Can you tell the difference between this video

and this one?

Hint…the first video, the pump is leaning to the right, downhill, and every cycle it hisses, rather than just does its positive click sound.  The second version is far superior, and pumps nearly it’s historic 150-175 gallons / day.

Between a tree coming down on the gravity-fed drive pipe last summer, and all of the water that the ram pump blows out every cycle, causing the pump to tip downhill 15 degrees or so, our ram has had bad to no pressure for the last 6 months or so.  After far too long troubleshooting (and digging holes, looking for leaks), a scrap 2×4 solved nearly all of our problems due to a crooked ram pump not sealing it’s check valve correctly.  Now, someone else will be able to google “ram pump troubleshooting leaky check valve” with more success than I did.

Another change that I’ve noticed since we installed it, the wooden platform that it sits on is softer (from waterlogging) than it was in the past.  The pump seems to wiggle a bit each cycle, which probably drains some of the energy that could be pumping more water for us.  In the next couple of days, I’ll try to secure it onto that platform to try to eke out the last few gallons per day…every drop counts here, come July!