Will Parallel Ram Pumps lift water higher? Lets Find out

There are a few things that you can do to increase the lift height of the ram pump but is running two pumps in parallel one of those things? In this video I run 200 feet of garden hose up the hill and turn on two pumps in parallel to find out if the water will go higher than just using a single ram pump.

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[tomrandall]

If you had two complete parallel pumps and parallel uphill pipes you would certainly have twice the volume of water. When you feed both pumps into one uphill pipe you change the head on both pumps effectively cutting the volume of each pump in half. So the total volume actually stays the same.

[Dave-dm]

Ram pumps convert flow velocity into height. Therefore one cannot feed another as the second pump does not have a continuous flow.
A soft hose reduces performance because the stretch absorbs pressure waves within the system.

[kevinrowbotham]

And here I thought you were just breathless with excitement! ;o) Cool ram pump experiments Seth. Thanks for sharing!

[TheTobs]

Interesting video thanks. The ram pump is an amazing instrument. I lived on a small farm in a mountainous terrain for about 25 years and had an old iron cast ram pump (made more than a century before) at a creek with an excellent fall down the stream. It pushed water over about 500m to a water tank behind our house, with a lift of probably 30m (90 feet). It always amazed me how much pressure was built up, and how it continued day after day. I had to go and clean it out once a week, and also considered adding a mechanism to generate electricity (below the pump was a waterfall of 4 meters), although the distance to the house was considerable, and I had limited time.

[dlondon]

You could push water higher if you created a series of cistern/pump stations going up the hill. The lowest pump would feed a cistern near the top of its range. A pump feeding off of that cistern could feed one higher up, and so on. Theoretically, you could keep lifting water as long as you had the materials to connect pipes and make cistern/pump stations. You could also create a catch mechanism that would recover the water expended at the pump and return it to the next highest cistern, thus reducing the amount of water lost to just the first station. It would take a while to get the whole system primed as each cistern would need to fill before the up-line system could be started but it could be done.

[steinshaw]

Two pumps in parallel I would expect to increase the volume. I would expect inline/series to help with pressure/height. The first pump will need to produce more water. Great experiment thanks for sharing. 👍

[mrpants]

I'm wondering if the pumps going at different times did not allow more pressure, I wonder if you had both pumps cycling at the same time if it may have shown a different result

[Bigfloppa]

Watched a handful of your uploads, Gotta say the stand pipe for a ram pump was most stellar lol. Awesome efforts sharing with enthusiasm

[kurtspann]

I may have seen an error in your test. Both output valves are open during the entire test. Therefore if one pump is cycling you are still filling up both pressure tanks. Therefore the only difference is at what rate your filling up the pressure tanks. Basically preventing the pressure tank from decreasing. This may be throwing off your results.

[patrickhoffmann]

Seth, you are a clever guy, and hence you know that you could measure the achievable height by simply measuring the pressure in the delivery line down at the pump: 1psi equals 2.3 feet of achievable pumping height. No running up and down the hill! But because you are a clever guy, you know that you need some exercises. And so you ran up and down the hill. That is real dedication, thanks! ;-)

[ThisRandomUsername]

Thanks for going back and checking that the other pump did not work at all. I would also imagine that second pump's performance is what meant you didn't quite get a 2x flow last time.

[rhino]

Very interesting. I think I will try the inline check valve, after the pump, in my system next spring. Too late in the season now. Thanks again.

[joeboypat]

Very informative experiential knowledge shared. Thanks for the tips in the last part of the video. I will definitely try that.

[traisjames]

Don't know if it would make a difference but I noticed the outlet valve of the second pump is open so you are getting pressure built up in both pressure tanks.

[s.v.gadder]

A bigger expansion tank, and a bigger feed line are the best ways to get more pressure, so im theory id start with say a 3in pipe then reduce to 2, then 1in, by doing that alone you'll triple the pressure and thus your lifting amount...

[danwilliams]

Mate - that was a lot of ups & downs to make that video. We thank you

[MisterMinniMe]

What happens when you increase or decrease the diameter of the discharge line?

[alanthompson]

I noticed that a lot of the energy from the hammer action seemed to be returning to the bucket. Would adding a check valve close to the inlet end of the drive pipe help ensure that more of the energy from the hammer action went to the outlet?

[barrylitchfield]

Good demonstration, and good information. Thanks for all of the mountain climbing!

[brentjohnson]

Another great video. I was wondering if it would work to elevate the end of the hose along stages marked on a ladder.