The Ram Pump Field Guide: Lift water uphill, day and night, with no power and two moving parts · Alt Ordo Systems Guide: cover
The Ram Pump Field Guide: Lift water uphill, day and night, with no power and two moving parts · Alt Ordo Systems Guide: inside pages
Alt Ordo

The Ram Pump Field Guide: Lift water uphill, day and night, with no power and two moving parts · Alt Ordo Systems Guide

Sale price$19.00

A hydraulic ram takes a big flow of water falling a few feet and turns it into a small flow climbing many times higher. Water runs down a rigid drive pipe and out of an open waste valve until it is moving fast enough to slam the valve shut. The sudden stop makes a pressure spike, water hammer, that pushes a slug of water past a one-way valve into an air chamber and up the hill. Then the valve drops open and it starts again, roughly once a second, for years. It has two moving parts and needs no electricity, fuel or panels. The trade is that most of the water flows back to the creek, and a ram can only run where water falls to it.

This guide helps you measure your creek's fall and flow, work out how much water a ram will lift to your tank, then build, install and tune a 1¼ in ram from hardware-store fittings that pumps day and night with no power at all.

What's inside. 27 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 12 numbered figures drawn for this guide, including a fit map of every US county. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 15 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.

Three builds, costed line by line (typical US prices, October 2026):

  • Bare-bones: $860–$1,175
  • Standard: $2,233–$2,669
  • Comfortable: $3,088–$4,101

Sourced and fact-checked. Facts and figures are cited to the 20 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.

Pairs with other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: Safe drinking water; Water storage and off-grid plumbing; Roof rainwater catchment; Wells and hand pumps; The off-grid vegetable garden. For your county's permits and rules, see our county and state guides.

Instant PDF download. After checkout you get a download link by email. Letter-size pages, made to read on screen or print at home.

You may also like