Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Cylinder pump leathers.... how long do they last? Do they wear out due to use, age, hardness of water, a combination of all?

Just curious. My well is 3 years old now and I only occasionally to rarely pump, so curious if utilization prolongs life, or if age gets 'em no matter what.

One thing I was told would wear leathers is if there is any sand in the water or some other kind of abrasive.

I will share what has happen in the last thirty plus close to forty years of running windmills on my little operation. We have four windmills that set on wells. Because of changes in our operation and ponds being put in we are down to one mill running six months a year and one more running six months a year in a dry year. All four I have pulled at least once and put leathers in and the one that gets run every year had a rod rust off at a connector about ten years ago so it got a new set of leathers in it when we pulled it. The condition of our water vary's a bunch on my windmill wells. I am sure there is a time frame for changing them out but when I did mine the pump just wasn't pumping enough water to keep up with the demand.

We change some once a year. We change others once in 5 years. Depends on the well, the water, and the sand. Lots of variables.

Worse than sand, is water from a coal seam.

All things being equal here is my call on longest lasting to shortest of cylinder type:

1 7/8 449B
2 1/4 449B
any size 442

Water quality is probably the most important factor. I had to deepen a set in a granite formation when the water table changed. I asked the rancher when it was releathered as he owned the place for 12 years. He replied, what is that? It was a used cylinder when installed and had never been releathered since he bought the place.

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO