Hydraulic ram pump: Leodiagüe, Hinche (4th Section)

This past March 23rd, after MPP's 40th Anniversary Congress had ended, I walked up from Bassin Zim with Herve Delisma and Susan Smith to visit the hydraulic ram pump that Buzz and I and a motley assortment of others (see September 9, 2012 blog, Hydraulic Ram Pump) installed last August to serve the home and yard of Wilner Exil. Here are the photos with observations and the analysis provided by Wilner Exil.

Leodiagüe, and Hinche in general, is into its fifth month with just one bit of rain in January. All of the river and stream levels throughout the Central Plateau are low. The fact that the system is still working is a very good sign in terms of the viability of the stream, not to mention the ingenuity of Wilner and his family.
 

Bassin Zim, a couple hundred feet below where the community of Leodiagüe is situated. The waterfall is Bassin Zim, the river is Samana.

Two of Wilner's children, "Madanm" and "Ti Ben." They were my models for most of these photos, to help keep them from being just utterly mundane and uninteresting. They are sitting by the dam made from sandbags. Wilner reports that he had to reconstruct this dam approximately three times from when we first built it the end of August until the end of the rainy season in October. One of those floods was from Sandy.

Wilner reports that one of the most serious problems were the fish, frogs and generally the "kras" that would enter the 2" pipe. So one of Buzz's jobs (smile) is to help create a sieve that keeps the frogs out, but lets the water flow freely.

The 2" line going under a barbed wire fence (to the left). We used SCH 40 PVC, because we could not find a source of HDPE (High Density Polyethilene) flexible pipe in Port au Prince. This was the source of many of Wilner's problems.

Madanm posing for me by one of the makeshift joints that Wilner had to create as put the system back together after one of the floods.

Ti Ben sitting by one of the elbows that Wilner put in to replace the bends that Buzz created by softening the pipe in fire and bending it. Wilner said that the makeshift bends collected too many frogs, fish and other "kras," blocking the free flow of the water. So he sawed through them, cleaned them out and replaced them where he could with elbows, or with "akò," a piece that joins two pipes together. We originally used the makeshift bends instead of elbows because Buzz thought the 90º elbows might be reducing the water velocity and reducing the efficiency of the pump. One solution led to another problem.

Madanm at one of the remaining heat-treated bends.

An unintended bend, caused by flooding which tore the pipes out and lashed them against trees. The pipes were particularly vulnerable where the pipe bends awkwardly around the stream bed's curves.

Wilner showing where water is leaking out of a joint. Buzz left some higher quality PVC cement for Wilner to use, but when that ran out, Wilner bought the run of the mill variety available in Hinche, which did not work well as he tried to glue everything with water running through. This joint is what is called an "akò" in Creol. I always forget the word in English.

Another joint that leaks due to crappy PVC cement. On the right is the stand pipe which acts as a buffer to keep the water pressure in the system even and the pump working more smoothly.

The actual pump. The feedline is galvanized 1 1/2" pipe (to the right), the most expensive component of the system. Wilner Exil is leaning on the pressure chamber, which magnifies the force of the water running through.The other critical pieces are the one-way valve to the immediate right of the pressure chamber (horizontal) and the most magickest of the valves, the vertical one that lets water pour out until the velocity is sufficient to shut the valve and force the water into the pressure chamber, and from there up the delivery line, up, up, up the hill. (To the right of Wilner is Ti Ben, Herve Delisma and Susan Smith).

Wilner told us he has taken the pump apart several times to clean out the frogs and the fish and has got it back working each time. Buzz left the two pipe wrenches he had purchased with Wilner to make sure he could do that.

The pay off. Close to hundred feet above the pump (elevation), the water trickles into this barrel. We measure the flow using a 591 ml bottle which took 2.75 minutes to fill. That makes for about 12.9 liters an hour, approximately 3.3 gallons, or about 79 gallons a day. (If we made any errors in our calculations, please let us know.)

3.3 gallons an hour does not set the world on fire, or, I guess, would not put out a fire that was set. But the pump works continuously (when not blocked by frogs, fish and other "kras") for free. No additional fuel or electricity costs, and 79 gallons a day of relatively clean, and relatively labor free water is nothing to sneeze at. Its to water plants with!

Also worth noting is that Leodiagüe, and Hinche in general, is into its fifth month with just one bit of rain in January. All of the river and stream levels throughout the Central Plateau are low. The fact that the system is still working is a very good sign in terms of the viability of the stream, not to mention the ingenuity of Wilner and his family.

Here is a summary of the problems that Wilner noted that Buzz (and us) will need to work on:

1) Each time the stream floods, the dam has to be rebuilt and the pipes put back together. In terms of the pipe, the particular vulnerability are the joints which always end up crossing catercorner to the flow of the stream. The 2" line bringing the water to the feedline is particularly troublesome, but the 1/2" delivery line, where it crosses the stream, is also a problem.

2) Putting the pipe back together dry is very difficult, and the Hinche-available PVC cement does not work on the wet pipe.

3) Because of constantly putting the system back together, the elbows and the "akò"s are costly. The system as it is also needs a couple of new 2" SCH 40 PVC.

Despite all the problems and the periodic labor, the system is working and providing a valuable product that is used by two or three households. The question is clearly not whether it is worth it, but how to improve it to function more efficiently and with much reduced ongoing costs for materials and labor.

Most of the problems with the system can be eliminated, or at least reduced, by finding a source of High Density Polyethilene flexible water pipe.