Originally Posted By: canyoncreek
Thanks for the progress reports. So was there always one hole open even a tiny one in the last couple months or at times was it frozen over solid? I know you struggled with the solar and frozen lines but did the one windmill keep a hole open?

You mentioned frozen lines from condensation or some issue with backflow of alcohol going the wrong way. What is the plan to remedy that so either you don't freeze up lines from condensation or you don't backflow by mistake?

Isn't there an auto-anti-freeze alcohol system that I read about once?

With 2 solar panels running was one pump motor running still on solar or did they all go down at some point?


The Koenders windmill air line goes straight down into the water and down all the way to the diffuser in ~8-10' of water. It kept a hole open basically all Winter. There were a few days here or there where it snowed over, but it was open for the vast majority. It is producing the hole in the center of the pic.

The airline for the American Eagle windmill was not on grade, formed condensation and froze up. We just got the Eagle back up and running three days ago and that is the smallest, closest hole open in the pic.

The main airline from the solar driven compressor is not on grade either, formed condensation and froze up in Mid January. The hole closed up relatively quickly. It is now back open and is the farthest hole you can see in the pic. At the time the tree took out the panels I had no pumps running at all. We had shut them down since the airlines were frozen up. Luckily, I was able to blow up 2 or 3 pumps during that whole "condensation sucks $#&*" learning process.

This Summer I am going to relocate my valve box to higher ground that will allow all airlines to fall at a steep constant grade all the way down into deeper water. IMO, this is a proven permanent solution to the condensation issue with no "moving parts". I know one person on the mountain who used one of the alcohol dispensers on his windmill. He eventually threw the thing in the trash. After seeing what was happening to me last Fall, he routed his windmill line straight down into the water and his windmill kept a hole open all Winter as well.

I have nine 345 watt solar panels total. They are ran in 3 "strings" of 3 panels. Each string is ran in series. Luckily the tree only took out one string. It only damaged 2 of the panels, but I need a complete string for it to work voltage-wise with the other strings. So I am currently down one string. I have 2 strings (a total of 6 panels) up and running. Since the Thomas 2660 is only a 1/2hp pump, drawing ~500 watts, the 6 panels are easily running that and keeping the batteries fully charged.

Thanks for the interest Canyon!

Last edited by wbuffetjr; 04/30/18 04:47 PM.
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