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Forum Index : Windmills : Water feature- Windmill
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| Codsmoker Newbie  Joined: 04/01/2010 Location: Posts: 2 |
G'day all, I've just registered and have been facintated in Windmills for some time and have really made no attempts to get involved. Anyway, I spent the weekend with my inlaws at their farm and they have a new garden with a miniature windmill (7ft high). Metal blades and spins really well. I want to set up the windmill for her so it generates or pumps water for their water feature. The distance between the house and garden feature is too far away. Is there any place I can buy one or convert this one. Your help would much appreciated and further feedback on how it is going will be provided. Regards Ross |
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isaiah Guru  Joined: 25/12/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 303 |
Ross If you are looking to actually pump water from a well you'll need more than the 7 foot mill! If you are looking for something for a garden seen or decoration try some of the garden stores or water garden stores for circulating pumps. If you are looking to put up a real working water wind mill the best place to look is in the Amish community's there is usually some one that has new or restores old ones. besides the mill you would need to drive a well to get the water. If water is not to deep you can drive one by hand. I have one out here about 25 feet that I drove by hand. Remember if you drive it by hand turn the pipe often with a pipe wrench as this keeps the fittings tight and the pipe hopefully going straight! I don't know what country you are from but this info is from the USA. I hope this helps Isaiah URL=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/1973-11- 01/The-Plowboy-Interview.aspx>The Plowboy Interview[/URL> |
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| Codsmoker Newbie Joined: 04/01/2010 Location: Posts: 2 |
Thanks Isaiah, I'm an Australian so a long way from the US, but the information will help in determining how to go about it. Basically the windmill will stand alone and somehow have a belt turning a small pump so I can draw the water from the pond and circulate back up over the water feature. |
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Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904 |
Take a good look at the windmill pumps you see around the paddocks. None of them seems to use a belt to drive a pump, I wonder why? I guess years of experience taught them that the most reliable way is to have a gearbox of sorts at the windmill head which drives a simple crank. A very long con rod moves the pump piston at the water level. You do not need a rotating pump to pump water, especially in small quantities. Klaus |
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Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
I use to build and repair water windmills when i left school may years ago. As tinker said they all work on a crank with a piston pump connected by a rod inside the pipe. Not all have a gear box, only the deep water mills. The pump has a check valve at the bottom that lets the water get sucked up into the pump chamber on the up stroke. The piston has another check valve in it that lets the water get displaced from the pump chamber through it on the down stroke. Once the pipe is full of water some gets displaced out the top on every up stroke. Now if you are only lifting the water a foot or so you might get away with a check valve on the bottom of a piece of pvc pipe and lift the whole pipe up and down with the bottom in the water. You might remember there was a siophon hose sold once with a marble in the bottom for a check valve that you would jingle up and down in the water till it filled the hose then drop the end down to siophon. same sort of thing. BUT if i was going to do this i would look to a pump that is used in a caravan sink to pump the water from the onboard tank in to the sink by hand and use that with a crank and rod setup. Almost made for the job. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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mel n rob Newbie Joined: 02/01/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 4 |
solar panels might work out cheaper and less mucking around sure a windmill pump would look nice but what about when there is no wind ? , at least by day small solar panels will circulate the water continuously sounds like youre only pumping from the pond check out ebay or bunnings |
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MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Okay, I've read through this and I think the flavor of the original post was that you want somehow to use the little, decorative "Southern Cross"-style, 7-foot-tall toy windmill to pump water in a garden water feature. Am I correct? If that's the case, the only way this will work is during a typhoon! The wind footprint of those decorative garden mills is about one square foot. You could probably generate more power sneezing than this will make. In reality, you "could" design a cam-operated pump to work off the shaft, but if you look carefully, I think you'll find that the shaft doesn't turn and the "windmill" part is mounted on a small hub like the front wheel of a bicycle is. It's not intended to perform any "work"; it just spins in the breeze and looks nice. If it were me, I'd let the thing spin in the wind and fake some water flow with a solar-operated pump system hidden amongst the flowers at the base of the thing. I think Harbor Freight offers just such a pump. Here's a Link Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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