At full power the wheel uses 2 tons (2 tonnes) of water per second and rotates five times a minute. The water wheel drives a flexible coupling to a pit wheel with a diameter of , which has 408 (204 pairs) hand-fitted wooden teeth that mesh with a cast iron gear, increasing the speed to 16 rpm. From there, cranks drive vertical connecting rods that transfer the energy to two long cast iron rocking beams made by Boulton and Watt. Each rocking beam drives an diameter lift pump, which also takes its supply from the mill leat. Each pump stroke raises 50 imperial gallons (230 litres) of water to the canal via of diameter cast iron pipe. With the sluice fully depressed the flow is 73 ft³/s and due to the build-up of spent water in the tailrace the working head is reduced to giving a potential power of 34¾ hp. The output power, calculated from the water lifted into the canal per minute, is 24 hp representing an efficiency of 62%.