Some of what I learned recently doing passive gravity fed water systems.

in #homesteading6 years ago (edited)

spring-water.jpg

For every one foot of head (height of tank or source) there is a .433 increase to water pressure (PSI).

If you need to get the water uphill and you have a source with decent volume then you can use a hydraulic ram pump to lift the water uphill without electricity.

If you have a low volume source you can build a 'trickle system' that can store the water and then create the needed volume to drive a hydraulic ram pump.

You can also just use a gravity system that will overcome it's initial head (your source) by first increasing the velocity of the water by downsizing your water lines (1" to 3/4" to 1/2" 3/8" for a small system) then using that velocity and the siphon affect you can trickle feed a large holding tank. It is worth noting that using large sized pipe can exponentially increase the amount of friction created by the water flowing through the pipe.

If you keep repeating the velocity/siphon from that tank to a second, third, (or however many holding tanks it takes) you can gradually 'step' the water uphill by gradually overcoming the head you create at each tank.

It's all tricky stuff when doing passive gravity systems but fortunately there is a lot of good information about it and some of the best that I've found is information on large scale gravity fed irrigation systems used by farmers.

I've been working on three different systems recently and have had to learn a lot but just a few months ago I finally got some great water pressure by capturing a high elevation spring about 1500 feet away from my little homestead and on the other side of a ridge, then I ran approximately 500 feet of 1" diameter irrigation tubing down the side of the ridge from the spring and gained about 200 feet of head. I then gradually angled the tubing up the ridge to a point that I could crest the ridge. It's an incredible setup to do without properly surveying elevations but I accomplished it by 'eyeballing' it during the long months of the winter when there was limited vegetation. Anyway at the point I crest the ridge I added a garden hose and have around 80 PSI. There is always loss from friction or it would be roughly 86.6 psi. From that crest point I can add a large holding tank and either do a near vertical drop of 200 feet or a diagonal drop of approximately 500 to 600 feet and have that water output into the 'yard' of my homestead with a few hundred more feet of irrigation tubing. Also from that same spot atop the ridge I can run irrigation to about 26 acres or more of the property.

That is all. Good Luck!

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