Hydro Power 4

Just came out the warm end of a full week of freezing temperatures. Today was the first that the temperature was above freezing for 24 hours.

The neighbors lost their water last Monday. Apparently, running my little electric plant and keeping the water flowing at full volume kept me from having freeze issues. Every year until this one, I had some kind of a failure in cold weather, in spite of running the water at the taps in the house. Nothing like wide-open delivery to keep things liquid.

Of course, this means that there is a lot of water to get rid of, and a lot of ice that can build up. Witness the iceburg that the hydro plant manufactured during the freeze:

The spray of water exiting the wheel built a kind of ice dome around the exterior of the housing, while the inside was completely open. I almost busted my butt a couple of times approaching the area to shut the plant down for showering, it was pretty slick all around.

Of course, having a proper enclosure for the plant and a spillway to conduct the water away from the vicinity would make sense, but I keep thinking I'll move it down to the lower garden and add a nozzle or two. Besides, old bricks and 2x4's are much less effort to construct.