water pump, windmill.

[podieroe]

looking for ideas to build a windmill to pump a small stream of water, somewhat continuously from a water source to a tank. I
know i can buy a windmill, but i cannot afford it, and i'm neither a welder or machinist.

 

[zoedog2012]

google hydraulic ram pump

 

[BHD]

there is more to building a successful windmill that lasts,

most water pumpers are back geared to about 3 to 1 ratio and a oil bath system, a way to control the high winds (to take it out of the wind) a brake system,

there are some plans on the net, but your best bet is to copy or and better yet to rebuild a old
mill, (new bearings and maybe rebuilding some of the shafts and pivot points,

to build from scratch with out a welder (even building weldaments), for the body/frame, I do nt know how one would do it

there may have been some mother earth type ideas that used a vertical axis wind mill (Savonius turbine )using 55 gallon drums and a car differential but even then to build it I do not know how you would do it with out a welder,

 

[zzvyb6]

For a shallow lift (lets say less than 20') a direct stroke mill would work very well. Yes, popular ones are about 3:1, but they are usually for lifts of over 100' (That may even include the height of a tank placed in the tower).

I would venture a guess that you could make a very satisfactory water pumper out of the crank case of an old small single cylinder lawn tractor engine with a cast iron block. It may not even have to swivel if the wind is from a constant direction and certainly does not have to be on a tall tower if you have decent ground wind flows.

A truck or light car rear end might work, too. That has the advantage of using a drum or disk brake rotor to attach spars for the blades.

Blades are usually of galvanized furnace type sheet metal. Either bend them to catch some more wind or cut flue pipes in two to get pre-curved blades. Or just use some thin dog eared fence boards from Home Depot for blades.

To pump water you need some type of cylinder (made from a piece of poly pipe) and a foot valve and lift rod with some seals to the pipe.

That should get you thinking.

BTW; I have 8 vintage water pumping windmills on 20 - 35 ft towers on my property. Some are for water, some are for ornaments and one is converted to an air pumper to keep my pond open in Winter.

You can also buy all or some of the critical parts from sellers on eBay, new or used. Make a tower out of old bed frames if necessary.

Good luck. Show us some pictures when you have it started. Here are some pics from my collection.

 

[jgrieve]

MY


My Grndpa Made his own leathers (pump Seals) out of leather gloves or boots. cut a leather circle i think a half inch bigger than the inside of the pump cylender pipe. The hyd. ram pump mite be the way to go tho. they would pump 24 7 without wind. and you cant fall off.

 

[beeforty]

Where are you pumping from? Windmills are normally over a well head or could be put up in a pond I suppose, but the pump is inside a tube connected to pipe. A ram pump needs flowing water with a certain amount of fall to work. Here's a how to for a ram pump from Clemson university: Home-made Hydraulic Ram Pump If you have a stream that flows steady you might try something like a Rife river pump which has blades that spin in moving water and dips a tube into the water every turn to pump. Works 24/7: Rife Ram: Since 1884

 

[caver]

I saw one out west that had a windmill driving an air compressor. The compressed air went down in the well via pipe with the rising air bubbles pulling water up.