Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Clint L. Novak wrote:

> Hey Bill, how about some pictures or diagrams of the water pump for
> those of us untutored in ad hoc mechanics.
> I understand the concept, but my brain refuses to put it all together.
>
> Clint 
>  
We took a picture of it with the digital camera last week, but I don't 
think the List accepts images.  I'll try to get someone to post it at my 
website ASAP (I'm all thumbs when it comes to that too).

You can find some material on-line about it.  Sometimes it's called a 
positive pressure pump, or a Stauffer pump.  The only people talking 
about it are at Bowjon International (makers of windmills), but their 
web pages are less informative than commercially persuasive.  It's all 
such a secret, but I think their pump may be self-controlling; you just 
hook up the air tube (although also $400 with purchase of a windmill, 
$800 without).  We sized up going their route and it still comes to much 
more $$$.  Apparently the Stauffer pump gets stuck in the middle of a 
cycle if the air runs out, so you need your own "receiver tank" to store 
enough air for one cycle.

When our circuit is actually soldered together in its final form, I'll 
post a circuit diagram for that at the website, too.  It's two 
transistors, three relays, one diode, one capacitor, and a few resistors.

Bill
S. Oregon coast