Pump Required For Water Wheel Mill.

N

newboydave

G scale trains - no surprise there then!</br></br>
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I have recently completed a water wheel with a sluice, and want to add a pump to raise water from the Mill pond, to the sluice which will then allow the water to run and power the actual water wheel.

The pump will have to be powerful enough to raise water a vertical distance of fifteen inches (from the Mill pond to the end of the sluicerunway), and should be battery powered (say 12v). I don't want to risk Mains power in this area).

I now Piko or Pola manufacture a pump for their models, but it's fairly expensive, and I want to avoid that sort of expense.
Any ideas folks?

Oops!! Sorry about the double photographs.
 
Ooohhhhh! Very nice Dave, I like. :thumbup::thumbup:

Unless there is some sort of load on the wheel-spindle it will take very little water flow to operate that wheel, but it would need to be a continuous flow (not pulsed). Any motor driving the pump would also need to be 'continuous rated', i.e. made for long term running.

The only easily available small 12v pump I can think of is a windscreen-washer pump, but that is only meant for intermittant running and it may run too fast even so. I suppose you could always run it with a resistor in circuit to slow it and extend it's running time. One way of smoothing the water flow could be to run the wheel from the overflow of a small tank.
 
Hi,Another option is have a look on Evil-Bay for a solar powered water feature pump,easily installed and no wires anywhere.
 
Another option to control the flow rate would be an adjustable by-pass that just returned some of the water straight back to the pond. Aquariums sometimes use little clamps on their hoses to restrict flow (air in their case).
 
Super modelling...darned excellent....
I know you said that you did not want to use mains electricity but if you cannot use a solar powered one due to shade etc., and decide to go down the mains route, these small pumps are great and would give you just the amount that you need and will run continuously. We use one for the cat's water fountain.

http://www1.conrad-uk.com/scripts/w...isplay=fromoutside&~cookies=1&gclid=&cookie_n < Link To http://www1.conrad-uk.com...mp;gclid=&cookie_n[1]=uk_insert&cookie_v[1]=8V&cookie_d[1]=&cookie_p[1]=%2f&cookie_e[1]=Mon%2c+23-Apr-2012+15%3a35%3a22+GMT&scrwidth=2560

If you have enough light this solar pump has it all for a nice low price......
http://www.waterfeatures2go.co.uk/180lph-value-solar-power-pond-pump-with-float-ae-0101131.html < Link To http://www.waterfeatures2...-float-ae-0101131.html
 
My feeling is that the water feed rate required will be closer to drips/min rather than litres. Over-shot wheels are very powerful compared to under-shot, and require an aweful lot less water to make them move, it wouldn't look right racing away at 6000rpm. Some load on the shaft may be required to keep the speed down.
 
I have one of these in our small pond;

http://www.hozelock.com/aquatics/pumps/fountain-and-waterfall-pumps/cascade-700.html

Very cheap to buy at your local Garden Centre, it runs on 12 V from a Plug in Brick in the shed.

It has a take off point for an accessory, such as your Water Mill. Spares and Parts easily available, including hose and extension cables. Easy to maintain and clean.

Mine has run continuously for 10 years with no problems....
 
Thanks for all the useful ideas. In fact, Iv'e used a windscreen wash motor on a previous project and it worked just fine (See photo), so I may still try that again.
The other suggestions are also appreciated. I will let you know how I get on.

Thanks again.
 
Nice little scene, that, Dave.
 
How about rigging the windsceen wiper pump up to a header tank with gavity feed to the water wheel. You could easily make a float rigged to micro switch to turn in on and off when the water level drops too low.
 
Very nice modelling. I would lean toward the small pond pump idea. Very small pumps are used in those indoor water features. The ones where water trickles over river stones or marbles. Those pumps are very small, usually about 2" square. They are quiet and meant for continuous running. Another source for a small pump would be to buy a replacement pump for a wet tile saw. They're also usually very small.
 
That's what I love about this site. so many Idea's so many solutions. when I have learned a fraction of your knowledge I feel I may be of assistance to others.

Les

Soon to build a rail road in the depths of Lincolnshire.
 
Well, it's now finished!. I decided to try it with a car windscreen washer motor from the local scrapyard - and it works just fine.

The motor can just be seen in the actual mill pool, ( underneath the rear end of the sluice runway), and the flow it creates is just enough to turn the wheel at a realistic rate. Iv'e powered it with a 6v battery, rather than a 12v, to slow it down, so it does not force too much water onto the sluice, and cause the wheel to spin too fast.
Thanks for all your comments and advice.
 
Hi Andy.
The waterwheel was a kit from an American supplier (RRStoneworks) which I picked up on one of my regular trips to Florida. The sluice divider frames and control gates for the sluice were also from the same supplier - the remainder of the waterwheel i.e. the supporting structures, the sluice run and its supporting framework were just built up from balsawood, painted with wood stain and varnished.

I still intend to do some weathering to the water wheel, as it looks too 'new' at the moment.
Building the water wheel was very straight forward, apart from fitting the centre section, and I finally discarded the plastic centre (supplied with the kit),which joined the two sides of the wheel together, in favour of a scratch-built one in balsawood - painted in several coats of marine varnish.

RRStoneworks has a wide range of various types of model kits - the only drawback I suppose, is that they are American based, so ordering from the UK becomes expensive (not a problem for me fortunately, as I order them for delivery to my U.S.A. address).
 
I have a water mill in my loft inherited from my grand father that needs rebuilding. It is not far off "G" scale- a bit bigger maybe. It not only has a wheel, but also all the wooden running gear and stones. It milled millet whatever that is. He had two ponds and a a big windmill (not really a model it was pretty big) that pumped the water between the two running the watermill. He was a bit eccentricc.
 
CoggesRailway said:
I have a water mill in my loft inherited from my grand father that needs rebuilding. It is not far off "G" scale- a bit bigger maybe. It not only has a wheel, but also all the wooden running gear and stones. It milled millet whatever that is. He had two ponds and a a big windmill (not really a model it was pretty big) that pumped the water between the two running the watermill. He was a bit eccentricc.
Click to expand...
Sounds perfectly sensible to me. :bigsmile::bigsmile:

Remind me on Wednesday, I'll show you some millet - we've got a cupboard full. :thumbup::thumbup:
 
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