. The low-pressure cylinder was in diameter and has a stroke. Three engines with a fourth on standby could pump water at a rate of per day, whilst the boilers consumed 8.5 tons of coal per day. A mechanical efficiency of 90% was claimed, the diameter pump bucket, strike and plunger diameter of gave a pump output of per stroke. They ran until 1949, when two engines from the north engine house were replaced by electric pumps. In 1950 automatic shutdown equipment was installed to prevent damage in the event of a burst main or overloading of the new electric pumps. This meant that it was no longer essential to have staff on site 24 hours a day. The decorative chimney was shortened in the 1960s. In 2014 new split-case vertical pumps and various other new equipment was installed to replace those installed in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1984 it was decided to preserve the two remaining engines and incorporate them as the central feature in the Visitor Centre, including a museum in the old boiler house, which opened in 1988 and attracts over 30,000 visitors a year. The flywheel is now driven by an electric motor. The pumping station is now a Grade II* listed building, while the Gothic-style meter house is Grade II listed and used as a bat sanctuary. Fishing Blagdon Lake first opened as a trout fishery in 1904. The lake is well known for trout fishing from its banks and the fleet of 18 rowing boats for hire. The suction tanks which originally supplied water to the steam boilers for the pumping engines are now used as rearing pools for the fish before they are transferred into the lake. On average 50,000 trout are reared at Blagdon each year by Bristol Water to stock this and surrounding lakes such as Chew Valley Lake and the Barrow Tanks. Ecology Blagdon Lake is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) of , created in 1971, largely because of the variety of species and habitats. The area around the pumping station was laid out as an ornamental woodland which includes Scots pine, Cedar, Larch, Spruce, Oak, Beech, Chestnut, Willow, Lime, Holly and Maple. A variety of orchids including green-winged orchid (Anacamptis morio) and southern marsh-orchids can be seen on the borders of the lake. A variety of water birds can be seen around the lake including: