River water up 120 ft-Options ?

[groundcover]

I have two deep well submersible pumps set in the lake (220 volt) they have run horizontally ,summers only for almost ten years. The concrete rings I was thinking of were like a septic tank riser or 2' culvert. The whole pump should be submerged as the motor is water cooled.
I have a 1.5" 5hp high pressure Honda that I run through a filter : Drip Irrigation Filters - Dripworks Heavy Duty Filters For Drip Irrigation Systems
Then into 11/2 poly pipe around the property, works slick as a bean:thumbsup:

 

[MikeD74T]

Bob, If you have any current in the river consider a spiral pump: The Spiral Pump: A High Lift, Slow Turning Pump MikeD74T

 

[tlbuser]

Bob, If you have any current in the river consider a spiral pump: The Spiral Pump: A High Lift, Slow Turning Pump MikeD74T

That thing is neat!

 

[MikeD74T]

That thing is neat!

Will be moving soon to my retirement home that has a substantial stream thru the property. I want to build a floating spiral pump, despite not needing water pumped anywhere in particular, just because it's soo neat. The power of gravity is the next best thing to perpetual motion. There's quite a few on you-tube. MikeD74t

 

[JB4310]

Will be moving soon to my retirement home that has a substantial stream thru the property. I want to build a floating spiral pump, despite not needing water pumped anywhere in particular, just because it's soo neat. The power of gravity is the next best thing to perpetual motion. There's quite a few on you-tube. MikeD74t

I was trying to think of some perpetual set up, like a siphon loop, pull water up with the weight of the falling water, but not sure you could harvest any water out of that loop, probably not. Was trying to think like those ancient engineers

JB

 

[bcarwell]

Unfortunately the river flow is extremely slow so water hammer, Archimedes screw, coil pumps won't cut it although fascinating. Now I'm beginning to wonder about jet pumps. Seem to have a few advantages like not putting electrical wires into the river (even with GFCI I'm nervous about doing this, unlike down a protected well casing) and no priming problems. But I'm wondering if they are susceptible to clogging even if I filtered the river water fairly well. Any experience with jet pumps anyone ?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I've seen hundreds of PVC pipes in Lake Travis all the way up to Pedernales and the other fork to the dam at Marble Falls in the past. But not so many nowadays.

If you can see what everyone else is doing, maybe you could get some insight. But I'm also guessing that the LCRA prolly has some kind of dang legal words on some paper somewhere about just who can put a straw in the water...

I can tell you the fastest way to fill up 2500 gallon tank. Hook my buddy's 600HP jet boat to a big firehose. Run it up the bank and hold on tight.

 

[bcp]

Hydraulic ram-no power source needed.

Hydraulic ram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Home-made Hydraulic Ram Pump

Bruce

 

[rambler]

Unfortunately the river flow is extremely slow so water hammer, Archimedes screw, coil pumps won't cut it although fascinating. Now I'm beginning to wonder about jet pumps. Seem to have a few advantages like not putting electrical wires into the river (even with GFCI I'm nervous about doing this, unlike down a protected well casing) and no priming problems. But I'm wondering if they are susceptible to clogging even if I filtered the river water fairly well. Any experience with jet pumps anyone ?

As the other person suggested, you would do really, really well (pun!) to dig a very shallow well right next to the river. The water table is there, you don't have to go but 5-10 feet deep. Can do that with a screw post hole digger by hand in an hour, slip some plastic tube with holes down, and presto a well. This lets the little bit of dirt between your well and the river filter out all the gunk. And 3-5 feet of dirt does a wonderful job of filtering out junk, even chemicals, bacteria, and such, don't know I'd trust it for human use but would make 10x better for livestock and garden use.

A submersable pump (fully submersed!) in your little short well would push water very efficiently, be away from the river, and have clear water to pump. Kind of a no-brainer.

--->Paul

 

[bcarwell]

Paul, I think you've sold me. I just was never clear if you'd actually hit water even though its right by the river. The river bed itself is almost all solid limestone although there is no evidence of this around the banks. The bank appears to be real thick clay type soil and I'm fairly confident I could get 5 to 10 feet below the river bed with a hole and case it. Unlike hitting an aquifer though I have never been clear if you'd be pretty certain of getting water 30 feet or so laterally from the river and, more importantly, if it would flow sufficiently into the wellbore to sustain pumping through clay type soil. I think running a submersible pump dry for any time at all and its toast. I guess I can try diggin first and see about the water, hitting limestone, etc. and then in the first pump tests watch it like a hawk to make sure its not just pumping the casing dry. The proposal has a nice benefit of not putting electricity/pump directly into the river where it can be messed with, snag, etc. which I was reticent to do with a submersible. And with no need for a suction hose the setup is less conspicuous too and the pump can be capped in and locked to thwart river rat thieves, etc.