Alternative Power sources - Re: OT and theory. Limit on siphons

Author

Re: OT and theory. Limit on siphons

harry k

2005-09-20, 8:21 pm

harry k wrote:
> Is there a height limitation on a water siphon, i.e., spring on one
> side of ridge, house on other, how high can the ridge be before a
> siphon won't work?
>
> I think it can exceed the normal straight suction limit of aprox 34 ft
> (sea level) provided you can fill the pipe first but can't find it in
> google and can't figure a reasonable experiment.
>
> 2nd part: Buddy claims a siphon won't pass through a dip over 34 ft.
> That I maintain is BS but again I can find no google info.
>
> Harry K

Sorry about that. I meant to include:

Can anyone point me to a more appropriate group for this question or
supply a URL for the info?

Harry K

Ulysses

2005-09-22, 2:21 pm

"harry k" <turnkey4099@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1127257927.074537.10300@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> harry k wrote:

I have read time and again that it is not physically possible to "lift"
water with a pump from a depth of more than 26 feet (this number seems to
vary a small amount depending upon who states it, but still within a foot or
so). Consequently I have not bought an auxillary pump for my well because
during droughts my water level can be a little lower than that. I would
guess that this would also apply to siphoning but I am of the mindset that
sometimes scientists are wrong (for example the world is flat and the Earth
is the center of the universe) or there may be another factor involved that
could allow certain obstacles to be overcome. Personally I would experiment
and see what happens. There is always a way (well, just about always). At
one point I had a siphon coming from a creek running uphill (slightly, just
a few feet) that ended at a faucet. I was able to turn the faucet on and
off. It stopped after several weeks and I have no idea why it worked in the
first place. But it did. I started the water flow with a pump so maybe
there was some kind of a venturi effect going on. Either way scientists
would probably say it was impossible. My guess is that if you got the
siphon going the water pressure (or vacuum as it may be) from the water
flowing out of the pipe would be great enough to pull the water that is
behind it and keep the siphon going.

Please post your results.

[color=darkred]
>
> Sorry about that. I meant to include:
>
> Can anyone point me to a more appropriate group for this question or
> supply a URL for the info?
>
> Harry K
>

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