It’s easier to shut down the wheel since The Man of the House put in a new gate system. We won’t be producing any power for a couple of days but the batteries can cope with normal house demand, we just can’t charge the car.
Once the old race has been ripped out, the supports need to be replaced.
Then the new components fitted in and screwed to the supporting structure and all the joins sealed.
Thank goodness for cordless tools.
After weeks of welding, grinding, cutting and joining up in the shed and at least 2 full days of construction down at the stream, we have a tidier water race, no leaks and are producing more power than ever. Now we just have to take all the old plywood and timber back out and open the gate.
Dream on Farm 
Well at least you shouldn’t have to worry about any power outages this winter with the update!! We’ve just been back to Warakurna for 2 weeks relief managing & had the power out 3 times!! Thank goodness we had a backup generator for the roadhouse & staff houses, so we at least didn’t have to suffer through the heat!!
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I thought you must have been Pete. What was the power problem? Is it just an isolation issue?
We may still have the odd outage over winter. If the stream gets very high it stops the wheel turning. And the fire will keep us warm.
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No we had the power people out & they still can’t work it out!! Only one of the generators cuts out which services the Giles side of town (where the roadhouse is) while the other services Warakurna proper! Some were trying to say it was dirty fuel but the other generator uses the same fuel, so it still goes on!! Was great to catch up with everyone up there & they all seemed pleased to see us!! The road in this time was quite bad in parts (between Laverton & Tjukirjirla R/H), but, on the plus side they have sealed another 60kms!! (from the Ngaanyatjarraku Shire Border back towards Tjurkirjirla R/H) They had even sealed “the sandpit” at the WA/NT Border where quite often you couldn’t even tell where the road was!! We hope to do more relief work in the future at both roadhouses & stores!! Your so lucky to have someone so handy around the place Wendy!! Wish I was a bit more like that…… I can’t even hammer a nail straight!!!
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Me too Pete. We wouldn’t be here if Ross wasn’t so handy. Why don’t your isolated communities have solar power? It’s pretty efficient nowadays, getting much cheaper and when it’s up, free to run. Gets a lot of bad press.
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If only it were that easy Wendy!! Problem is that you would have to put it a long way from the community & even then have a fence around it as the kids are great at breaking anything they can with rocks (car windows, house windows….. but are now Perspex!! As well as street lights & transformers on poles!! I too though it would be the way to go!! Problem is there is no consequence to their actions!! I know when we were running Mt Eb in the territory & it was only the roadhouse, it cost us $180000 a year in diesel just for generators!! Solar would have been way cheaper long term!!
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That’s a shame Pete. It’s hard to break the cycle and progress in some of those small communities. And everyone thinks about the initial outlay and not the long term savings for alternatives. The other day when I was charging the car in town a guy from Perth came and had a chat. Never seen an electric car, he was fascinated. Even took photos. I did my best to convert him but seems evs aren’t the thing in oz.
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Your right it is quite sad Wendy!! There is also the possibility of wind out there as Central Australia really is a windy spot!! Alice Springs is a solar town & draws a lot of it electricity from it!! How funny the bloke hadn’t seen an ev!! They are around over here, just not as plentiful as NZ!! There seem to be more & more charge points over here but you still have the problem of distance here, better for the cities here!!
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A job well done!!
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