We put in a ram pump a year ago and since then, we have had to clean algae out several times and have had the whole thing to freeze during any prolonged below-freezing weather. The pump is pumping from a dammed up pond that is fed by our spring. Sunlight reaches the pond a little during the day, enough to cause algae to grow. I've had no success in finding something to kill the algae that won't hurt livestock (this water is used for our livestock.) Also, the pump freezes up during long cold spells. Has anyone else had similar problems? The company that makes the ram pumps seemed surprised by our problems and said no one had ever complained or had problems with their pumps. The pump is put in to the specifications from the company and is correct as far as we know. Advice/suggestions?? Thanks, Janie

-- Janie Dye (jdye_24088@yahoo.com), March 03, 2000

Answers

can you build a box over it to keep out the cold and light

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), March 03, 2000.

Janie, I'm not surprised that the manufacturer was surprised to hear about your problem. It's pretty unusual, I would think.

I'm not clear as to whether the algae is growing in the pump, or if there is just a lot of it getting sucked into the drive pipe inlet. I would imagine that it's the latter; if so, you might want to put a coarse screened filter on the end of the intake. It should be fairly large, so it doesn't clog up too fast.

As to freezing, my climate is pretty mild, and a ram would never freeze, as long as it was pumping. If it was idle, and filled with water, it would certainly freeze, though.

How big a ram is it (like, what is the drive pipe diameter?)

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), March 08, 2000.