Our windmill annually generates around 8,000 kilowatt hours of electricity that we use here on the farm. It does need periodic maintenance. Most recently it was time to replace the special urethane tape that protects the leading edge of the blades. In the heavy wind, rain, hail, ice and snow those blades take a beating! The blades are made of pultruded fiberglass. When the urethane tape wears off, the fiberglass starts to wear away. It begins to look like termites have been chewing on them.
The 160 foot tall windmill tower can be tilted down. When the tower goes down, the gin pole goes
up. We pull on the gin pole using a 7:1
ratio block and tackle. It takes about 5
tons of force to raise the windmill again. Hence the need for the block and tackle. Our farm tractor could never pull 5 tons of force. Using the block and tackle we only need to
pull about 1,400 pounds of force.
Lowering the windmill
Almost all the way down
Putting new urethane tape on the blades