Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Waterwheel powered aerator

I know this thread is a bit old. But this is the wheel I made. I got 25 rpm out of 1 quart per second. Feel free to comment. Especially Lmoore and quarter acre, you guys are awesome.

It is a 6ft wheel, 22" wide, 12 buckets

Kevin,

That waterwheel looks great!

Also - no such thing as an "old thread" when you are making follow-up posts to document an outcome to an original problem.

Have you used the wheel to drive an air compressor yet?

Not yet. I want to make sure that the wheel has enough energy to spin the compressor and be functional before I spend the $1500 or so for the compressor and air lines.

I'm planning on using the Balcam II compressor that is used by the windmill from outdoor water solutions.
I contacted them and they sent me some specs. But it showed air output per mph winds, not rpm.

If anyone has experience with their windmills I would be interested in the performance at low winds.

I will post the chart they sent me. Hopefully someone can help me figure what my target rpm should be.

See attached file

Kevin,

That engineering data is certainly not as useful as it could be.

Any chance you could go directly to the Balcam manufacturer and see if THEY can send you the charts for cfm versus rpm for their compressor?

Thanks for the reply. I tried to find who makes it, it just takes me to OWS. I didn't try real hard tho.

I had another thought today when looking at OWS catalog. They have a direct drive solar setup. Meaning it doesn't NEED batteries to power it. If the sun is shining, it runs. I'm thinking about getting that pump. Run an alternator and have batteries (which I have some gel cells). That pump claims 2.2 or 2.8 cfm. But it would be consistent. I would need a steady 10mph wind (whatever rpm) to get that with the other pump

What do you guys think?

My experience with windmills has shown that the wind stops just when it's needed the most.

I think the alternator idea is a bust
Back to thinking the Balcam compressor is the way to go. I think if I adjust the drainpipe output by running 4" or 6" pvc the full length of the pipe plus 6 feet or so. Make it an overshot wheel, which I've seen is more efficient. I have to do more tests, but if I can get 3/4 gps, I think I will be spinning about 60-70 rpm, which should spin the compressor about 100 rpm with a 2:1 pulley setup.