small wind powered pump?

Question

looking for ideas and info to build a simple and rustic wind powered pump for a backyard pond. I don't want to use any elecricity and I would like to create something that once its made, will be trouble free and simplistic in operation. I esp. want info regarding the vane design and the method of drawing the water. I would appreciate any web sites, but I don't want to buy any pre-designed thing or plans.

Answer 1

You are looking for a windmill, as in the type ranchers use, they are not expensive, simple and reliable, if you don't have 100 mph winds.

Answer 2

First I would check with my local weather station, and get the data for the past year. You want to learn how many days, and which months are the windiest. You idea here is :
1.) How fast must the wind speed be for your mill to generate electricy.
2.) How many days /months has your area sustained this wind speed?

Example, if you will only generate electricy two months of the year...is it really worth it.
In this case, I'd consider another method of generating electricity; such as, solar panel.

Furthermore, no matter which method you use since you want to operate a pump you will have to realize some other things. You need to realize if you go with the wind mill, your pump will operate only if you generate enough electricity for the pump to work, and only for the time it is generating this quanity of electricity. if you want your pump to work even when there is no wind you will need a way to store the electricity you generate - this is true even of the solar panel.
You'll probably be looking at an "Inverter" if the pump is AC since most solar panels and Wind mills store DC current. You will need a voltage regulator to ensure your storage batteries are not over-charged.

It all depends, like I said, on how often and under what conditions you intend to run the pump. I do know, that some of the purchased wind mills units, which I have researched online about a year ago. They do produce electricity in as little as 7 MPH wind speeds, will your homemade unit be this good ... comes back to design. I am inclined to believe ...for a good design you will get a good product if the design is followed. However, I do not think that good design will be free in today's market. You may pay about $25.00 USD or less, I would think.
Now if you do live in a windy area you may not have to store power and can count on at least one windy day every few days. In this case, it may be sufficient for you to run the pump directly off the mill without storing power for later use. You only need to ensure your producting the current needed by the pump so it can operate and how much power it will consume in a period of time. Ex. If the mill produces .5 Amps in 15 minutes of wind speed of 10 MPH. But your pump requires 1 Amp to run then you will have to store electriciy for this pump to work with this wind mill. It will take 30 minutes for the mill to produce enough power for the pump to operate for one hour, in this example.

I hope this helps you out a little... ... ...