fall of said shaft to open position.
Would the action of the snifter valve be a cavitation effect of the water flowing past it?

[NorthBag]

Hey .
Would really like to see a video of you testing the head to lift ratio of your pump with these alterations to see if it's better than the average 1 to 7 ratio of the pumps were used to .

Would also like to know whether more pressure in the air pressure chamber results in higher output (if you were able to pump more air In manually )

[zinahe]

Great work! Can you setup multiple air cylinders in parallel for continuous flow?
I'm guessing synchronization would be a challenge but is it even theoretically possible?