mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 21/2/11 at 09:36 AM |
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Just bridge them meter like them chavs do
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 21/2/11 at 10:45 AM |
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Thank you karlak I'm sure you are right but I'm looking to do this the Locost way and want to make as much as I can. If I could find plans
for an easy to make turbine I'd certainly have a go at it rather than a water wheel. There is not a huge fall on the stream as it flows through
our land so arranging for a sufficient drop might be a problem for a turbine.
Another problem is that I do have my next car project to do and I'm quite anxious to make a start on that so, as Disraeli or was it Gladstone,
who said, "So much to do and so little time to do it".
The up side is that I'm never bored.
John
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tegwin
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| posted on 21/2/11 at 10:57 AM |
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I am actually doing a univeristy project on water power... Building a small scale microturbine to demonstrate the principles..
If you have a low head but sufficient flow rate then something like a Kaplan (axial for very low head or impulse for more head) turbine would be your
best bet.
You should be able to build one out of "simple" materials.... Bits of toilet soil pipe, ducting etc... if you look around you should be
able to find something pre-made to use as the actual turbine wheel... Be it an old centrefugal fan or something...
I wish I had a stream suitable for this sort of thing, the possibilities are pretty endless!
Another thought.... you could use a water wheel (nice and slow rotation) to directly drive a refrigeration compressor.... Build that into an
air/ground source heatpump assembly and then that would create all the heat/hot water you could need... An Airsource heatpump is an extremly simple
concept, just need to understand how a fridge works, and then build something that works the other way around.
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Would the last person who leaves the country please switch off the lights and close the door!
www.verticalhorizonsmedia.tv
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hughpinder
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| posted on 21/2/11 at 11:47 AM |
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This is one of the best sites for all this sort of stuff (linked to hydro, but the site has links to off grid, batteres etc).
The best battery source if from forklift trucks, but dont expect to pick them up cheap!
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_hydro.html
I looked at generating my own power,(4 or 5 years ago now), I was using 20kWh/day, and the batteries for 3 days autonomy (because I was looking at
wind power) was about 30K - and they don't last forever. I would have needed to have a generator too so I could run my welder, and also for when
there is no wind for more than 3 days. If your water supply is good, you will not need much storage - just enough to cope with peak use. You may even
avoid this amount of batteries if you haev an auto run genny that kicks in if your batterys are down to (say)30%. In the end, I changed all the bulb
inside to low energy, replaced the fridge and freezer that were bot 15 years old, changed outside floodlights to metal halides and a few other cheap
changes, and got the average kwh down to 15/day, which was the cheapest thing to do.
The first think to do is measure how many kwh/day you use.
The do everything possible to reduce this: The cost of battery storage is truly horrendeous:
Conside creating a drying cupboard/room rather than a tumble driers etc.
Anyway, the otherpower website will tell you as much as you want to know!
Regards
Hugh
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paulf
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| posted on 21/2/11 at 01:38 PM |
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I keep thinking about making a combined heat and power unit, a small diesel engine such as a kubota digger engine or a small Peugeot or Vw engine
driving a 10 or 15 kw alternator and set up to run only when heating or hot water is required .
The thing to do though would be to get connected onto a feed in tariff so as to be able to sell the electricity to the grid at a higher rate.The main
snag would be to get the feed in tariff you need to have a set up installed by an approved installer, maybe you could get the smallest possible solar
cell install and feed in the spare electricity using the meter etc for that.
Paul
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MikeR
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| posted on 21/2/11 at 01:57 PM |
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Always interested in this sort of thing & wish you the very best of luck, please keep us all posted.
As for water power, a friends family own an old mill which they converted. One of the things in the deeds is the 'right' to water 363 days
a year from the stream that runs past their garden. This is fed from a reservoir at the top of the hill. (you don't get water on Christmas day
and Easter day). Suspect as they have something in their deeds you'll need to be very careful how you get the water power.
They keep looking into it but the last time they looked 10 years ago it wasn't cost effective. It probably is now - but they're too old to
bother with it.
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twybrow
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| posted on 21/2/11 at 02:37 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett
Stung by the hike in electricity prices, I've decided to have a go at making a water wheel generator.
There is a great depth of knowledge on this site and I'd be glad if anyone who has experience in using deep cycle batteries, 12 to 240 Volt
inverters to power a house or to help with the electricity demand, I'd be pleased to hear from you.
We have the stream and I should be able to make a leat, launder and overshot wheel without too much difficulty. The help I'm looking for is in
gearing of the alternator, battery capacity and size of inverter and anything else I've not mentioned through not fully understanding the whole
job.
I look forward to your replies.
John
almost guaranteed you will be breaking the law.... you cant 'extract' water without the Environment Agency license. even if the water goes
back into the stream afterwards, it is not allowed. You can use 20m3 per day without a license, but that is only 13.9l/min, which wont go that far to
powering a generator!
check out The Environment Agency for more info....
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Ninehigh
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| posted on 22/2/11 at 11:38 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett
Stung by the hike in electricity prices, I've decided to have a go at making a water wheel generator.
There is a great depth of knowledge on this site and I'd be glad if anyone who has experience in using deep cycle batteries, 12 to 240 Volt
inverters to power a house or to help with the electricity demand, I'd be pleased to hear from you.
We have the stream and I should be able to make a leat, launder and overshot wheel without too much difficulty. The help I'm looking for is in
gearing of the alternator, battery capacity and size of inverter and anything else I've not mentioned through not fully understanding the whole
job.
I look forward to your replies.
John
almost guaranteed you will be breaking the law.... you cant 'extract' water without the Environment Agency license. even if the water goes
back into the stream afterwards, it is not allowed. You can use 20m3 per day without a license, but that is only 13.9l/min, which wont go that far to
powering a generator!
check out The Environment Agency for more info....
Surely the amount of water being extracted would be a bit of spray off the wheel?
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dhutch
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| posted on 22/2/11 at 12:55 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
I think BT has the right approach, the less you convert the energy teh less you loose. So leaving it as 12v dc is probably best.
There are
losses in conversion, but as i understand it a decent 240vac inverter is around 90% effecient, an amount you could easly loosing transmission (voltage
drop) piping the low voltage 12vdc around.
Daniel
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dhutch
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| posted on 23/2/11 at 12:50 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by hughpinderThe first think to do is measure how many kwh/day you use.
The do everything possible to reduce this: The cost of battery storage is truly horrendeous:
Reducing demand has always got to be a good shout, but assuming your not actaully planning a remote off-grid application than surely the best option
is to use said grid as a buffer.
Daniel
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