quantities of water, pumps with three or four barrels, in sets connected by wrought-iron cranks, should be used, driven by horse power, steam power, gas power, or water power in turbines and water-wheels. The details of each of these motors would occupy more than one such volume as this : we can only mention them, and pass on, saying that all pump-work down in wells requires to be done with special care. It is not pleasant work, nor, indeed, always safe work, and in deep-well work great attention should be expended on the ropes, windlass, ladders, and gear used for bringing the workmen and materials up and down. A careful, steady man should be stationed to guard the top, <Callout type="warning" title="Safety Hazard">WATER SUPPLY. 401 never leaving his post or relaxing his care so long as a fellow-workman is down in the well.</Callout> A small stone falling in accidentally might kill a man or maim him for life. But this work, if done at all, should be done substantially and with care and truth ; the well will be closed in and the gear removed when the job is finished, and any defect or failure occurring through default in fixing or workmanship may cause great loss. Wind engines will come more into use for raising water, and hot-air engines ought also to be better known ; they are safe, simple, need no regular engineer to attend them, are noiseless, and cheap both in first cost and in fuel. The author has fixed both wind engines and hot-air engines which have been at work for very many years, raising water with the smallest possible need of repair. <Callout type="tip" title="Economical Choice">Wind engines and hot-air engines are safe, simple, and cheap.</Callout> The hydraulic ram for raising water gives excellent results when we have a fall of water sufficient in proportion to the height that the water must be raised, and when the quantity and quality of the water is up to the required standard ; this useful engine is well worthy of a prominent place in our consideration. Before you recommend the adoption of a ram for raising water, you require to ascertain the quantity of water at your disposal. If a running stream be the source of supply, in order to gauge it you procure a straight flat board having a thin edge, and fix it at some convenient point across the stream, quite level and true, to act as a sill or waste board, so that every drop of water shall pass over with a free overfall and no obstruction. The depth of water passing over must then be carefully measured from the top of the sill to the level sur- face of the stream, before it begins to slope towards the weir, 2 p 402 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. and if the Btream a1)ove the weir be not in rapid motion, then for each foot in width of sill the following depths of water will Ix? found to discharge the number of gallons per hour 8))ecified : — I inch. I'o inch. ^ inch. 1 inch. 1} inch. 2 inches. Depth on silL 2G0 :^00 650 1,900(':',600 5,400 Gallons per hour. Multiplying these by the number of feet width of sill, the product will be the total quantity of water in gallons per hour at your disposal. Gauging formula* — r^ r , ,- , , u r if water is still above weir. C 015 ^///^) 214 VH^+~-0:i5V^HP if in motion above weir. II = height over sill in feet. h height over sill in inclies. V = velocity of waU^r in feet per second. The formulae used for gauging water over the weir, fixed as described across the stream, are simple when there is no perceptible motion in the stream above the weir. C (the cubic feet per minute flowing over each foot width of the sill) is found by taking the square root of the cube of h (the height of water above the sill in inches) and multiply- ing that by 515 ; or by taking the square root of the cube of H (the height of water above the sill in feet) and multiply- ing that by 214. If the stream approaches the weir with perceptible velocity, you must ascertain by experiment the rate of velocity in feet per second; then add the cube of H (the height in feet over the sill) to the product of the square of V (the velocity in feet per second) and the square of H (the height in feet over the sill) and a fixed number '035 ; find tlie s(j[uare root of this sum, and multiply the square root by <Callout type="important" title="Critical Calculation">C (the cubic feet flowing per minute over each foot in width over the sill).</Callout> You next require to ascertain the minimum fall at com- mand by careful levelling, and also the height to which you are required to drive the water, and you must carefully measure the distance from the position of the ram to the point of delivery ; you must also find the quantity of water that you are required to deliver per day or hour. Having found these particulars, you may not be satisfied with the fall at your command, and you must then see whether you can increase the fall by damming up the stream or by carrying your driving supply from a- higher level of the stream, in earthenware pipes, to a small reservoir above the ram. If you have not a sufficient constant supply of water in gallons to keep your ram always at work, you may be able to store sufficient to work for six or twelve hours, so as to send up all the water required, and you can arrange the ram in this case to stop and to start itself automatically, as the reservoir empties and fills. Wherever a 3-feet fall can be obtained a ram may be worked, but of course the greater the fall applied the more powerful will be the ram, and the higher can the water be forced. The proportion between water raised and water wasted is dependent on the relative height of the fall and delivery, and with a given fall the quantity of water delivered lessens in proportion to the height to which it is forced. The horizontal length of rising pipe and its diameter has also to be considered, owing to the effect of friction. When driving water one thousand feet, a good ram, well fixed, may be expected to raise one-seventh part of the water passing through the ram to four times the height of the fall, a four- 404 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. teenth part eight times, and a twenty-eighth part sixteen times the height of the fall. Thus a ram with 8-feet fall will raise one gallon sixty-four feet, or two gallons thirty-two feet high, out of every four- teen gallons passing through the ram. Rams can be made to raise water over 600 feet, delivering 200,000 gallons a day, and driving it two miles distance. Sams are actually at work showing the following results daily: With 10-feet fall, 9,000 gallons are raised 150 feet, to a distance of 2,000 feet ; with 8-feet fall, 6,000 gallons raised 130 feet, to a distance of 5,000 feet; with 6-feet fall, 10,000 gallons are raised 200 feet, to a distance of 800 feet. In fixing hydraulic rams, the length of the injection pipe should be about the same as the height to which water must be forced, but certainly not less than three-fourths of that height, and its proper diameter may be found by multiplying the square root of the number of cubic feet of water used per minute by 145. The best diameter for rising main may be found by multiplying the square root of the number of cubic feet of water used by the ram by '75. The size of the air-vessel should be regulated in pro- portion to the contents of the rising main. When you know Q (the quantity of water used in cubic feet per minute) and H (the head of water in feet), you may ascertain HP (the horse-power of your ram) by multiplying the product of both by the constant '00113 — HP=00113QH. When you know HP (the horse-power required), and multiply it by the constant 881, dividing the product by H WATER SUPPLY. 405 (the head of water in feet^ you iMcertain the quantity ot water in cubic feet per minute which you must use — ^_881HP If you know Q (the quantity of water in cubic feet to be raised per minute) and H (the height in feet it is to be raised), you may calculate HP (the horse-power required) by multiplying the two amounts and the product by 0023 — HP = -0023HQ. This applies, of course, to any engine or pump. The hydraulic ram consists of a large air-vessel, f, having a valve, D, in the bottom, opening upwards, and the rising or '^i>i Fio. 352. — Section of American hydraulic ram. delivery main pipe, E, leading freely out from the side or top, as illustrated. This air-vessel and valve is attached to the 406 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. extremity of an injection pipe, B, sloping from the reservoir, which reservoir gives the required head of water. Close to the air-vessel a second valve, c, is attached to the injection pipe or chamber, opening inwards and downwards. If we suppose the reservoir filled, and water allowed to enter and fill the injection pipe, it will rush down with suflScient velocity to close the lower escaj^e-valve, c, and open the valve D, the water passing through d into the air-vessel and up the rising main until it reaches the level of the reservoir. Fio. 353. — Elevation of American ram. By the air now compressed in the air-vessel equilibrium is established, and the valve in air-vessel closes by its own weight. The escape-valve remains closed by the pressure of water from the reservoir behind it, but the object of the ram is to force the water in the rising main much higher than the level of the reservoir. How is this accomplished ? The equilibrium is at once disturbed by forcing down the escape-valve c against the pressure, and allowing some water free escape. As it escapes it gathers increasing force and momentum till it closes the escape-valve c with a sudden WATER SUPPLY. 407 shock ; the recoil forces open the valve d into the air-vessel F, water rushes through, further compressing the elastic air in the air-vessel, till the equilibrium point is reached, when the air-vessel valve d closes by its weight, and the escape- valve c opens by its weight. The air in the air-vessel ex- pands, forces the water out of the air-vessel through the only outlet provided, viz. up the rising main E, towards the point of delivery, and the water in the injection pipe B again escapes through the foot-valve c with increasing velocity, until its speed is sufficient again to close the valve c, when the same effects are repeated and, stroke after stroke with regular beat, the water is pumped by its own momentum far above its level Fia. 354. — English hydraulic ram, single foot- valve. It is well to fix a check valve on the rising main to prevent back pressure on the ram and emptying of rising main when the ram is not at work <Callout type="warning" title="Back Pressure">A check valve prevents back pressure and emptying of the rising main.</Callout> A shifting valve must also be fixed at the base of the air- vessel under the valve to maintain the supply of air in the air-vessel, which would otherwise become exhausted. A Fig. 355. — English hydraulic ram, double foot- valves. Fio. 356.— Arrangement of hydraulic ram and pipes. WATER SUPPLY. 409 Vacuum 18 formed after each stroke, and a few bubbles of air are drawn in. If the strokes make a loud noise, heard all along the pipes, and the machine is much shaken by the action, it is evident that the supply of air in the air-vessel is becoming exhausted, and unless it is replaced the ram will soon cease working. The turbine designed by M. Fourneyron, of France, is a water-power wheel, encased in iron, widely used in France and Germany and America for mill work. In England the perfection of her steam-engines and the abundance of coal has resulted in the general adoption of steam power for driving machinery. Mill-driving work does not concern the plumber, but there are two instances, at least, when he may be called on to recommend the adoption of turbines to secure a water supply to mansions and villages. In one case an abundant supply of pure water may exist at a level much below the position at which it is needed, and beside this pure supply there may also be found a very small stream of water, of doubtful purity, on a high level, available for the purpose of pumping the pure water from the low level to the mansion or village. The full height of the driving stream may he needed to give sufficient power to compensate for the smallness of its volume; in such a case a compound hydraulic ram might be subjected to so severe a strain that its valves could not stand the work, while the waste of water would be out of due proportion to the result. Here the high-pressure turbine will be found the most suitable machine, utilising the greatest percentage of effect by driving three throw-pumps to raise the pure water to the desired position In the other case a large volume of water in a river 410 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. may roll along at the foot of the mansion or village with but a slight fall, and here the low-pressure turbine may be employed, and render good service in driving pumps to raise water, either from the river itself or from some convenient pure source of supply. The efticiency or useful effect of turbines is found in practice to differ greatly, even when the same size and design of turbine is made by the same maker. In Holyoke, Massachusetts, America, turbines can be tested individually for efficiency, but in this country we have no such public testing arrangements provided. The efficiency or percentage of a turbine may be taken to mean the number of gallons of water it will pump back into a tank, in return for each hundred gallons drawn from the tank to drive the turbine. The results range from twenty-five gallons to ninety gallons returned out of each hundred gallons consumed ; seventy gallons woidd be a fair working eflect in practice. Turbines are not afffected or checked by back water, except so far as a loss of head is caused. Of course, when a turbine is submerged two feet under back water, two feet also must be deducted from the effective driving head. It is an advantage for the lower part of a turbine to stand in the tail-water below it. Cast iron is the material used in some of the best turbines ever produced; wrought iron is unsuitable; but the use of steel, brass, or bronze for joining the buckets appears to be a useless addition to cost, and should not be encouraged. One of the advantf^es of a turbine wheel is that it oc- cupies much IciSS space than the undershot, breast, or over- shot water-wheels ; also it yields, when well constructed and fixed, a larger percentage of effect. WATER SUPPLY. 411 Wheels ten and twelve inches in diameter are largely used for driving machinery where the falls are great and . the quantity of water available limited. Wheels from forty- to eighty inches in diameter are made to suit low falls. The turbine is generally constructed as a horizontal wheel. The driving water enters at the centre, diverging under the pressure due to tlie head by a series of curved guiding pockets in the fixed central portion, and escaping through a corresponding series of reversed curved buckets in the outer revolving portion of the wheel, impinging upon every portion, and driving the outer revolving circle with a pressure acting on every portion, as due to the head or fall. The efflux of the water is regulated by a hollow cylindrical sluice, having a number of stops, which act simultaneously between the guide-curves. These are all raised or lowered together by screws, communicating with a governor, which regulates the velocity of the turbine. The water should enter the revolving buckets at a tangent, and press steadily against them, entering without shock or tremulous impulse, and leaving the wheel quietly when it has developed the best results. The illustration (Fig. 357) represents the vortex turbine, which is arranged to work vertically, the driving axle shaft thus lying horizontal, and avoiding the need of tooth-wheel gearing. Portion of the driving head is derived from suction to tail-race below turbine. It is suitable for high falls, and may be located twenty-five feet above the tail-water, as the water, on leaving the turbine, passes by two pipes to the tail-race, utilising by suction power the whole fall below the turbine. This turbine is fixed on two beams, or girders, placed across the well over tail-race. The shaft 412 DOMESTIC SANITARY DRAINAGE AND PLUMBING. works through stuffing-boxes in the bends of the suction pipes, and the power may be taken direct off the pulley attached to the shaft. The supply pipes need not be vertical; they may enter the turbine case at the side by Fig. 367. — Vortex turbine an-anged for high fall. any convenient angle. An ordinary sluice-valve is placed on the pipe, generally at a point near the turbine case. The height of fall from surface of head to surface of tail- race, the quantity of water available, and the power or work required must be carefully ascertained before pre- paring plans.
Key Takeaways
- Use hydraulic rams for water supply where a sufficient fall is available.
- Install check valves to prevent back pressure in the rising main.
- Consider turbines when driving water from high or low falls, depending on the volume and purity of the source.
- Calculate the horse-power required based on the head of water and flow rate.
- Ensure proper air-vessel size for efficient operation.
Practical Tips
- Use wind engines and hot-air engines as they are safe, simple, and cost-effective alternatives to traditional power sources.
- Install a check valve in the rising main to prevent back pressure when using hydraulic rams.
- Carefully measure the fall height and water quantity before installing any pumping system.
- Regularly inspect and maintain valves and air vessels for optimal performance of hydraulic rams.
- Use cast iron for turbine construction as it is more durable than wrought iron.
Warnings & Risks
Potential Failure
Improper installation or maintenance can lead to system failure, causing water shortages.
Safety Hazard
Falling objects in wells can cause serious injury or death. Always have a guard stationed at the top of deep wells.
- Ensure that turbines are properly tested for efficiency before installation.
- Avoid using steel, brass, or bronze buckets as they add unnecessary cost without significant benefits.
Modern Application
While historical techniques like hydraulic rams and turbines may seem outdated, their principles still apply in modern survival scenarios. Understanding these systems can help in setting up emergency water supplies during disasters. Modern advancements have improved the efficiency and reliability of these systems, but the core engineering concepts remain relevant for both historical reconstruction and practical preparedness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I calculate the quantity of water needed for a hydraulic ram?
To calculate the quantity of water needed for a hydraulic ram, you must first gauge the stream using a flat board fixed across it. For each foot in width of sill, measure the depth of water passing over and multiply by the number of feet to get the total gallons per hour available.
Q: What are the key components of a hydraulic ram system?
A hydraulic ram system includes an air-vessel with valves at the bottom and top, an injection pipe sloping from the reservoir, and a rising main pipe leading to the point of delivery. The air-vessel helps maintain equilibrium by compressing air during the pumping process.
Q: How can I ensure the efficiency of a turbine system?
To ensure the efficiency of a turbine system, carefully measure the height of fall and the quantity of water available. Use cast iron for construction and test turbines individually for efficiency before installation to maximize their effectiveness.
Q: What are some safety precautions when using hydraulic rams in deep wells?
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