Windpump Rotor blade interchange

As planned already, finally the day has come for action.   A tall stage has been constructed around the windpump to reach upto the rotor fan and change each of the blade. As told already, the blades are having their convex side facing the wind. It must be the concave side as per aerodynamics.  This correction or change is to be carried out today.

However there is very heavy rain as reported by Subbu from ground Zero. A special team had constructed the tower earlier. Subbu had called for 2 boys who are expert in climbing and working in towers. But no work today. I hope they will safely do the work. Post this picture there was some more safety poles constructed.

Closeup of the rotor.  These nuts have to be removed to free the blades. Then each have to be turned
back and re-fitted.

The stage atop looks fragile. Have asked to add more strength and cross bridges for comfortable
working.

Farm Update 11th May, 2018

It is easier said than done.  Everything in a farm is like that.

a) To reverse the blades of windpump rotor we need to construct a bamboo tower upto that. It must be safe and comfortable to work on top of that stage. Subbu has asked his known person to visit the farm and give a quote. This is a season of temple festivals. They are busy.  Anyway we have to do this job to extrat more from the windpump.  (Refer my last post).

b) The sprinklers (3 Nos.) have been give to Valliyoor for welding the tripod stand. Subbu is yet to take delivery of the same.

c) Subbu was busy plucking the jasmine flowers morning. It will otherwise go waste. He has tied with some local small vendor. This time we have the electronic weighing machine and a notebook to note down the daily yield.

Vettiver at the farm.  One row is not enough. But it is surviving
in the hot Sun

d) I need to think a lot more about the windpump. Now that the water is secured, I am planning to do all possible things to increase the water output. That will amount to purchasing a new foot valve (plunger) which would cost estimated 16K

e) The vegetable plot where the sprinkler is being tried, is growing slow. I have hopes on this.

f). While on the visit to the farm, I was particular to inspect the vettiver that I asked Subbu to plant around the pond to prevent soil erosion. Earlier the vettiver was sown and got spread around the wind pump tower. This was attracting snakes and rabbits. It was destroyed. Some stalks were supposed to be replanted and watered daily. As expected that was not done, except for my compulsion.

g).  But whatever vettiver has been planted, was satisfactory. Not enough, but satisfying that the concept is good. Now If i need to deepen the pond further, I must employ manual labor and not JCB.

Wrong Fitting in Windpump

Today I made a startling discovery.  The one that will shame and nullify our 4 years of hard work. On my cellphone, I was just going through some of the snaps that I took while I visited the farm 2 weeks back.

The windpump as it stands now

Something struck me. While at farm, I had this sense that windpump was not working to full speed that I expected it to be.  Today I was playing a short video clip when it struck me that something is wrong with the propellers.  I cross checked in the web on how generally the fins of the properller (called rotor) should be arranged.

What I found was that our windpump did not have their fins fitted as per aerodynamic rules.  They were fitted wrongly.  However it was serving the purpose. It is rotating.  It is pumping water.  But could have done more.  I guess the technicians who came and installed few years back had made this mistake.  No one noticed the fundamental flaw since then.

Rest in pictures.

I called Subbu and did whatsup of some snaps for reference. Asked him to go through and get back. He did not call back. He did not realise the mistake. I explained.  He could not belive. He was angry, prepirating. He had worked with windpump for all these years.  God knows how many times he climbed to stop that, paint that, oil that and connect the rods whenever there is a repair.  Today his fundamentals has got shattered.

He said it will cost to build a ramp and hire labor. I said we must do. There is no choice. We are going to correct this.    We must correct this so that we get maximum out of this machine that we have invested.

I have high hopes on this windpump. I am glad I discovered it.

Play the video attached below. Notice the rotor blades. They are fixed with convex side in front. It must be the concave side in front. The correct picture is given below.

The beautiful windpump amidst vegetation. I have high hopes on this. We will correct the error soon.

The correct position given for illustration. Notice the pipes supporting the fins must be outside. The cusp must be outside.

Another example

And another one.

Sprinkler - No big deal

Coming back to my dream of growing vegetables.   Subbu, for that matter anyone who hears me always tries to give impression that growing vegetables as a difficult task. Therefore they avoid, they postpone, they donot give attention to my "n" number of lectures. But I am not going to give up.

I know and  I suspected that on the ground,  Subbu would not have made enough attempt even after several iterations of my interaction over phone.

Luckily I had opportunity to visit the farm last week in person (refer last post).  The team over there had fixed the ground in a hurry,  readied the farm with brinjal, beans and other saplings because I am coming.    I knew this and smiled.

What I saw was disappointing. Tomato, chilli, brinjal plants were so tiny, planted far away from each other and seldom watered. However the basic ground was ready for vegetables. All we need to do is sustain. It was waiting for a proper watering solution.

I took Subbu to Tirunelveli (nearby town) and purchased 3 sprinklers right away. Each cost around 600/-.  I also brought an electronic weighing machine which can weigh upto 20 KG. We also enquired about 1 HP or 3 HP pumps for driving force to drive the sprinklers or rain gun in future.  It looks like a decent monobloc pump would cost around 6K. I wanted to atleast make the sprinkler up and running before I leave. I wanted to ensure all spares are purchased like bent pipe etc. Because Subbu is famous for leaving a job half done. We returned in bus by 11 PM.

In future if this is successful I want to go for rain gun. It costs around 7K for the metal one and another 2K for the stand.  It will be a project of 15K to secure everything. I hope this will be useful to wet the farm in all nook and corners from one place.  The idea is to fill the cement tank from borewell. Then pump the cement tank water using minimum force for irrigation.

The sprinklers would have to be welded on tripod stand.  Back in farm, next day Paramu and Kandan went into action. While we were waiting in shade, these guys went about setting up the sprinkler with existing pipe to be driven with pressure from submercible pump.  It worked.

Subbu came and pitched a stump. Paramu tied the sprinkler to the stump. Lo it worked.  We enjoyed it rotating for quite some time, measured how much radius it covers with water etc and returned.

I came back from tour. Subbu was supposed to weld them. But he has gone on vacation. This work will be done next week.