Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Wind Mill Aeration

Bill,

You sound like you have a great deal more experience than I with windmills and aeration systems however I thought I would respond to some of your comments. When I said "free" to operate I was only referring to the source of power. Obviously all types of machines regardless of power source need maintenance which can be costly. You mentioned that the maintenance costs are significant - I guess time will tell. My system came with two extra (actually 4 extra since it is a dual diaphragm) diaphragm replacements so I assume it will be awhile before I have to spend the $40 for replacement diaphragms. Regarding the nuts and bolts, my mill came with many lock nuts and I used thread lock on the rest - real easy to do and cost about $2.50 for the bottle of thread lock. My mill also came with hinges so dropping the tower while not really easy can be done in about 5 minutes with two people and a winch (as described above). I could have it back up in another 5 minutes after it was brought down. I don't know much about the bearings in these or how long they last. I am a little skeptical that they would need to be replaced as often as you suggest but I could be wrong and probably am. I see mills on old farms all the time that have stood for 50+ years with little or no maintenance that still function - I guess they have different bearings than the new mills?

I am not arguing with any of your points - or saying that you are wrong, obviously you have a lot more experience than I do. Having said that, the mill was a MUCH less expensive option for me. I don't currently have power at the pond so it was not a simple choice between an electric pump and a mill. If I did have power at the site than I would probably have installed an electric pump system. I was not trying to say that a windmill system was better than an electric pump system for aeration.

*Edit: Regarding your friend. Thats terrible that he fell and lost part of his finger. I don't think I would try to do any work on my mill from a ladder for that reason. I am glad mine can be lowered to be worked on without a lot of effort.

Bill knows his stuff, but so does Theo. Theo likes his windmill, and it hasn't cost him major repairs to this point. That's why I like asking so many questions, it's not who's right or wrong, it's more of a survey as to what works best under your situation.

I added a bunch of locknuts, especially to the fan blade assembly, when I put mine together. This required replacing many of the supplied bolts with slightly longer ones so there was enough room for the lock washers.

NOTE: Use of 1/4" longer bolts in assembly can greatly ease getting some of the parts to fit together, as it may be difficult to get them close enough to bolt using shorter bolts.

While I like my windmill and plan on continuing to use it, since I added a second pond I am running a good electric supply to the pond vicinity (only 170 yards to go!) and will be pruchasing and installing electric aeration to both ponds. I am pushing biomass limits close enough that I don't want to have to really on intermittent wind.

Bearing life seems to be dependent on manufacturer of bearing. Bearings and mechanics of water aerator windmills is quite different than old fashioned water pumping windmills. Some of the bearings in 2yr old Koenders and Superior mills were failing after 12-18 months due to cheaply made or a bad batch of bearings. I think current mfgd mills are using different bearings. Water condensate frozen airlines causes a high percentage of damage due to air not escaping. Common sense and a little fore thought can prevent some problems.

Idaho-pond,

Once again beautiful pond and setting you have!

From someone else that keeps trout in ponds over the winter your windmill may be all it takes to prevent winterkill of your beautiful rainbows. If one can't keep the snow off of a pond, winter diffusion is the best option and the only option. As long as the windmill keeps an area open for sunlight to penetrate, and air to make contact with your water for a refuge, if D.O. levels get low -- the rest of the pond you may be fine.

In winter you really don't want significant moving of the water column going on anyway. Your system may be just what the doctor ordered. Keep us posted after next winter.

Additionally your windmill may not be big enough to cause significant distratification in summer if that could be a problem to your trout.

What's the highest surface temp you've ever had in the summer? Do your feed your trout or to they feed on natural feed?

Cecil,

Thanks... I will hope that the windmill will help - hard to say. I am discouraged after losing so many fish. I hope the aeration will atleast keep a small area open during the winter months.

I have never taken water temps in my pond before. I plan on doing that a little more this summer as I try to monitor things a little better than before. Yes, I did feed the fish for the last few years. I probably fed about 2-3 times a week. Since I did not have to many problems before last fall part of me wonders if someone did not poison my pond. Now that Spring is finally here, I have been fishing my pond and seen next to no fish. Even the squaw (pike minnow) seem to be gone. I have seen a couple ospery fishing so there must still be a few fish.... Do any of you do any type of water testing? How do you test it? Do you send it to someone?

Idaho,

Do you have any reason to think somone may have poisoned your pond? If not, it sure sounds like winterkill. Maybe more snow than this winter than previously, or it stayed on the ice longer this winter?

From what I hear water testing for any kind of poison must be done soon after it happens or the testing may not detect anything.

And that type of testing can be expensive.

Cecil,
No, I don't have any reason to think that. It is just very surprising to me that even the pike minnow (what are called Squaw fish around here) also seem to be gone. I also did not see any dead fish on the surface after the ice melted as I had in years past from winter kill. My pond is very close to a main road (see arial photo) and I have also told several people who have asked that they could not fish my pond so it made me wonder if someone decided to poison it - just paranoid I guess ; ). We had a very hard winter with lots of snow so you are probably correct that it was winter kill. It just amazes me that I have not seen any baby or adult pike minnow - those things are very hardy fish. We usually spend much of the Summer trying to fish them out.

As far as the water testing, I was referring to water testing just for general water quality not for poison.

I have an American Eagle brand 23' mill. It has been in operation for three years with the only maintenance being greasing the bearings on the shaft. It uses truck suspension air bag for the pump, these air bags are tough, they last for 10 or 15 years on a truck, so I would imagine they will last a long time in my mill. I and one buddy assembled it and got it up and working in an afternoon, fairly easy assembly.
This mill has four legs, and was supplied with lockwashers for all the bolts, even so, I used red locktite on all the bolts on the fan. I have checked the bolts on the legs several times, and none have worked loose, even after two bouts with 80 MPH winds last fall.
I have 500' of tubing leading from the mill, set at the crest of the hill leading down to a single diffuser in the deepest part of the pond. This summer I am going to split the line and put in two new diffusers.

Howdy, Dave! Welcome to the Forum. How's things at the other end of Route 37?

(BTW, your top secret Pond Boss "Too Many Daves" name is "Harris Tweed")

Things are well up this way Theo. I've got to get down to the hunting camp and get some work done soon, still a lot of trees down from the high winds over the winter, at least firewood is going to be easier this year.

First time I remember getting that much hurricane damage in Ohio. I finished cutting and stacking firewood about 2 weeks ago, and I still have 2 smaller trees laying across fence that I need to remove. plus a lot of storm damage located where I don't need to do anything on a schedule.

I'm feeling the urge to grab the fly rod and drive to Idaho !! Beautiful...