Pumping water up a hill

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In the context ... isn't that vertical thinking ?

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 24/10/2018 23:06:11

Archimedes screws arranged in tandem, pumping to a series of intermediate tanks, to avoid the screws being too long to be practical. The classic wooden version can be made with basic hand tools, or plastic tube wrapped around a drum is an alternative. They can be driven by any means you have including tread mills, they do not easily clog up, and apart from the basic bearings, they is nothing to go wrong. Just a thought.

Maurice.

Hello Mike You might care to look at www.moerkwater.com.au they make village size , reverse osmosis, solar powered desalinatioin plants .

If there is a source of second class water adjacent to the hospital you would get 100 litres per hour of drinkable water. Using 3500 watts of solar panels.

Failing this the high pressure pump in the systen is capable of 56bar and maybe man enough to raise water from the river. Without the desalination reverse osmosis cartridges.

If it is not then put in a second unit halfway up the slope.

I have no financial interest in Moerk.

Regars, Johhn

That's going be some Archimede's Screw system as the water source is 3km away with a lift of 500 meters .

Any system to move water 3km with a 500m lift is going to be expensive, whether using one high pressure pump or a more practical series of smaller ones. Flow rate won't need to be be high if it's replacing a 'cart with a barrel', but that's at least 2 miles of plumbing, however it's done.

Would it be possible to store more water in the wet season? More or bigger tanks might be more cost-effective if wet season rainfall is sufficient

Failing that, the water bowser sounds a better proposition; presumably the tractor would be used for other things anyway?

Mike.

"How can a regular (no matter how small) supply be arranged ..."

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I was hoping that Mike Joseph would follow-up on this point ^^^

Most posters seem to have assumed that a supply of at least one litre per minute will be required; but I can see no evidence to support that; and I don't think we have an indication of the available supply from the well [is there a contention ratio to consider ?].

IF we can take "no matter how small" at face value, then a viable solution would be to use a drone, whose battery could be conveniently charged by solar energy.

MichaelG.

The Fluidyne pump developed at Harwell by Dr Collin West Is a possibility, It may need a number of pumps to elevate the water 500 ft. The efficiency is fairly low at about 7%, but it can be run on solar power, and it's maintainance is similar to a ram but it doesn't need a running stream, so it could pump direct from a well. The pump works on the Stirling cycle, but uses water as the piston and the displacer.

Ian S C

Edited By Ian S C on 25/10/2018 13:41:50

Another concept suggested by the fluidyne is a pump that I believe was used in Bazalgette's sewage system. It used a u-tube in which one arm formed the combustion cylinder. The other had a long "riser" up to the exit. The idea was to get an oscillation going in the U like the fluidyne but introduce gas/air into the combustion side and ignite it at "top dead centre", thus driving the fluid column down on one side and up on the other so it overflowed at a higher level. I've not been able to find a reference, someone told me about it many years ago.

The thing that is going to kill this dead in its tracks is cost, there is the corst of purchasing what ever you think that will pump water through a 3 km long pipe with a 500m head then importing it and transporting all this to the site , there is the cost of installing it and maybe also bringing in a specialist crew to do so . Cost of maintenance and replacement parts that would more than likely have to also be imported and you will have to have a back up plan as parts could be weeks or months away - its not like you can lob down to the local pump supplier and buy parts !

Weigh this up say over a ten year period and compare it with the cost of running the tractor over the same period , i think you will find it to be much more economical . If the cost of fuel is so high maybe be look at alternative fuel sources for the tractor like bio diesel ,maximising rain run off storage , controlling evaporation and water usage etc .

What fuel do they use to cook with ? Some food wastes can be used to make alcohol based fuels so maybe there is an option there ?

+1 On the tractor plus tank trailer/ bowser idea. Biodiesel would seem to be economical but unless there is a local processor of it already there, plant and chemicals needed for processing it, such as glycerin, may or may not be available or affordable locally.

Shipping tote type containers suitable for potable water would be a low cost way to provide storage at the top of the peak. Maybe one of the big international shippers could be prevailed upon to donate a couple of big ones with rack or mount point damage (damage which will not affect use as a tank at all, but prevents their normal use in shipping since they can not stack properly on ships). The tractor is useful for many other jobs in the village when not hauling the water a couple of times a day.

A major consideration for using a portable solution like a tractor and trailer rather than installed plant is the theft aspect. It's a lot easier to keep thieves away from one tractor and tank trailer in a village compound than keeping them away from many hundred of metres of pipe, expensive pumps, solar panel plant, control hardware, etc. up the side of a mountain.

A "Capital Cost plus minimal Maintenance cost" suggestion.

A large waterwheel in the river, (as a power source) driving a small pump to pump the water up the hill. The pump, obviously has to be capable of providing a 500 foot head ( to have a bit in hand), say 20 psi) and is likely to be multi ram, to reduce pressure fluctuations.

The river provides the power for free, but may need sluice gates to cotrol and compensaye for high or low water flows.

Despite its efficiency, because of the small head of water available, a Pelton Wheel is unlikely to be a suitable power source, but an old fashioned undershot wheel may be the way to do the job.

Howard

... Down in a valley is the water supply, a well, about 3km distance and 500m below ...

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Howard, for info ^^^

MichaelG.

I think the water source is a well, not a river, so it seems that solar is the only viable power source. [oops! As already pointed out by MichaelG while I was writing]

I still feel that more storage might be the answer, if there is enough rain in the wet season to fill it, with the tractor bowser as a back up.

Mike.

Edited By Farmboy on 25/10/2018 21:54:01

What goes up, must come down (unless it's processed and purified).

Or Taxes!

I'm assuming that the OP and his friends have already considered the cost and viability of the pipework.

Does the tractor live at the hospital, or at the village with the well?

If the latter, what's wrong with using the tractor's PTO as the power source for a suitable pump?

Obviously one would need to work out costing, but it may be more fuel efficient than driving back and forth.

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 26/10/2018 02:11:56

As there is no flowing water, ie a dry river bed, a pump is required, and it would be best if the well was changed to a be quite a bit deeper to get purer water, and more reliable supply as the water table drops in the dry season. A solar electricity supply supplying enough power for two pumps, the fist a deep well pump, the a second HP pump to pump th water up the hill. Suitable plastic pipe should be used as it has low friction to water flow, it is the cheapest, and the cheapest to lay. There would probably be a need for a tank at the well head, and there should be some form of storage at the hospital.

From a brief look on the "net", the problem happens all over Tanzania. One example of a maternity hospital that suggests that you bring your own water, and they don't have water to wash sheets, or nurses uniforms.

Ian S C

Message from friend that runs this trustto all you helpful souls:

Kwamkono Disabled Children's Trust would like to thank everyone who have suggested ways to get water up the hill at the centre.  These  will be very helpful when we investigate possible solutions next year, unfortunately finding information about available supplies and equipment in rural Tanzania is not easy.  

Thank you once again

Keith Wright
Founding Trustee and chair

I think this one is really difficult. The pressure in a pipe with a 500m head is about 50bar, or 720psi. As heavy plastic water pipe is only good up to about 100psi, and Schedule 40 steel water pipe to about 175psi, this isn't going to be done with a single lift and ordinary fittings.

Managing the pressure suggests a series of pumps and tanks will be needed. For about £400 a small deep well pump will lift water to about 75m at 80psi and consume about 500W. For a continuous flow you would need seven equally spaced up the slope, each with a holding tank and piping. Also a generator to power the pumps and a control system ensuring that pumps don't run dry or overflow their destination tank.

While not too difficult to imagine a potential solution on those lines, I'm completely stuffed when it comes to working out the details, like how big should the intermediate tanks be. Details and local knowledge are all important when you can't just throw money at the problem. For example, the tanks should be buried to keep the water clean and reduce evaporation. But I've no idea how expensive it is to dig holes half way up a Tanzanian hill-side, which might be solid rock.

Glad I live where cheap clean water isn't a problem apart from those privatised companies who prefer profits to fixing leaks! In the UK leaks are quite a problem - my supplier is currently losing 43Mega litres per day and they're not the worst.

Dave

Thanks for passing on the feedback, Mike.

Funnily enough, yesterday I was at a site where, about 25 years ago, the regular pumping of water used for washing sand and gravel to huge settling ponds was switched off. These ponds had become huge reedbeds of conservation significance, but sit above a break in a slope on porous land.

We looked at many solutions, and carried out a hydrological feasibility study. My preferred solution was a wind pump, which although it was considered it wouldn't be anywhere near enough water, woudl at least have kept an area in water.

In the end, nothing more than volunteers going in and clearing willow has happened.

Yesterday - a huge reedbed looking as healthy as it ever did. Presumably the 20 years or more of fines pumped up with the wash water were enough to make the reedbeds a lot less porous than we thought and rain has been enough to keep them going.

Neil