2005 Dempster Windmill replacement

After 13 years of generally trusty service, it was time to replace the "Mighty 14".  This is a Dempster 14' model 12, pumping water from a 380' deep well.  It is located on a ridge above Palo Alto, California in a very windy spot--regular (daily) afternoon winds are in the mid 20's, and in the winter winds can blow over 100 mph.

The windmill was suffering from:

• Oil leaks (oil everywhere)
• Worn out tail pin (tail was sagging)
• Cracked tail pieces
• No brake
• Tower in need of overhaul
• Not square on main rotating bearing (so it didn't change direction freely)
• Worn key pin, causing main shaft to "jump" heartily on every rotation of the fan
• Worn out main bearing (fan loose)
• Concrete pad in bad shape
• Overgrown by coyote brush

Tom Anderson, from Diamond Crane & California Windmill, was the master of this replacement:

Here's how it went:

Yes, it really is before dawn.  Got an early start to a big job.

An early morning start to plucking the old machine.  Note the sorry looking state of the fan.  Actually, that's  not rust--just oil and dirt, and it washed off with a pressure washer.

There's me, looking happy to have the old machine off the tower.

Note the nasty oil stains, and cracks around bolt holes in the tail.

After soaking the tower in degreaser, we had a bit of a scare when the pressure washer refused to build pressure, but after some encouragement we got it going and Tom went wild on the tower.  It came out looking much better.

A little touch up on the pump.  Note the old concrete pad - pitted and not sloped correctly.  Fortunately it had a riser for the pump jack so it was easy to just poor a new pad over the current one.

The new pad - 2 cu. yards. of concrete and we made a proper pad.  Enlarged on the ladder side so weeds won't obscure the ladder as well.

That was it for Day 1.  We went to Alice's, had a dinner that couldn't be beat, and got up the next morning to put up the new machine. 

As a whim, I'd asked Tom to paint the fan blades, which look sharp!

Here's the assembly:

The engine alone, and with storm post and tail attached.  We reused the old tail sheet metal on a new tailbone--everything else came with the new machine.

First, the fan struts

The fan goes on easy at the beginning, but the last piece takes some wrestling...

Some final tuning and lubing on the gears.

And it's a new machine!  Juneau gets up from his nap to pose with the machine...

Up on the tower waiting for the windmill to get put there...

The final machine, standing tall and proud!