The Portland daily press., 1900-03-07
WATER TANKS.
How tn Prevent FreexIng-Kecp tire
wiudmiII working.


In regard to the freezing Of windmill
water tanks Pennsylvania corre-
spondent OF Rural New Yorker main
tains that there will be no trouble in
the very coolest weather, providing
the tank has some little capacity and
is kept well supplied with water He
says: / have two tanks In my windmill
derrick, one above the other, 20 and 40
barrel capacity. and in many years use
l have never been troubled as far as
freezing is concerned. Last February
we had the coolest weather ever ex-
perienced here-40 below zero-and the
tanks kept open. I believe the theory
Of the nonfreezlng Is that II the water
In the tank Is frozen over when water
is drawn n space ,of warmer air Is
formed than the outside temperature;
then, when you set the windmill to
work. the temperature of the freshly
pumped water Is such as soon to thaw
out the ice covering.
A New York farmer contributes his
epinIon as follows in the same Journal:
have had considerable experience
with water tanks, as / now have two
mills running on my farm. The first
was put up In the fall OF 1879 and Is
doing as good work today as 1t did the
day it started. This mill was put up
for the purpose of furnishing water for
my winter stock and also to supply the
wants of my house from cellar to the
second floor of the house. OF course
my storage tank would have to be ele-
waited higher than the second floor in
order to give sufficient pressure. l
placed 40 barrel tank In the top of
my barn and pumped all water into
this. using only one pipe to do this
work, as a check valve Is near the
pump In the well, and ball faucets In
the drinking tanks used about the barn.
So you can readily see that all water
goes directly from the well to the tank
In the top of the barn, excepting when
a pailful is drawn at the house while
the mill is pumping, as in that case 1t
would discharge at the lowest level.
In that early day Of wlndmllls l fear
ed that the tank would freeze. and,
thinking an ounce of prevention was
worth a pound of cure, l packed the
bottom of the tank at least one foot
high with sawdust and wound the re-
mainder with the best felt paper. The
result was that my tank did not freeze,
but began to leak in three years time,
30 much so that replaced 1t with n
60 barre, tank without any protection
whatever and have had no trouble from
freezing. The secret of its not freez-
ing Is pumping directly from the well
into the tank, causing agitation and a
constant change of the water. The
cause of the first tank decaying was
the dampness confined just enough to
cause mold. and not enough air could
get in to dry it out.
The greatest danger with freezing
would be In the pipes from the pump to
the tank. OF course a certain amount
of pipe must need protection. The wa
ter will stand still in all probability in
the coolest of weather, as in many In
stances there will be a dead calm at
this time. / have been very successful
In this also, never being troubled In the
least with any Of my piping after the
ulSl iibb put my PipNS uo"h
according to direction four feet deep.
They caught and stopped short time.
/ took them all up and lowered them
all five feet, and from the ground up
through the barn to the tank | first
made n tin casing around the pipe,
making an air space from the ground
to the tank. Then / wound the out
side OF this tin casing with building
paper several thicknesses. After this
being thoroughly done l packed with
dry sawdust at least six inches all
around the pipe In a box for this pur-
pose.
All this great convenience needs now
Is to throw the wheel Into the wind
and keep the supply of water good.
or course l look it over every fall to
see that all is in proper shape with
the sawdust, as that will settle little
every year. Filling in at the top keeps
all right.