Pond Aeration Windmill Installation Tips
Assembly and Installation Tips for Superior Windmill Customers
After assembling and erecting a number of Superior Windmills I have learned some helpful tips that will help your experience go a little smoother.
First and most important: Follow directions under "Caution" on page one of your Superior Windmill Aeration instruction manual. Always practice safe work methods, wear proper eye protection and use common sense. If you choose to follow the suggestions listed below, they may be followed in addition to, but not in place of, the instruction manual included with your Superior Windmill.
1. When unpacking your order, take the time to check the contents against the packing slip. Also, lay out all the parts, keeping alike parts together. This will make the whole assembling process go much smoother.
2. You will find 2 tail arms (item 9) for your windmill. At first glance they look like tower legs (S 2) that have been bent. Do NOT take a hammer to them to straighten them! Yes, at least one person has done this. No, it was not I.
3. When assembling the windmill fan assembly it is much easier to work standing up rather than bent over. If you have a garage or a building with unfinished inside walls your in luck. If your building has 4x4 or larger upright posts you're even luckier. Now, if you have access to a piece of iron pipe (not lightweight tubing) that is the same size as the pump shaft (or slightly smaller) and is about 1½ feet long, today is your lucky day! (you should go buy a lottery ticket right now)
Pick a spot where there is plenty of room to work. About chest height, drill a hole the size of your pipe into the post approximately 3 inches. Drill at a slight downward angle to keep the pipe from easily falling out once you start assembling. Slip the hub onto this temporary shaft and start assembling the fan as per your instruction manual. Your back will thank you.
If you have an unfinished wall of 2x4 construction you can temporarily clamp or screw on another piece of 2x4 about 16 inches long and drill the hole in that area. Do Not try this in the edge of a single 2x4! Once you start assembling the windmill fan, that single 2x4 will split out the side and you will damage the whole assembly.
One customer told me that he drilled a hole in a tree and assembled the fan in his front yard. I thought he was joking. He was not! No, I don't recommend this.
4. Superior Windmill strongly recommends that the tower be mounted on concrete anchors. In order to determine the spacing of the concrete piles you can do one of two things. First, assemble the complete windmill to determine the needed spacing, or second, assemble the bottom section first. If you choose the latter the concrete in the piles can be drying while you are working on the rest of the windmill. Assemble this section per the instructions, tightening the bolts enough to get an accurate reading for the concrete piles. However, after doing this, slightly loosen all the bolts you have just tightened. They will need to be loose when the rest of the windmill tower is attached. Now go back and start assembling your windmill in the order of the instruction manual.
Important note: Placement of the concrete tubes is very important. Placement of the ground stakes in the concrete is critical! Measure carefully and recheck. If you use 6" or 8" tubes you will have plenty of leeway when installing the ground stakes, the stakes don't need to be exactly in the center of the tubes. Due to different tower heights and possible future design changes it is best that each tower be measured and anchors placed accordingly. Once the windmill tower bolts and cross bar supports are tightened down, the assembled unit is very ridged and cannot be flexed to fit incorrectly installed ground stakes.
5. While we are on the subject of anchors and piles there are a couple more ideas that I want to mention.
When you are laying out the placement of the holes for the concrete, picture where the windmill will be lying on its side prior to standing. Don't just go poke 3 holes in the ground, so many inches apart and expect everything to be fine. If you have no fences, bushes, small buildings etc and are working on open flat ground, then you will probably be ok, but if you are working around any obstacles at all, a little planning is required.
After you have the placement laid out and the three concrete tubes at least 42 inches in the ground (or according to building codes in your area) and level with each other, it's time to fill the tubes with concrete. While filling the tubes slide in the ground stake (anchor stake) making sure that you leave 5 to 6 inches of stake protruding above the top of the concrete tubes. You will need 3½ inches of stake to mount the clamps and some extra to adjust incase of settling.
6. When the entire windmill aeration tower is assembled and its time to tighten all the bolts it is best to use some kind of system rather than random tightening. I tighten in 3 steps: slightly tighter than finger tight during the initial assembling: just snug the second time: and finish the process the third time around. Also during each step try to proceeded in sections, either one-tower section at a time or one whole side of the tower. There are a lot of nuts and bolts to tighten on these windmills. If you don't follow a predetermined pattern it is very easy to miss a bolt here and there.
7. After you slide the compressor / fan assembly onto the top of the completed windmill aeration tower it is time to check air connections for leaks. With the windmill fan attached to the compressor shaft slowly turn the fan and you will hear the rubber diaphragm inside make a groaning sound. Do not be alarmed: this is the sound of your windmill aeration system coming to life and this is good. Now hold your thumb on the air connector on the bottom of the pivot post to block any air from escaping and listen for leaks. You will hear them easily, so there is no need to turn the fan very fast. Leaks because of a loose fitting can easily be fixed right now but is a lot more difficult after the windmill is raised into position, especially if you don't have a 24 ft ladder.
8. Make sure the air line coupler is attached to the pivot post, the dome is bolted to the front of the fan, the windmill fan assembly (both bolts) tightened, and don't forget to grease the pivot post. All of these require a ladder after the mill is standing.
I hope the suggestions listed above have been helpful and not confusing. These lessons have all been learned the hard way and originate from customers and also myself. Have a great time with your Superior Windmill it will be an enjoyable experience.
Have a Windy Day,
Terry Miller
Windmill Aeration
© 2006 Superior Windmill
Pond Aeration
