....we hold windspeeds avg of 15-20 mph. Additionally, I'm figuring I'm going to get a decorative windmill anyways, so why not make use of it?
I am very interested in pumping water with the mechanical energy.....I ....would like to pump water from a small pond uphill about 6 ft so it will trickle back down an artificial creek bed.
Hey,
sprintermike! 15-20mph winds are almost as good as it gets, and for such a light pumping operation the job should be pretty simple. Not knowing how many gpm you want, I'll just wing it from here.
Here's how I would do it:
I would go with a vertical axis windmill on a "people-plus" tall tower, and just run a shaft from the turbine to a water pump submerged in the pond. I'd run a piece of garden hose "uphill" to the creekbed, and (presto!) all done!
The easiest tower I can think of would be a 10'-15' metal pipe driven four feet or deeper into the floor of the pond. A piece of old wellpipe would be ideal--something 1" or so in diameter and nice and heavy.
Before you drive it in, though, attach the "bearing unit" to the upper end. That would be a junk electric motor with two shafts sticking out on opposite sides. It doesn't have to work, only to turn freely.
Have someone weld the motor body
solidly to the pipe, flush with the upper end. That would leave one shaft sticking up above the end of the pipe. The motor shafts should be aligned with the length of the pipe.
Note: The welds should be plenty strong enough to allow you to hammer the pipe into the ground. Just be careful not to bang on the motor body itself, lest you mess up the bearings. If the welds are strong enough for pile driving, they are strong enough to hold your turbine.
Once that's in place, you have tower & turbine head all done.
On to the pump:
Buy a ProPlumber Drill Pump from Lowe's ($7.00)
It's rated for 200 gph, and has garden hose connections at each end.
(You may not get the same rpms as an electric drill, but whatever you get will be more than nothing.)
Run a drive shaft from the lower shaft of the motor down below water level to the pump. Attach the drive shaft (which could be 3/4" EMT conduit, for example) at each end with a short length of radiator hose secured by hose clamps.
Then secure the body of the drill pump to the lower part of the tower (in alignment) by
whatever method looks convenient. Might be radiator hose clamps, might be JB Weld and a shelf bracket. Or some combo of all.
Now for the actual turbine:
Mount four large lightweight stainless-steel mixing bowls (the largest available from flea markets or yard sales) on the ends of two 6-foot pieces of 1" EMT (metal conduit) using 2 U-bolts (like muffler clamps) on each pan.
Cut a 12" diameter circle of 5/8"plywood, and drill the center with a "shaft-sized" hole. (The size hole that fits the top motor shaft.)
U-bolt the two pipes to it at 90 degrees to each other. Put one pipe on each side of the disk, and use 2 clamps per pipe. Run the pipes exactly alongside the hole in the plywood.
Drill each pipe horizontally at the center hole for a U-bolt, and use two U-bolts to secure the pipes (and disc) to the top motor shaft.
Put a third U-bolt on the end of the shaft to prevent losing the turbine if the other two u-bolts ever work loose.
Voila! yer done.
The wind will turn the pans, the motor shaft will turn the drive shaft, the pump will get turned, and water will flow out of the pond and to your decorative creekbed.
If it turns out you need more rpm, you can always modify the design by adding a pair of pulleys and a fan belt to step up the pump speed.
Bearing in mind this is a quick&dirty design that mostly serves as a starting point, I think it might be well worth building.
There's no telling how long the pump will last, but at least immersed in water it will not overheat, and it'll probably be turning at a half to a third of design speed. So it should last a good while.
There are many variations possible with this design but, as I say, it's a starting point.
