Author Topic: Waterwheel  (Read 1406 times)

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zeusmorg

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Waterwheel
« on: November 10, 2007, 10:57:42 PM »
 I had a friend several years ago who put a pond on his farm for swimming, unfortunately the only water source was runoff from the land which didn't keep it too clear or when the summer drought hit, keep it filled. He had a small clear running stream  approximately 50 ft.vertical down the hillside, the distance was about 300 ft for the hose. So i decided to dream up an "on the cheap or free" water pump for his pond.

 Here's what i did: First i checked my supply of junk in the garage and found several sheets of marine grade plywood,and several cutoffs of sch 40 pvc pipe. To make the buckets, I cut a couple of squares of plywood the size of the pipe diameter then clamped a section of pipe between them. making two cuts, one on each side with my tablesaw gave me two usable buckets. I then cut two 4' circular pieces from the plywood. found some bearings (probably from a vw as i used to work on them

 a lot). made some flanges and axle to fit out of a section of iron pipe.the frame to support it all was made from short sections of 2x4, of course  all the bare wood was liberally painted for waterproofing. The buckets were secured to the discs using stainless nails.I screwed and then welded a threaded flange to each end of the pipe (zinc warning).since the flanges already had threaded holes it was easy to connect my homemade crankshaft to my pumps which were made out of assorted bits of copper pipe.Dual pumps were used one each side. Ok toss it in the creek this was the fun part! We built a small diversion dam and some sections of gutter downspout for the flume.all this was supported by 2x4's, painted of course. Now we have the waterwheel, how do I pipe it uphill cheap? We drove around town during junk pickup and spotted tons of old garden hoses!  The run consisted of 4 each of connected hoses.We did have to buy a few of those little rubber washers that seem to fall out(i guess city folk don't believe in fixin' things,they could've had good garden hoses for pennies.)We trenched the hoses in the ground for aesthetic reasons as well as freeze protection.

 So now he has a fresh source of clear water filling his swimmin' hole. The total cost? probably under a buck for those rubber washers and whatever the water check valves cost (those I didn't have lying around).

 I know a lot of improvements in power output could be made in this design,(larger diameter wheel, lower losses due to friction in places,less spillage on the buckets,better and longer lasting materials) but the concept was to get some water up the hill, free!

 I hope this gives some of you people out there doing it some useful ideas.


Recycle, reuse, and bicycle!



Uh, huh? This is just a ramble maybe its me but couldn't follow it, no whitespace and is Diary at best.

« Last Edit: November 10, 2007, 10:57:42 PM by (unknown) »