Enthusiastic Windmill Owner Turns Salesman
By Virginia Kropf
Daily News Staff Writer
ALBION - After retiring from his job as a driver for United Parcel Service in Batavia, Terry Miller has embarked on a new venture - one he discovered quite by accident.
Miller has become the northeast U.S. sales representative for a Canadian windmill company.
"These are not to be confused with the power generating kind," Miller said. "Our windmills help clean up ponds plagued with algae through aeration provided by harnessing wind power."
Miller's experience with ponds began 16 years ago on the farm where his grandparents used to live.
"The bulldozer was already on our property burying the old barn foundation when I decided to have the pond dug." Miller said. "Buy the next day we had a half acre whole in the ground behind our house and garage. Little did I know what problems lay in our future."
By the second year, filament algae began to form on the surface in mid June.
"I raked it out by hand twice," Miller said. "The next spring I added grass carp and largemouth bass, along with some fathead minnows. After work and on weekends, much of my time was spent raking algae from the pond."
As the algae got worse Miller tried treating the pond with several solutions over the next few years. Sometimes, within just a few days, the open surface would turn into a green and brown hairy mat. He would spray the pond and the algae would sink to the bottom and the cycle kept repeating itself.
"By then I was wishing the pond had never been dug," Miller said.
Although they had lots of wildlife in their back yard, the perfect pond he and his wife Gina had dreamed of had turned into a huge liability.
The hard winter of 2001 - 02, when the pond was snow covered from November though early spring, was the final straw. When the ice cleared , every fish in his pond was floating on the surface. That summer Miller restocked the pond and continued spraying, raking and cursing, he said.
During last summer's hot weather, Miller realized something was obviously changing in his pond. The filament algae continued along with a fine red dusty substance on the surface.
"We had the algae tested and to our and the biologist's surprise, we discovered the blue - green algae was that called red blooming and very toxic," Miller said. "Shapeless blobs of black, green and red floated to the surface. Our pond resembled a cesspool."
Miller was in a quandary. Weeks of research, many appointments with experts and dozens of phone calls led to one answer, "aeration."
The simple act of very fine air bubbles flowing up from the bottom of the pond would add oxygen, which cleanses the water of undesirable nutrients and chemicals, and circulates the water and detoxifies the bottom layer of black muck, Miller said
However, Miller decided the operation and maintenance costs made electric aeration out of the question. Fountains were pretty, but only aerated the top few inches of water and were expensive to operate.
"After serious investigation, I discovered wind aeration and Superior Windmill," Miller said.
He learned farmers out west use this system to keep ponds clean so cattle can drink out of them.
Last summer, Miller purchased a Turbo Jetstream model, recommended for ponds the size of his.
"The surface of the pond cleared in just a few days," Miller said. "Within weeks, frogs started returning to the water and insects reappeared, along with birds in and along the water's edge."
By the end of the summer, the pond bottom was clearing, and by mid fall, healthy plant life had returned.
That was when Miller decided to become a dealer for the windmills.
Installation is relatively easy, he said. Two non-mechanically inclined individuals can build and install the 20 foot windmill in eight hours. Miller works through a local contractor Tom Snyder to put up the windmills for those who don't want to do it themselves.
"It's like a big erector set," Miller said. "It looks good, does a good job and it's environmentally friendly. What's not to like about it?"
Superior windmills come with a freeze control accessory for climates where water freezes in the winter. The alcohol used is safe for fish and plant life.
Miller is scheduled to give a pond seminar in September at Godfrey's Pond. Anyone wishing more information on Superior Windmills may call him at 585-682-3256
Check out our incredible deals on our
Superior Windmill Aeration Systems.
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