A HOME-SIZED WATERWHEEL
(Page 3 of 4)
Our clever constructionists next assembled the axle for the unit. A 3/4" floor flange was fastened to each of the wheel's sides-at the centerpoints—with four all thread rods and nuts, then a 3/4" shaft of round steel stock was slipped through the wheel. The rod is supported by two sealed 314" pillow-block bearings secured to the structure's frame. Between the bearing and the flange on one side of the wheel, Dennis and Robyn inserted a threaded 3/4" to 112" brass male-to-female reducing bushing. (The men bored out the inside threads of this piece so the shaft could run through the bushing's center.) On the other side of the wheel, they welded a 2" length of 314" nipple ...which screws into one of the floor flanges. This last addition allows the wheel to be removed easily from the shaft when necessary—for repairs and routine maintenance.
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The frame itself was welded together out of scrap pieces of angle iron that the fellows found lying around the shop. Its shape wasn't critic al ... but Dennis and Robyn did make sure the support structure was stout enough to hold the wheel assembly above the stream bed.
The shallow—well pump was attached near the base of the frame. Then, in order to gear the pump/wheel assembly to assure that each revolution of the waterwheel would force several back-and-forth strokes of the pump's single piston, a 9" pulley (which came with the double—valve pump) was installed on the waterwheel's shaft ...a little 2-1/2" pulley was put in its place ...and the two were connected with a V-belt.
A simple wooden box flume—with a hole cut out of its bottom to serve as a spillway was erected over the wheel, and the 1" inlet and outlet drinking-water lines were hooked up to the pump. Then the 1-1/2" "dirty water power" lines were set in the flume's entrance, and—like the wheels of a slow-starting locomotive—the simple machine began to turn. The trusty water pumper has been rotating steadily ever since!
LITTLE WHEEL KEEPS ON TURNING
MOM's mini-waterwheel has performed like a pro and required remarkably little maintenance ...which is more than could be said of our earlier attempts at "watering" the yurt. The 1/3-HP gasoline-fueled generator we initially hooked up, for instance, needed all too frequent refueling ...allowed water pressure to build up against the cistern's check valves when the engine wasn't running (more than once, those valves leaked a bit under such circumstances and the cistern began to drain!) ...and was noisy to boot! After that uninspiring effort, our homestead plumbers tried to use a diaphragm ram pump, but the sensitive machine was continually becoming clogged or—worse yet —getting holes in its elastic "skin"!
