23 August 2018

Gough's Orchard Feed

Reported earlier this week, was the activities to try and improve the performance of Bowbridge spill weir, which seems to be partially blocked.

Following that, to test the system, it is necessary to firstly, get the canal full and water flowing over the spill weir.  Recent boat movements have left both the Bowbridge & Griffin Mill pounds low on water.

At 08:00 this morning, the syphon feed was started.  It takes some 30 minutes to reach full flow.  Operation continued all day, but the level in Griffin Mill pound had not reached the top of the spill weir by late afternoon, so the decision was taken to leave it running overnight and levels will be checked first thing tomorrow morning.
The ball at the float switch, which stops the air pump

A large overhanging sycamore tree that completely blocked the light to the solar panel had been removed, a bit improvement.  We washed the surface of the panel which was a bit grimy.  There is a huge ash tree on the opposite bank which would make a great difference to the received light, if that was removed. (hint!)
The flow over Ham Mill stop planks was most impressive.  An attempt to measure the actual volume was made, the numbers remain to be crunched.  

If enough energy has been captured, we hope to see the syphon still in  operation tomorrow.
Sight and sound