Comment on Water is running again, ram pump installation year 2

Tull_Pantera@lemmy.today ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• schmorpel@slrpnk.net ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I’ve looked into some models I can purchase, but haven’t played with them. I like the rams because they are so low tech even a stupid like me can handle them, and the energy supply is direct. The one I’ve set up the other day (dumped into the river and tied to a stick) is still pumping.

  I also love solar thermal, for the same reason. To me it just seems to make more sense to develop tech that doesn’t transfer energy from one form into another a million times, because that is something pitifully underdeveloped in our electrical monoculture. That’s why I keep building and advertising the rams.

  For my daily life micro hydro power would be a useful addition, really want to get into that when I have time.

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  • Tull_Pantera@lemmy.today ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Something relatively simple to carry out into the woods and install next to a year-round stream (or drop in - blue-freedom.net/hydro/portable/ , etc) is remarkably civilizing. The market is full of plastic, representational junk gimmicks, but portable micro-hydro works nicely when the air is still and the sun is obscured. Covering generation at least four ways would be nice ( gearjunkie.com/camper-rv/off-grid-ecocapsule looks adorable)

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    • schmorpel@slrpnk.net ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Hmm I would personally categorize both the portable hydro as well as the capsule as junk gimmicks. I would want something reliable and farm-worthy for permanent use.

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      • Tull_Pantera@lemmy.today ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I agree. They catch my attention as toys, and they still suggest to me that the technology represented is moving in a successful direction, however much bloat there may be while dabblers try to make a buck peddling representational items alluding to tech instead of quality durable tech. I’m just as much wanting something reliable for permanent use, and that requires the simplicity and repairability of basic systems. At the same time, being able to travel through the landscape is just as critical, from my perspective. We’re animals made to travel seasonally through our habitat in a territory, and to assist nature in creating abundance, by not overtaxing our environment and by augmenting what nature does.

        In my current situation the only flowing water is surface precipitation and fairly regular low-volume underground flow. Is there an option to use ram pumps in a subsurface engineered catchment and flow system? The sump pump runs regularly and the basement is always wet. Have you seen any ram pump systems in smaller-scale built environments? Even the amount of water which flows off the roof and through the gutters here makes it clear that there’s some capture potential, and I’ve seen generative systems for installation in suburban and city sewer and drainage systems…

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