Old fashioned windmill

[mdmdogs3]

does anyone still have a working windmill?

I think windmills are beautiful and that we should have one and if we have one - why not have it do it's job...

 

[backhoeboogie]

does anyone still have a working windmill?

I think windmills are beautiful and that we should have one and if we have one - why not have it do it's job...

I looked into refurbishing one. It is expensive initial cost to buy one and set it up. The system I was looking at was $14K not including the well. Total cost was going to be in the $20K proximity so I changed my mind.

 

[mdmdogs3]

:shock: perhaps one of the decorative ones will work afterall!

 

[bward]

I have one that works. We had to change the leathers once and one time the draw rod ( or whatever it is called) snapped so they had to go fishing for it. Actually I find it amazing that I can still hire someone to come and fix it. I still use it to water cows. Its a pain though when a horrid wind comes up cause I feel the need to go shut it down so it doesn't blow to bits. Especially when the horrid wind is variable and it tends to brake , open, brake, open. Its always chaned shut for the winter.

I have lived here 27 years and have never taken a picture of it though some people have stopped to do just that. Its kind of neat to have one as its a little taste of history but there are much better ways of pumping water now. I think the latest thing is using solar panels for power and replacing the leathers and reciprocating pump with a worm screw that lifts the water.
Much less maintenance and much more efficiency.

As it pumps in the summer and clanks and clunks away the cows love to lay near it and snooze. Its almost as if the noise comforts them and lulls them to sleep.

 

[msscamp]

does anyone still have a working windmill?

I think windmills are beautiful and that we should have one and if we have one - why not have it do it's job...

I know of a few people who still have working windmills, although most of them have also been equiped with alternative submersible pumps - just in case.

 

[Conagher]

FIL has one. I get a call twice a year to come service it.

 

[nenmrancher]

We have six of them ranging in size from a small 6footer to a couple of big 14 footers. Most of them we use year round others just for the summer, and on most of them we have submerible pumps as well, just in case it gets hot and still we can keep the storage tanks full. They get serviced once a year and fixed when ever they need it. In fact one of the 14's is gettin over hauled right now and should get switched out by the end of the week.

 

[dieselbeef]

i got one. drove 400 mi to get it. check out ebay and find one close enought to drive cuz fergit shippin it. buy one for less than 1500$ complete yer golden. new ones go 5 grand or better, w/o the pumping parts

 

[mdmdogs3]

I just looked on ebay
In Wisconsin there is one that has a bid right now of 99cents

Item number: 220104987390

 

[sainty01]

We have five working windmills in four different pastures. We also have a "decorative" wooden towered, regular sized windmill in our yard.

 

[Lammie]

does anyone still have a working windmill?

I think windmills are beautiful and that we should have one and if we have one - why not have it do it's job...

I looked into refurbishing one. It is expensive initial cost to buy one and set it up. The system I was looking at was $14K not including the well. Total cost was going to be in the $20K proximity so I changed my mind.

Yea, that is what stopped Steve, too. We looked at a farm a couple of months ago that had one. Just a few problems with it to get it working again. The farm itself had great possibilities. The house, however, looked like the set of Green Acres. Just a nightmare. The kind of house you are better off burning down and starting over again. The ad said one and a half baths. There was one in the house. Best we could figure was that they were counting the outhouse(yes, there was an outhouse) as the half bath. Former owners had tried to remodel, which some people should never do. Bathroom had corrugated tin on the walls. ON THE WALLS!. What was that about????? :roll: :shock:

 

[Lammie]

And to make myself clear on the tin issue, I have used it in the house. In the kitchen up to the chair rail. Looked good, too. But this was in the bathroom and on all the walls and from floor to ceiling. And on the door, too. Little too much of a good thing. Rustic gone terribly wrong.

 

[dun]

And to make myself clear on the tin issue, I have used it in the house. In the kitchen up to the chair rail. Looked good, too. But this was in the bathroom and on all the walls and from floor to ceiling. And on the door, too. Little too much of a good thing. Rustic gone terribly wrong.

It should be easy to hose out to clean anyway

dun