Pond dreaming is over

EddieWalker · Mar 30, 2014

What is the advantage to going higher? How tall is yours. The 12 foot models are quite a bit cheaper then the 16 and the 20 foot ones. Seems to me the wind is the same at all those heights, so what am I missing?

Eddie

IXLR8 · Mar 30, 2014

Eddie, When I was looking at putting up a wind turbine for generating power I found some difference in wind speeds between a 12ft and a 20ft tower, but I don't know if it would be enough to have any real meaning for this purpose. The real differences came when you put up a 60 or 80ft tower. One of the big differences was turbulence, the closer to the ground the turbine was, the more turbulence there was and the shorter the life expectancy of the turbine was. Surrounding trees/structures also mattered as far as the turbulence is concerned and the installer wanted the turbine at least 20ft higher than anything within 200ft. I never installed it as the numbers just didn't work out for me.

philbuilt · Mar 30, 2014

Eddie, I got the 20' because at the time it was only $100 more for the extra height. My pond is down in a valley so extra was good in my opinion.
But most of all it's just cool to look at. I want to say that I paid $1700 for the 20' and that was through Tractor Supply.

Gem99ultra · Mar 30, 2014

Philbuilt, it looks like you're the expert on here as far as windmills go, having first hand knowledge and experience. Glad you're here!

I take it that you did not buy their concrete mounting kit, but used 2" pipe somehow to anchor it? In addition to the $1700 basic unit, how much did it cost you total to get your system complete up and running? I'm guessing around $2k including the weighted hose, various valves and shipping?

I've thought about putting one up, off and on, for a long time. But yours looks so good, I think I'm just going to have to do it. BTW, Northern Tools is a distributor - but boy do they jack their price up! Koenders is definitely the place to buy from.

philbuilt · Mar 30, 2014

Gem99ultra,No concrete kit needed just set the mill where you want it and pound the anchor legs into the ground at each corner, then level and tighten the u-bolts.
My kit came with a 100' of hose and 1 air stone. I don't have any valves yet. and yes I did buy the weighted hose and second stone separately.
I will be putting the weighted hose and extra stone in this spring. Total investment so far is about $1900
For the water health and field and pond aesthetic it's worth every penny.

NS Gearhead · Mar 31, 2014

Just read all 23 pages. Nice pond! Looks like alot of work, but very rewarding.

philbuilt · Apr 12, 2014

Thanks NS
Heres a few more pictures of the pond .The ice is half out! what a difference 3 weeks make.

EddieWalker · Apr 12, 2014

How long until you get some green stuff on your dirt? I've mowed twice and really need to get out there again!!!

Eddie

philbuilt · Apr 13, 2014

Eddie we should start seeing green in the next couple of weeks. but I won't have to mower for at least a month.
This morning we have 2 geese and 2 ducks on the pond. We are planning on buying 4 mallard ducklings to bring to the pond this year.

philbuilt · Apr 22, 2014

I'm look for a wireless outdoor PTZ cam to mount on the windmill tower pointing at the pond. I could also add a small solar panel
to charge a battery for power. The distance to the house is about 500'. I hoping to be able to zoom in on pond activity and take some pictures.
any thoughts? I would also like to keep the budget to no more than $300.

EddieWalker · Apr 23, 2014

I've thought about doing the same thing but haven't seen anything that is affordable. There are some game cameras at Cabelas that do this, but the cost is more then I'm willing to pay. I've even thought about mounting a camera on the roof of the house with a zoom on it that I could focus on my feeder that is far away and keep an eye on it that way, but I haven't seen anything with good resolution that I want to pay for. Probably never gonna happen, but it would be nice if it did.

Eddie

philbuilt · Sep 29, 2014

I am digging more at the pond and would like to post from my phone. Samsung S5. Has any body else notice that you cant post from the app. Any help on this?
Thanks
Phil

jejeosborne · Sep 29, 2014

philbuilt said:
I am digging more at the pond and would like to post from my phone. Samsung S5. Has any body else notice that you cant post from the app. Any help on this?
Thanks
Phil

You can post pictures. Just touch the attachments button and add from your gallery.

EddieWalker · Sep 29, 2014

Did you say digging? :0

Better figure out how to make your poster post some pics!!!!!

Eddie

scott_vt · Oct 1, 2014

Good Afternoon Phil,
Really enjoyed all the pond and windmill pictures ! That bench looks like the ticket for some relaxing moments and reflection.

I encountered some problems when trying to download some pictures from my IPhone onto TBN. It seems that it would not accept the .ASPX file extension. I just ended up using my little Kodak camera and then downloading from my computer. the .JPG extension didnt encounter any problems !

Good Luck !

philbuilt · Oct 3, 2014

jejeosborne said:
You can post pictures. Just touch the attachments button and add from your gallery.

Thanks for the info. However for some reason the second row of button on the app don't appear on the samsung s5 phone.
I'm uploading to google drive now. I will post in the morning.

philbuilt · Oct 4, 2014

This are pics of the equipment that we used They are random shots between the two day's the we dug. a very modest guess on the amount of dirt that we moved would be about 1800 yards. tomorrow I will spread the pile of dirt that you see the machine walking down. the last picture is from the island facing the wind mill at sun set.

philbuilt · Oct 4, 2014

We moved about 6.5' to 8'h x 25'w x 150' of over burden then we dug down below water level an other 8' below water level. the pond is now 1/3 bigger and I am done digging.