Micro hydro part 4-750watts- Off grid day 44
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- čas přidán 28. 05. 2024
- In this video, I provide an update on my off-grid micro hydro system now that I've got it running stably with proper batteries and an inverter. I walk through the different components - the intakes, pipelines, turbine, and inverter room - discussing what's working well and areas for improvement in version 2.
Despite using two intakes to avoid draining the streams, very fine silt is still getting through and clogging the nozzles over time. For version 2, I plan to use a larger 90mm single pipeline running from a settlement tank to allow the silt to settle out before reaching the turbine.
I also cover some of the common questions and suggestions from viewers, like using cander screens as filters and going with a larger pipe diameter to reduce friction losses. While cander screens may not solve the silt issue for me, I do plan to upgrade to a bigger pipeline.
The system is currently putting out a reliable 750 watts continuously, which is more than enough for my needs right now. I'll be doing a separate video to go through the impressive inverter setup in more detail.
Overall, a good overview of lessons learned so far and the plan for optimizing this micro hydro system in version 2.
Turbine-www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204150087055
Nozzles-www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203268369118
AC/DC rectifier-www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386262523602
Pipe-plantexuk.com/collections/mdp...
Waterproofing-www.screwfix.com/p/mapei-aqua...
Website-www.offgridscotland.co.uk/
Facebook- / offgridscotland
Instagram- / offgridscotland123
00:00 Intro
00:46 What is micro hydro
02:30 Our specs
03:48 The inlets
10:03 The pipes
13:22 Our plans version 2
18:28 The turbine
23:29 The cable
24:55 The inverter
28:39 Outro - Jak na to + styl
Congratulations on the birth of your second child. That's certainly exciting!
thanks! Really pleased everything went smoothly with the delivery
@@offgridscotland it's always a bit nerve-wracking. We've got eight children ourselves. It's amazing what women can handle to bring life. Don't blink.... Those babies will be all grown up. Enjoy every minute!
Thanks! 8 wow I feel maxed out with 2@@Building_Bluebird
@@offgridscotland having 3 is the most difficult, but beyond 3 the older ones start helping with the littler ones. Having kids is definitely both rewarding and challenging.
@@Building_Bluebirdthere's an attitude shift after 3, that helps too.
Whilst a lot of people are offering suggestions for theoretical improvements, the bottom line is that you are consistently generating more power than you need. Your problem is reducing the required maintenance, not increasing the power generation. I am not saying that the improvements won't work, just questioning if they are necessary.
Having said that, assuming that you installed you penstock to gather silt which should reduce you main problem. Could the penstock also act as your manifold by just running two pipes of equal length from that to the turbine? You could possibly reuse the existing pipe and reassess you ongonig needs from there.
Finally, I am pleased that you are prioritising minimising the environmental impact and frugality over unnecessary power generation.
I hadn't thought of that as an option although it sounds like an obvious next step. I think I was jumping ahead and that way I can reuse the pipe I already have
Did you need any planning permission want to do similar in Argyll
Yes, we have planning already for a house but we are working on getting it amended as we want to change the design@@derekneill
@@offgridscotlandgreat idea cos if you can slow the flow down the silt will drop of of the water and sink to the bottom of the penstock. Silt drops at about @.6m per second. So I would make the penstock tall the take your turbine feed taller then the bottom of the penstock.
@@offgridscotlandDon't forget to put a big valved outlet at the bottom of your penstock to dump the silt out occasionally.
Re the silt issue - dirty water.
Where your inlet is, the water headed down the pipe is in a turbulent area
hence you get the silt being picked up.
If you dig a large pit on the side of the stream, like a capital "D" so
that the main flow goes past the hole. Capture the water on the side away
from the flow - it shouldn't have such a large amount of silt.
Worst case its just some digging.
Maybe also line the new water pit with something and then flat stones to keep it in place.
also a very good suggestion
hat's a great idea and its free to try which is a massive bonus
Be careful reaching across the generator top with your jacket sleeve... going to be a broken arm if it grabs your jacket!
100%, came here to say the same thing, take care
thanks, I have heard it snag once or twice on my jacket so I will keep it in mind next time. Don't want to do a video about broken fingers
@@offgridscotlandrotating machinery causes horrendous injuries, cage the beast so it can't bite you!
Welcome back and many congrats on your new arrival!
Thanks Peter
Congratulations on the new addition to the family, you really have jumped into the deep end with all that is going on. For what it is worth i think your approach is the best way, yes there will be serveral incarnations of a number of projects, that being said less chance of wasting money but also a better understanding of how things work etc as you go along due to the fact you have quite a number of projects on the go.👍
Thanks I do feel like I have to get each thing working to a basic level and then come back to it in the future as there is loads to get together here
you talking about a septic like system to separate solids and liquids, you can do it with a rain barrel with a vertical divider in the middle with a gap in the middle, water goes in one side of the divider, soil settles, only water rises, exits out the other side of the divider, you would put it as close to source as possible. you can put a drain on the bottom of the barrel to clean out the soil when needed.
Great idea.
excellent idea. Hadn't thought of septic tank systems but they have to deal with lots of 'matter' to filter so they should do a great job with our water
@@offgridscotland yep, and since you don't have to deal with gasses etc, a barrel that will allow the soil to settle before letting the water out should work , even a trash can could work if the walls are good enough to hold the amount of water
I think this sounds like the solution I will use as its perfect for the job@@rkeantube
Congratulations on the latest addition Rob👌 What I really enjoy watching with your vids and is your ability to explain in lay man’s terms. This is one area that im a novice in. Keep up the great work 👍
Thanks! I don't fully understand it myself so I just explain it how I figured it out
WELL DONE 👏 ✔️ 👍 All the very best .
My husband is following you. We also live in Scotland and we are learning from you.
Congratulations 🎊 keep your good work 👏 🙌
Thank you very much! We love living here and the people are so resourceful
@@offgridscotlandthere's a CZcams channel called _Kris Harbour Natural Building_ that's also done a micro-hydro setup which you'll probably find interesting. (He made his own Coandă screen).
Congratulations buddy !! Send my best to mum. Keep up the good work!! Thanks for doing what you’re doing
Thank you Neil I will pass it on
The first ever house powered by electricity (Cragside in Northumberland) used hydroelectric, it's definitely the way to go!
Was it really? Thats amazing
750w is an amazing amount of power so well done. Chasing small things to improve your system I totally understand as I've been doing this since I first put mine in and it can become a bit of an obsession. If anything work on the intake as I have found this is the most important part and the most most likely to give problems. I get the same jet blocking your talking about and need to open the jet to clear it. mine is not silt it's fine grit/sand and I find if the jet is open at least 4 full turns then it's fine everything passes through no problem. I use a filter in the stream before the water hits the intake and this helps. Fixed jets would solve the problem but you lose the flow control which like myself you need as the stream water changes over the year.
I looked at coanda screen but found it to be to expensive for what it is.
Good to see it all coming together and congratulations on your new born.
Thank you very much. The nozzles seem to get a lot of hate from people but I also really like them as I can just clear them by opening them up like you said or turn it down to a slow spin if I want it running but not generating for what ever reason
You just walking up and down that hill brings me out in a sweat...😆
After all the teething problems..which were a certainty ... you have a good little system.
Thanks Its doing really well ar the moment
Congratulations to both of you
Thank you very much
Just paused it quickly, Amazing what you have done your ✊ the top filters are ace they work that’s that the silt collection chamber ace idea.
The merry go round thing I think if one pressure is slower than the the in my head will sort of grab on longer as in slower contact which may slow it over all.
But it works amazing so don’t worry is my thoughts,also getting it from two places I reckon way better idea too just taking a touch of each brilliant idea.
Watch some more in a bit thanks Sam.
Thanks Sam I am glad you like what we have done so far!
Great work. We've got about 75 l/s flow down an old mill race here in West Wales-but only about 4m head (almost the opposite scenario). Looked into microhydro when we first got here 6 years ago but the Powerspout low-head stuff seemed very expensive and there are only about 2 ppl in the UK who seem to know how to install it. Decided to focus our time and money on other projects (renovations etc) then the cost of power rocketed, and I'm wishing we'd tried the micro hydro first... Congratulations!
Thanks! There is a vertex turbine I have seen which could be an option, I think we will be doing an experiment to see how one works on an install here
Congratulations!! Welcome to the world, little one
Thank you!! 😊
Voltage relates to the speed of the turbine, current relates to momentum on the turbine - how difficult to spin it. When you increase current from the generator, you make it harder to turn the turbine, and at some point it is so difficult that it starts to slow down (Voltage drops). There is the optimum point somewhere on this curve that you can find by making small adjustments to inverter settings and water flow. If you a curious to do it, you can tweak only one parameter to find maximum power, then switch to the next parameter only, then to next, then back to the fist.
A bit if fun math: if you drain your creaks completely you'll get at most 2 * 5 kg/s * 9.81 * 75m = 7500 W. Of course it is an impossible maximum as there is residual energy of water flow and all sorts of unavoidable losses.
Thank you for your videos and congrats with your baby!
Thanks, that explains why when I increased the amps the power went up as it was increasing the load on the turbine thus generating more output
6000 W should be achievable though!
Congratulations to you all Rob, on your new member of the family. I had a sneaky felling that your wife might have given birth. What a lovely life they are both going to have, growing up in beautiful surroundings, and with some amazing life skills to learn to boot🥳👍
I feel so blessed to be raising them here. We have lots of frogspawn at the moment so Casper and I are spending our days checking on them to see when they hatch
If you haven't done the tank yet, think about having the 2 pipes enter it at an angle to create a centrifugal force on the water, and mount the exit tube in the center toward the top.. It should eliminate the silt..😉 I haven't done it personally but saw a system with this design to eliminate sand.. Congrats on the system and the babe.. Great vid!👍
That sounds like a brilliant idea, seems like free filtration with the cyclone.
Random thoughts... If you have a flatish area between the two intakes, could you drag (don't envy you that) an IBC tank up there? Then pipe the two intakes to one side of the tank. Then put a baffle across the tank to stop cross flow, have the outflow pipe on the other side of the IBC slightly lower with something to prevent vortexes (air).
You'd probably want the inflow higher than the outflow so an overflow piped to somewhere using the old pipe maybe...
Oh and obviously some form of drain or syphon to remove the collected silt.
Think an IBC would be better than an barrel as you would need really slow flow to settle the silt out...
It might also act as the vent. Oh and maybe cover it and paint it black to prevent algae growth...
Assume you've watched Kris Harbour and Land to House videos on micro hydro and other ideas :-)
Enjoying the video's will have to watch them all now to see whats behind them all
Thanks thats a great idea! I would have to drag it up there but then I will have to drag anything I choose to put there. Yea I have been a fan of Kris Harbours videos for years so I have seen all of them, It was his videos that introduced me to micro hydro.
Keep up the good work that hill is a killer quad it up and down save your energy perfect water 🌊 system for electricity and water 💦🙏
Thanks!
Re: your silt problem, have you looked at a hydro-cyclone filter? Works same as Dyson vacuum cleaners, just with water. Only "problem" is that it requires a steady flow of water through it to work, and you need to clean out the trap on a regular bases. Another option is if you have a flattish area up stream create a settling pond, to slow the water down and let the solids drop out,
Thats an excellent idea! others have also mentioned the cyclone filter and it sounds like the best especially as it doesnt get clogged
750 watts and still two running streams sound a lot better than altering or spoiling the natural beauty of your surroundings. 750watts😁😁😁
Thank you that was what I thought and it seems to have very little impact on the stream
17kwh a day is a pretty awesome output already!
Thank you I am very pleased
looks a nice system, well done. id love to be able to do something like this at my home. i would be looking to install a second turbine and make use of the pipe you have. basically have 2 systems as if there is a difference in head between the 2 intakes the turbine will only draw from the higher one. you will also add redundancy to the system and the cost would be lower.
Another turbine company (powerspout) reccomended 2 turbines rather than one. The reason I have made things temporary is because I may well change things up once we know how it works over time. The powerspout ones do look really good and as you say a second adds redundancy
@@offgridscotlandif you've just got a house at the end of your system you're unlikely to be using more than 5KWh per day so an extra turbine would _only_ add redundancy, not extra power.
Any frost issues with that exposed pipe? Come the summer I imagine those burns will dry up so you will run off PV? Surprised SEPA have not stipulated what the hands off flow should be?
Yes they froze over the winter but that was because I had it turned off until we had the inverter connected. If it's flowing we have got away without it freezing so far. And yes they will likely dry up and we will be using the pv
The smaller the turbine the less efficient it becomes. Your nano turbines might be not a good idea however it's great fun to find out.
Thanks!
Congratulations!
As long as you have the same pressure on both pipes, I would not spend time and money on a manifold 😊
I am glad to hear someone say it as at the moment it is all about maximum output for my effort as my time is spread all over the place with all the jobs we have to get done.
@@offgridscotland The reason you want the pressure balanced is because the most efficient energy gathering from the water is when the wheel is spinning at half the speed of the water. If the wheel is spinning at the water speed, then no energy is transferred, and if the wheel is stopped/slow, there isn't much time for the water to impart energy before it bounces away and less torque is generated.
If the pressures from both ends nozzles aren't close, the best power will come from a compromise that wastes power from both nozzles. And it's the pressure you measure at the turbine that matters, which includes the pressure drop from increased flow. If they're within a couple percent (PSI in this case) I wouldn't worry.
Excellent that makes sense. I wasn't aware the sweet spot was at 1/2 the water speed@@MarkRose1337
Does look like you should consider some remote monitoring of your system. Perhaps a sensor on the turbine wheel counting RPM, maybe a pressure sender on each of the feeds, then with a cheap microprocessors collate that information to a dashboard, along with info from your inverter (Modbus). You could even add in some servo's to those flow wheels to automate them. Perhaps a couple of wireless cameras at the heads to keep an eye on them. Would be a cracking project to add in the smarts and monitoring to your existing system. Prob best initially as a non-invasive overlay, them progressing to some limited control later on once you are happy the data collected is reliable etc...
Someone has also mentioned there are flow monitors which could be really useful. Sounds like you really know your stuff with remote monitoring
@@offgridscotland Ha thanks. I've been into IoT minus the 'I' for several years now. With Solar, batteries and other sources of energy I needed a way to bring it all together into one dashboard and also to control it, I wanted to ensure that internet was not required for the monitoring to work, and also crucially, no internet required for alarms and other warnings etc... DIY wired/wireless Sensors and Zigbee was the approach I took. I'm very happy with it, but there is always more to do.. lol
New Zealand currency is in dollars currently 48 p Uk for 1 nz dollar so just under 500 uk pounds for filter plus postage congrats for the birth of your second child all the beast And regards from us in nz.
Thanks!
Once you 3D print the screens, you sand them to remove the rough edge. Kris Harbour has managed to 3D print screens and they work well.
Thanks, I have heard from others that you can also soak them in acetone to remove the edges
Hi just found ur channel, have a few ideas not sure if they will help or not 1) the intakes are u able to dig them out deep enough to place a blue plastic drum there and have the pipe fittings near the bottom of it and a opening at the bottom to flush the selt out , 2) hot water is there not a setting on ur converter that will switch to different thing ie once ur batteris are full it will heat ur water up for you , 3 when u rebuild ur housing for the generator make it big enough so u can split the incoming water into two different pipes inside the housing hopefully any of those may give u an opion that u may not of fort about before hand .
thank you very much, yes I am planning to dump load to a hot water heater but the caravan we are in at the moment does not have a hot water feed (it has a gas water heater) so I will save that system for the house build. Thanks for the suggestion on the inlets I will add that to the bits I will work on for version 2
Equal pressure nozzles will balance the forces on the turbine wheel and therefore the creating the minimum friction on the bearing...
great thanks
Running two into collection chamber you will lose pressure by lowering your head. Go with two smaller collection chambers just below each collection point. You could connect them to one pipe as close as feasible downslope. I have a similar micro hydro setup with 58psi, my version 2 will increase the head to get 89psi with similar flow rate as you.
Thanks that was a problem I was wondering about and two collection chambers would solve that. Good luck with your version 2!
Time to build a sauna to use up that excess power!
Also... To stop the pipe slipping just use a strap or rope with a "pipe hitch" onto a stake.
great idea, I had used a rope but the pipe hitch is much better
Could you go over all the things in your home that use power? I'm trying to figure out how much stuff you can run at all times with this kind of a set up. For example, can I run a fridge, a computer, stove, however many lights, etc. How much power do you use, vs how much is coming in and stored?
It's a full household worth of power plus some extra.
-We have a proper washing machine but don't use the dryer (we could with this amount of power though) and use it every other day for a full 2 hour wash.
-A big free standing fridge freezer and an under the worktop fridge freezer on all the time.
-We use a laptop constantly so the charging for that (its a lot less than if you had a high power PC for Architectural work or something like that)
-3 350watt electric heaters a dehumidifier which go on for a few hours every day with some on all night
-The rest are just normal led lights and we don't think about turning them off more than you might normally.
-We boil the kettle 6 times a day and use a toaster
-We don't have a microwave and our cooker is a gas one.
Looking at that stream, you could have the intake higher up, which will give you more power and/or reduce the water flow requirement. Possibly use higher pressure pipe only at the bottom.
I would but its right on the boarder of our land. The streams flow also drops off a lot the higher you go which is handy for us as we have the best bit. If we had the rest of the hill I would run it right to the top as there is a small lake up there!
My 17 year old system (1/4 mile of 3" HDPE fusion welded line, 147' of fall, 840 watts, Harris Hyrdo turbine) somehow has a partial blockage in my supply line that is driving me crazy. The Coanda screen prevents anything large getting in there, but somehow on my spring startup this year the issue came to the front. I've walked the entire line (above ground) searching for a problem, digging it out where it had been covered, all good. No leaks, all indications are it's a blockage of some kind. Thickly overgrown now with brush etc., I am only putting out 6 amps @24 VDC, should be over 30 amps, due to the small jets in place, my normal large jets this high water time of year (mountain stream) deplete the line faster than the pressure can be maintained. I need to call Rotor Rootor I guess!
Thats a bummer I am not looking forward to that kind of issue arrising which I am sure it will. You have such a long run as well!
@@offgridscotland Since I posted that comment, it appears my flow has improved to normal! I think what happened, is because I first turned the system on again this spring (it's drained out all winter) one area of my line had a large snow drift, and that area also happened to be where the line has a dip in it. I should have waited until the drift was gone, I think I had a partial obstruction by ice, which slowed the flow and allowed sediment that normally is flushed thru, to accumulate. Letting it run full blast for 24 hrs., with the bottom open, flushed it out. My screen is directly below a culvert, at the very top of my mountain property, with no provision for sediment capture, anything I do to change that, would result in a bit less head pressure as it would be lower, so I put up with it as is. The bronze Pelton wheels lasted about 6 years each, the latest is stainless steel and is purported to be almost bulletproof! My normal large spring runoff jets going back in today!
Hi,I was just wondering if you have checked the silt to see if there's any gold there😊👍
There is tonnes of shiny gold flecks so I got all excited when we moved here but I think it is judt Pyrite
Good luck with your quest,I hope there's some gold for you in them there hills😊
@@offgridscotlandseparate out the silt with a cyclone, if you get the silt outlet right it will produce concentric rings sorted by density...
Hey i live in california and have the same hydro as you. My system is different. In that i only have 32 psi. Through a 4 inch pvc pipe and by switching to a pelton wheel over the turgo that you have gave me around 40 % more power. I make around 220 watts. But its enough to power my off grid small cabin.
Great its good to hear that the switch made more power so I will keep your example in mind if we get on to it
63mm rigid PVC solvent weld swimming pool / irrigation pipe, 10 bar - Plimat do very good prices for bulk. You could also have motorised valves which would mean you didn't have physically open the valves to clean the injectors, and do it remotely instead.
Thanks, the motorised valves sound amazing for version 2, especially as we could tweak the flow for when the streams are a bit lower
at the turbine station, you can measure both volts and amperes and find the power
probably three 10 uF ac capacitors on the three phases, it improves the cosfy
thanks I will do that
You're right that the inverter settings are about it choosing the max current draw at given voltages. So its about pulling as much from the source as possible without bogging it down and it seems like you've got that completely dialed in. I think that's why you had issues with the Ecoflow powerbank being less stable, because it would just draw as much current as possible up to 15A and was likely making the generator bog.
Yea I am no expert but thats what it looked like it was doing
Simply sand your finished print to get the desired smoothness
That's a good idea, I had heard you can also dip it in acetone
Indeed you can, that would certainly give a smooth finish. I would use some strong filament, print the part, sand it smooth, then lightly brush some acetone on the surface to get the finish. Less is more in terms of acetone as it could completely ruin the print.
Is your vent pipe vertical or leaving the main pipe horizontally? The air bubbles will all be caught if it is the former
Leaves horizontally(slight downhill gradient) but there is a vent pipe right after and then it becomes a down hill run
Just add higher spec pipe for the lower higher pressure section?
Thats was something I considered. We are going to upgrade the whole line to a 90mm pipe in the future so for now its ok on the smaller one.
You could simply couple the two lines together with a pair of T’s and a length of tubing running between them within a few feet of the turbine to experiment with “balancing” the two sources without the investment in an arguably experimental manifold. Any imbalance would cause a flow (slowly, probably) through the connector. Pressure at the two nozzles (assuming same nozzle size) would be the same. I, too, don’t know why they need to be coupled. I think that the tunable nozzles allow you to match the operating pressure to be equal to one another and is effectively the same as coupling the two sources with a manifold or as I’ve suggested above. The end result will be equal readings on your gauges. Simplicity is your friend in hydro. Tinkering and fine-tuning is super fun, but when you’re on baby duty, you’ll be happy to have a system with as few weak points as possible. The silt problem is a head-scratcher. The only thing I can think of for your silt problem is to have traditional nozzles that don’t have the needle in the middle. I swap mine out twice a year between wet and dry season to accommodate flow conditions.
Thanks. I had considered connecting the lines together at the turning before splitting again to balance the pressure. Others have also recommended fixed nozzles which sounds like a good idea as the hole is less likely to get clogged like you say.
@@offgridscotland You also alluded to the idea of a settling tank near the intake. We get our drinking water from the same source as our hydro, and for the drinking water, we have a 5-gallon bucket a few feet below the intake. We then have several water pipes coming out of that. It traps more silt-sized sediment than I thought it would.
Hi there, i am curious, do you own the stream and the land it runs through? Not trying to be controversial in any way. Seems to me that you should be powering a miniral water production and or a micro distillery!! £££££
Yea we own the stream we are collecting it from and the river it goes to (and the land). The water tastes amazing and it runs through lots of quartz so I am convinced it is very good for you. We do get our drinking water from it as well.
As a complete novice when it comes to micro hydro systems, I wonder about the two water lines coming into a single cistern. If that had a conical bottom and inlet flow induced a swirl, could that collect the fine silt at the bottom. That could be allowed to dump. Just a thought.
Great idea. I had someone else suggest a system like that and they called it a vertex filter so I will be looking into this
A penstock and a tank or pond close to the turbine that the stream fills would work I think. Then the piping from above is not needed. An outlet with a good valve would give you control over it all. This is what I think at least.
That seems to be the way most people are suggesting so you are right.
Great work, can you update the link to the the turbine on ebay? seems that link is no longer valid, or even write the name/brand/model and I can search myself.
I'm doing a very similar project out in the west of Ireland, solar, Hydro and Wind to be completely off grid, although seeing how much power you are getting from the hydro I'm might get rid of the wind turbine, the amount of work getting anything useful from the wind is not really worth it.
It gives me great hope seeing the power you are getting, that much constant power is fantastic.
I watched your water filtration, great job, I started with stream water but I was getting too much turbidity after the rain plus some sheep poo 😞I switched to rain water, much easier to control, I did switch to a charcoal filter before the UV light, that made a big difference.
Excellent it's great to see someone else working through these projects too! It's the motenergy brand of turbine and nozzle. here is their website www.motenergy.com/hydro-power-products.html and the eBay for the nozzle (I hope it works) www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203268369118?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=203268369118&targetid=1403035015187&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006886&poi=&campaignid=17218284410&mkgroupid=142217514411&rlsatarget=pla-1403035015187&abcId=9300867&merchantid=6995734&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_Lr1ekmeOkZz1npZ6My7EllxGPw&gclid=CjwKCAiAi6uvBhADEiwAWiyRdoHtpEw4eiXMZexcjLryWu9QgxJrF06rR_KLXVJPUmnQ_q_UG9j2oBoC8q0QAvD_BwE
I can't seem to find the turbine on there any more so maybe their website might be the best place as the seller of the nozzle also used to sell the rest
7:58 you are dropping the silt out now with a settling tank, could you put one at the top?
Additionally, you could add a cyclonic trap. You can make these yourself or buy them. Rubber is probably the best surface finish to handle silt because it's abrasive.
I have heard from others about the cyclonic trap and it sounds like the perfect solution thank you very much!
the manifold can be made using welded stainless pipe and as such the angles can be very smooth... Also the final run from the manifold to either nozzle should be this wide and smooth curve.
Thats what I would like to achieve in the end, I also want to practice my welding for an exhaust project I have comming up. We might be chaning the turbine in the next few years depending on how this one does so I am waiting on that decision before I make anything too permenant
@@offgridscotlandyou can almost certainly buy a machine-welded unit cheaper than you can make one & getting a weld consistent enough not to leak with 6 bar pressure takes a lot of practice.
Congratulations on the second child, and the working system.
The turgo/pelton turbines are impulse turbines, the change in direction of the jet causes the turbine to spin. The ideal loaded speed of the turbine is half the unloaded speed, so that the most kinetic energy is put into the turbine. With 2 jets at different speeds there's a compromise between the most efficient speed for each jet and the turbine speed.
As you keep the PSI for each jet the same it's not much of an issue though.
Your inverter 's Maximum Power Point Tracking rating starts at 150V DC (for Wind turbines). As your alternator is rated at 48V, I'd be wary of running it at double it's rating! Although I'd suspect that the 48V is the speed the turbine was designed for, rather than an electrical rating. If that's the case then the diameter of the turbine will not the most efficient.
I think it's best to wait and see what flow you get over a year, and what solar you get over a year, before redoing the piping and turbine. You're not using all the power from your current setup yet, so there's no rush. I'm sure there's more important things to spend money on at the moment, such as a new-born.
That's exactly my plan to see how it goes before the upgrade and there is loads else to get working before we return to this. I was never sure how the voltage of the turbines and the 24-48volt product title related because I have seen them rated at 12 24 or 48 but also seen a power curve with voltages going really high on the same turbine.
@@offgridscotland The voltage also depends on the windings of the motor, not just the speed it turns at. I would look to get your voltage closer to 250 volts as you'll suffer less voltage drop between the turbine and MPPT. You'll likely need a new turbine, but you can get one geared towards your flow and pressure.
Thanks, I think we will be changing the turbine at some point as now that I know it works I can work towards a system tailored to our circumstances@@MarkRose1337
9:40 a large(r) electric water heater tank thing to soak up the extra power ??
Thats the plan once we get to the house build. The caravan only has one water inlet and I dont want to replumb the underneath to allow a hot water in. Its definitely the best way to store the excess though as you can use it rather than just heating an outbuilding.
Also how will you clean the inside of the pipe, over time they all get filled with peanut butter consistency peat particles which sticks to the inside. I guess you'll overcome that by having an oversize pipe.
I am not sure how I will clean the inside of the pipe, hadn't thought of it to be honest. I hope like you say that a larger diameter pipe will minimise this
I may be experiencing such with my 17 year old system, in the past running it unobstructed for a hour or two every year removed any silt build up, not this year. My next move will be to let it run for a few days.
4:55 Do a tautline hitch (very strong to hold around round(ed) objects like another line oir a pipe) with a 1/4 inch rope (uv protected of course) around the pipe (not the coupler, it will pull off the pipe) and ancher the rope around either a tree with a nice and wide band strap and a swivel tensioner to prevent the pipe from pulling away from the filter...
I had to google a tautline hitch but now I know. Thanks!
@@offgridscotlandyou may do better solvent-welding tapes onto your pipe for anchors.
I've been thinking a bit more about your hydro situation and what I would do. As you've stated, you don't need more power on a daily basis. But I do see you've bought a generator as well, so there are times you're looking for more power. You've also mentioned the creeks can dry up, so that means there are no fish living in them and a short stoppage of the water won't be harmful. That should mean that diverting the whole of the creeks on a temporary basis is acceptable, perhaps to recharge batteries after doing laundry or running table saws and so on. More on this later.
I'd still try building side ponds to draw water from as others have suggested to avoid the silt. They may or may not work, as the silt is very fine and will take a long time to settle, so they do need to be fairly sizeable to allow time for the silt to settle. You want to give the water a couple minutes of settling time, so at 5 l/s, that's 500 liters in size (say 1 m x 1 m x 50 cm deep) with the intake on the far side. As an alternative, the Land to House CZcams channel has a couple builds with silt traps made out of barrels, configured to always overflow to avoid bubbles, and the overflow goes back into the creek. Essentially he puts a drain tap at the bottom, the penstock outflow half way up (low enough to not suck bubbles), the overflow near the top, and the inflow through the top. The barrels are located just below the water level of his dams, to maximise the head of the penstocks. The only modification I would make to his design would be an additional elbow on the inflow to get a more circular flow, which would reduce bubbles and get a cyclone effect, and to put the end of the penstock pipe in the middle of the barrel, which would be less silty due to the cyclone.
An alternative to the 90 mm pipe for both creeks combined are two 75 mm pipes (anything less than 75 will give you significant head loss at 5 l/s; a 90 mm pipe to each creek is not worth the expense unless you need the extra 5% of power). I would not use a single combined cyclone, because it will become your point of overflow, which may put the water where you don't want it. With individual silt traps at each creek, you can let them overflow back into each creek. With the overflow back into each creek, this will allow you to turn up your hydro generation when needed for a few hours. You can then turn it down when done.
You are right to upgrade your pipes first from the hydro side. You can get more power out of that turbine. But you'll likely run into an issue with amps in your wire to the turbine. If you're running 2.5 mm wire, you're limited to about 15 amps (17 at most, but it will be very warm). At a theoretical 6000 watts at 15 amps, that means running around 400 volts! If you're sticking to ~48 volts, that would mean running 120 amps, which requires a very expensive wire. With a target voltage around 250 volts (reasonably safe, in the range of your inverter), I'd run 6 mm cable (good for 24 amps without too much loss) for those 6000 watts. But before doing that, I have a proposal below using only 4 mm cable.
In fact I would keep your old turbine plumbed in for the time of year with low flow, and for basic electricity supply: it'll still give you 700 watts with 0.5 l/s per stream once the pipes are replaced (2.5 mm wire at 15 amps can carry 700 watts at 48 volts without getting too warm). But you actually want to run it at 60 to 70 volts, if possible, to more efficiently charge your 48 volt batteries (LFP actually needs a little more than 57 volts to fully charge). There would be some loss at the pipe tees, but much less than you're currently getting with the restricted penstock. I'd buy a dedicated ~1000 watt inverter for your current turbine that only charges your batteries, works at 60 to 70 volts and 15 amps (for your existing wire). Something like the Midnite Classic 150. That'll get you 1000 watts out of your existing system, though you'd be running the existing turbine a little faster than ideal to get the volts. Then the new turbine could be designed for 8 l/s at 5 bar (only 5 bar, because there will be head losses at 10 l/s split between both turbines), 4800 watts, 250 volts, 19 amps, and would only need 4 mm wire, and you could wire that into your existing inverter.
All that said, it makes sense to upgrade your pipes to 75 mm first (and get your amps up to 15). I'd then buy 4 mm wire and a new turbine designed as above (5 bar, ~4800 watts, ~250 volts, ~19 amps) and a new controlled designed for your existing turbine (~1000 watts, ~60-70 volts, 15 amps).
Doing a little more noodling, and you may be able to save a little money on pipe. Maybe. Each of your 40 mm pipes are good for about 1 l/s of flow. If you're able to rearrange them so they both go to one creek, then that creek would only need a 60 mm pipe for the remaining 3 l/s instead of a 75 mm. You'd still need a 75 mm pipe for the other creek though. Might not be worth fiddling with connectors though. Or you could leave them in place for the old turbine trickling away at 700 watts, and just run new 75 mm pipes to the new turbine.
At the very least, you can reuse your pipes for water inside your greenhouse(s). Having a tap inside will be very convenient.
That is so much useful information! I had to find some time to sit down and properly go through it. I will definitely be bookmarking it so when I come to the upgrades I can return to it and refamiliarise myself with it
@@offgridscotland It was fun to think about. The one part I don't know much about is the actual turbine design, but we have the parameters.
For shared 75 mm pipes, 2 x 4 l/s, 5 bar, 4800 watts, ~250 volts.
For dedicated 75 mm pipes, 2 x 5 l/s, 5 bar, 6000 watts, 20 amps max and ~300-325 volts (bit higher voltage to still use 4 mm conductors). Yes, dedicated new pipes would mean a total draw of 12 l/s but you can run on reduced flow when needed by adjusting spear valves.
Whichever option will need a spear valve on both nozzles, of course, because each is connected to a different source.
Oh, and I was looking up common pipe sizes in the UK and the next smaller than 75 was 60, which isn't enough for 4 l/s. So it still makes sense to use 75 mm even for dedicated pipes, and you might as well use all 5 l/s they can supply.
It's cool that you have two sources with the same head and same flow and can combine them into one turbine. Usually multiple sources will be different and the most efficient solution is different turbines.
@@offgridscotland Just realised that two 75 mm shared pipes is the way to go for one important reason: the constantly flowing water will help keep it from freezing up in the winter.
NZD. About twice the pound.
If V2 has a run that is using 90mm for the turbine feed but the 90mm is feed by a penstock that is feed by 2 X 40mm pipes, the 90mm feed is gonna drain the output from the penstock all the time cos 40mm X 2 does not add up to 90mm pipe. ie OF INTEREST: Doubling a pipe's internal diameter increases the volume x4 and if the same head pressure is maintained, the flow rate increases roughly x6.
If 40mm pipe has a volume of 69L in a minute @.8m per second. That's about 138L per minute for 2 X 40mm.
For a 80mm feed pipe, that's about 276L per minute @ .8m per second. As you can see 276L - 139L = 139L short, so there would not enough water to fill an 80mm pipe using your 2 X 40mm penstock feeds.
You will need to do one of these things. Reduce turbine feed pipe to about 60mm or increase penstock feed pipes to about 60mm to work with the 90mm turbine feed pipe. I hope you get the point. I am no expert but pipe diameter (penstock feed pipes must be able to feed penstock full time) else the turbine feed will not be able to run turbine continually.
Yea I had considered that but thought I would get to that when I start the project. I might end up running 4 of the same diameter as I will have that pipe spare at that point.
Thanks for the reminder though sometimes I have the idea in the moment and when it comes to doing the job I have forgotten
Volume flow through a pipe is proportional to the 4th power of the bore diameter, so increasing the pipe diameter will increase the water flow big time, also increasing the power and the water consumption.
Your mast site will need at least a scaffold pipe to withstand a good wind. Maybe a small cairn/hut would help to protect against force 10 gales with rain and also visiting cattle wanting a back scratcher.
I diddnt know that rule thank you. And yes I had wished the pole was bigger when I ordered it
8:49 A funnel shaped cyclone filter setup right at the very bottom of the pipe ??
If I was you I would build a concrete cyclone filter which is able to cope with the pressures involved, even though it might even be halfway up the hill...
Someone else mentioned a cyclone filter and it sounds like the best option by far as its not actually stopping the silt thus risking clogging it is just focusing it into the centre
If you break the pipe with a collection vessle, I believe you will be starting your head again at the collection chamber, so reduced pressure. Unless the vessle is pressure sealed.
Your analogy of having two people pushung the merry-go-around. What will happen is the weaker person will be running around, but not actually pushing. The same will happen with a weaker water jet, if the water speed in one jet is lower, then it will be spraying along with the turbine and not actually pushing it.
You could throttle the two feeds separatly to match the speeds, but that might mean you are wasting some potential in one system. Going via a manifold, you are able to balance the two jets based on a single pressure feed. I'm not sure on the delivery efficiency of two feeds into a manifold. (Will await others with better fluid dynamic knowledge than me to comment on that.)
Thanks that makes sense. I did wonder how the pressure would balance in a manifold fed with two pipes so I will have to see how it ends up working when I get to it
@@offgridscotlandturbulence is the problem & it's mostly resolved by using 'Y' joints rather than 'T' joints.
Look at videos of _Tesla valves_ to get a feel for it.
C’est une très belle installation, je suis moi-même en autonomie totale mais qu’avec des panneaux solaires batterie régulateur, convertisseur, chargeur et groupe électrogène à essence. J’ai pas vu ce que tu as comme batterie de stockage. Je suis intéressé de voir. En tout cas bravo👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻🙏🏻🫶🏻
Merci beaucoup nous utilisons les batteries pylontech voici le lien vers la vidéo czcams.com/video/Dp9HolZG724/video.html
The input voltage after the rectifier is very low as far as the sunsynk is concerned. You can build a simple rectifying voltage multiplier using suitable diodes to double or triple the voltage.
Also you do need surge protection on the DC inputs, it's cheap to do and needed for the warranty
sounds like you know your way around this kind of problem. Thank you, it might be a bit beyond my abilities at the moment but maybe I can change the voltage settings in the wind turbine section on the inverter to raise them up?
@@offgridscotland I've actually just assumed the wind turbine table is constrained to the same range as the solar mppt, but that might not be the case. How low can you set the voltage on the wind turbine table? I know you showed the table in this video but I couldn't make it out on my phone.
Power dump idea i saw was a water heater, pretty big one.The guy was complaining about having so many hot showers.
A lot of people have suggested dumping to a hot water tank and I fully agree. We will be adding that once we are building the house. For now the caravan has a gas hot water heater so I would need to re-plumb it in order to get that added.
@offgridscotland Just build a separate little shower room in the barn as a temporary solution, then it's free energy...!
@@offgridscotland You might want to see what David Poz did with his hot water tank. He basically removed the bottom element to have it solar powered, but it could be hydro powered in your case.
czcams.com/video/yDRDuJCU4tc/video.html
If you are going to connect the two runs to a single barrel you can create something similar what is called a vortex filter in the pond and aquaponics world. It uses the slowly spinning water created by the water inlets to push the solid particles to the outside wall of the barrel. And the water outlet is situated in the middle of the barrel so that the cleanest water flows out from the middle. Just search for vortex filter. People give it multiple names but it is all based on the same principle. You might do some adjustments to make it work for your purpose. But instead of using a filter material it is using physics to clean the water.
that sounds amazing! I am so glad you let me know about it at this stage so I can research it a bit before working on mk2
The larger diameter barrel that you can get the better it works. But it does work really well, I have a vortex filter in my aquaponics system and it catches a lot of solids. And I have an outlet at the bottom of the barrel for when I want to clean out the solids.
I also added some pond filter material for the regular water outlet that is situated in the middle of my barrel. That pipe from the water outlet is standing upright, and I used a bucket with a hole in it so that it fits over the pipe, and I drilled holes in the wall and bottom from the bucket, and then I packed the empty space inside the bucket with pond filter material. It never clogs up, but it is also easy to clean, and if it does clog up the water can still flow over it. @@offgridscotland
thanks for the detailed description it will really help me put together a decent system. And I am really glad you have tried and tested it on a real life project@@insAneTunA
two points of force acting on opposite sides of a (generator) shaft is always better then just one point of force trying to push the shaft one way causing (possibly) premature wear on the bearings...
Thanks that was what I was hoping for
Anything up to one more jet than spoons is worth trying, anything more than 1 jet, evenly spaced, is even on the bearings.
That said, bearings that hold a lorry's wheels on for a quarter of a million miles are quite normal & they're single-contact loaded.
Ok instead of walking up there all the time to just the psi..can't you use the power to use electric power ones that you could adjust from the house.
I think this is an upgrade we will be looking at on version 2. It would also mean I could adjust the flow when there isnt as much water
Great system. why don't you run a 2nd hydro and a 2 eco flow ,And link up the eco flow together.3kw will heat up a hot water immersion
which cost £1.75 a hour saving and at 2 hours a day is £105 @ month £5000 @ 5 yrs
I have got plans for another power project using water so we will have another source of power comming soon.
Kris harbour done an episode called.. adding a second penstock to my hydroelectric turbine. You might want to watch it if you haven’t already.
Thanks, I have been watching him for years but I might have to revisit that one as I can't remember much of it
He answers a lot of the questions you’ve asked and I think it might save you a couple of quid
One thing I hear a lot is "Bubbles are trouble". Going up the hill the inlet on the right is sat in a cauldron of bubbles, deepen the water here by a taller dam. Also if you imagine the water is like a roller coaster that gains speed going down hill but slows as it climbs up, this mean your pipework should always lie as low as possible and not run up and down over banks or trees. Great you don't drain one stream.
Thanks, hopefully the penstock will reduce these bubbles as it will be a fair size once we get to it
Sigh. I have no idea why my previous comment was deleted by YT... In short, you can smooth 3D prints by using acétøne (maybe it doesn't like that word). Kris Harbour's channel has full details on how to make the Coanda screen successfully using 3D printing methods (basically, smaller segments bolted together). There are online services where you can send your prints and they'll deliver it to you. Perhaps contact Kris for his files to get a known good design.
Acetone Acetone Acetone
Thanks I went to reply to it and couldn't find the comment. I have been following Kris for ages and have seen all his videos. He swapped out his 3d printed ones pretty quickly didn't he? do you know why?
@@offgridscotland No, he was using the 3D printed ones for ages. I think they used it for a customer installation too. You might be getting confused with the initial mesh approach which was not a coanda (which he then changed to the 3D printed). Seems that it works really well. I reckon with the smoothing technique mentioned previously on the printed parts, it'll work even better.
I will go and re watch them then and see how it worked for him. Thanks for the tip@@Marc-ww7cc
I think what you are talking about with the manifold is the torque... But you are working with power and you have to understand Watts, Volts, and Amps. Power and water are similar. Volts is basically pressure. You can have a very small pipe but a lot of pressure, that's sort of like a static shock. Amps is the diameter of a pipe, so its the volume. You could have a 1 meter pipe and you could have a lot of flow or very little flow. And to get watts you multiply Volt x Amps = watts. What you want to do is match the flow of the water in both volts and amps to the generator. I think your right to make a holding tank at the top of the hill, a large pipe should come down and feed 1 generator, but the flow should match that generator. And when you need more power, another valve should open up to another generator. The water at the top of the hill is potential energy, the faster you drain it is the kinetic energy you are converting to electricity. And you probably need a bypass waterline for when you are not drawing water, which could be the natural streams. And i think if you get some water for a few hours everyday, you wont kill the nature.
Great explanation that makes sense
really interesting video. Congratulations on your new child. was it a girl or a boy
thank you. It was a girl and we have named her Rowan
@@offgridscotland oh, what a beautiful name. Congratulations again.
Battery storage would cope with your overcapacity and provide power when you need to maintain kit
We have done a video on our batteries since. It has helped a lot. czcams.com/video/Dp9HolZG724/video.html
I think the problem works like this.
Imagine one is a massively faster jet than the other (could happen). Imagine the faster one hitting its impellers makes the wheel spin faster than the second jet. The second jet wont actually hit the impellar...but the back of another impeller needs to cross its jet as it spins which pushes against the direction of motion...if the spinning impellar speed is still faster than the slower jet this reduces efficiency without adding any power.
If the speed mismatch isnt so great that this is true it is still the case that the speed (technically velocity) of the slower jet relative to the impellar is less and thus less power is transferred than could have been. Id hazard a guess that before the impellar gets up to speed two jets on opposite sides would potentially reduce the inertia in getting started - although that's not your problem and I'm not even certain there.
Compare that to delivering the same energy in a single combined more powerful jet - far more efficient!
At least that's my understanding.
That makes sense, when I turn the second nozzle on to start with it slows down and then speed up as I open it up
@@offgridscotland I'm also in Scotland and very jealous of your setup. We're actively thinking of buying land to do something similar although for us we'll just want it as a self sufficient retreat so don't need 50 acres (just wow though!) 10 acres would probably be a great plenty for us. Would probably manage fine with 5. We're just casually keeping an eye on what's for sale out there. Nearly pulled the trigger once on a place in the Highlands but a quick chat with the planning office ruled it out (phone call well made).
Anyway congrats on the new arrival. Glad I found your channel will watch with interest!
Ps suspect when your second jet is fully open the degree of mismatch in velocity is less so the above effect is more of an issue when your valve is a little open than fully open....but you may well get still more power if all the water were coming through a single higher powered jet....I think!
80 psi is 5.5 bar. You're fine!
thanks! I thought we were somewhere near the limit but I supposed there was some leeway. Good to hear 80psi is less than the max
How about an electric quad so you can drive up and down?
I was actually looking at the polaris electric ATV before we got up here. At that point though we diddnt have enough power so I got the petrol one. There are always electric dirt bikes though
@offgridscotland true that! Good use of the excessive power and a good tool to do these trips on the bike! Awesome 👌🏻
I have a similar setup in Hardanger, Norway. 95m height, 250m pipe, 40 and 50mm pipe, pelton, 2x6mm nozzle. I get 600w from it. Instead of Coanda I use the kind of air filter that is found in heatpump and aircons similar to those in my house. Let the water Flow over and they wont fail. Those very fine plastic filters are very strong and lasts for at least 12 months 24/7.
Great that intake sounds like a brilliant idea.
I would Go for a DIY "Plastic Archimedes Screw" can get 10KW - 10,000W 240V AC 1 phase & 3 phase 3x 1 Phases 240V
Find the "Plastic Archimedes Screw" Video by Richard Bourne-Arton
even The can do low Water head 1 ~2 meters and if you want more Wattage just make them longer
Wow thats an amazing output! I will have a look at that video thank you very much
Speak to Chris harbour, maybe he will make you a colander screen. All the best. Jeffrey Smart.
Thanks Jeffrey, I had seen he had done some work on those
@@offgridscotlandhe is a really nice bloke, he would help in any way he can! Even if it it just some advice.
Forgot to add. What about something like a Ring door camera set up by your inverter to allow you to see your power output. It’d save your legs👍👍
I had someone else suggest that and it would be great especially when the river is too high to cross and I have to go the long way around
Tesla PowerWall storage?
That would be amazing but I think it might be a bit more expensive than the system we have put together since czcams.com/video/Dp9HolZG724/video.html
Once ur Completly happy with the system will u ever bury it into the ground so it’s not seen? Not sure if that’s possible.
Well done with it tho. I have a Tesla and would love loads of power to charge it so good on u both :-)
I would like to bury it eventually but the hill is very steep (it doesn't show it on camera) so I am not sure we will ever be able to get a digger up there.
Congrats on your second child. Boy or Girl?
Thanks Mike a girl and we called her Rowan
A manifold with car exhaust also has to do with pressure waves being able to help suck exhaust out of the next cylinder, lessening pumping losses in the cylinder. That's not something you need with hydro.
You idea of piping straight to the nozzles is sound. Every sharp bend and diameter change causes pressure loss. Not so important in a high flow low head situation, but very impactful to a high pressure low flow situation like yours. A manifold is useful to distribute flow to additional nozzles but you have no need for that.
excellent thanks for clearing that up
Indeed it is not good to have injectors with different water pressures, but as you balance these pressures by adjusting the opening or closing of the injectors, which increases or decreases the pressure losses in the tubes. The water speed is therefore the same for both injectors and the power of the two is combined.
As you are using a 48V generator, the DC voltage must not be sufficient for the parameters of the mppt input of the inverter (150 to 425V DC). This is probably why you have to set the parameters manually.
But ... good job !!
Thanks, yes it's a 48v turbine but I was never sure if that was an output rating or something else. I have seen power curves that stated much higher volts than the title of the product suggested
Have you look at a channel call Kris Harbour guy lives in Wales runs everything off grid with micro Hydro and now solar built his own wind turbine and designs and uninstalls systems for people
I have been a subscriber of his for years. I was super impressed with his wind turbine because he made it all himself
Have a look at kris Harbour. He is a maker of hydro micro power . Plans to get electric all by him . He may give you some idea's
Thanks I have been following him for years and a lot of my ideas have been inspired by his work
You could leave the whole system as it is if you could somehow automate a cleaning cycle with some geared motors to go off every day
It hasnt been too bad with the cleaning and I took it apart in this video to see what it was like inside czcams.com/video/84cOhOT6SSk/video.html I do still have to do it manually though so in the future we might look at electric valves
@@offgridscotland The benefits of getting to inspect the system every 2 days like you said is not a bad why of looking it at though, a question about battery storage you mentioned you might get a car for that how many 48v server rack batteries do you currently have
If you are willing to go through the problems with making the screen enclosure, I'll be happy to print the coanda filters for you. Same as in this video: czcams.com/video/adWPvcbGB5Q/video.html
Thank you very much! I wont be getting back to the hydro for a while but I will keep your kind offer in mind when I do
750w is loads especially if you have batteries thats 18kwh over a day. The average houses use about 10 so your laughing add some solar and you can pretty much run anything.
Thanks we are really pleased with the output now it is stable
@@offgridscotland yeh I would be more than enough to run a home off grid.
laser cut the special screen in pieces on send cut send.
Excellent suggestion thanks!
Excess power, sauna!!
great idea or a hot tub which sounds amazing in the cold winters
Yeh hot tub was what I was thinking because water will retain the heat longer!
Why not two sediment tanks then you dont need to buy new pipe
Thats an excellent idea. I think we will look into doing that on the next upgrade
bro its sucking air from the top, that lil pool of water isnt filling back fast enough.
Thanks yea Its doing it at the moment too. I am thinking about adding a penstock to ensure we have a good enough supply
@@offgridscotland Ammmm, you do realise "penstock" is your supply right LOL. fancy words mean nothing. just get the resourvour your taking from more BIGLY! as trump would say.
Unless your turbine is good for a lot more power I would NOT spend the money and the effort to change the pipe and add an intermediate tank. Your present setup give you a quasi-redundant setup! One screen can suddenly clog up, one pipe could fail, one nozzle could crack, one creek could drop flow. The only common part is the turbine and generator. I'd instead, put my money in a different place. The flow thru a pipe is what causes the dynamic head loss. The loss is a squared function! If the flow doubles the head-loss quadruples! If a Pelton wheel wants higher pressure at lower flow (check that) then work that angle with your money instead. Reducing the flow will dramatically increase the pressure. If a Pelton makes sense, switch to one and keep your existing wheel as a proven backup. That will give you fall backs on everything except the generator and turbine housing.
Thanks that's the way I am feeling about it at the moment. We will want to increase our power consumption when we have the polly tunnels and animals set up but for now we are content
you're talking about this part and how no one sells it, but if you have a 3d printer file you have the measurements. Just find a machinist to make you one.
Great idea and if I had the budget I would definitely look at having it made
Why would you, a conscientious homesteader, ever want to use lithium battery cars??? I'm learning so much from your hands-on micro Hydro wisdom, but was jolted by your reversal of care for our Mother when you mentioned the rape of our Earth and her child labor energy, when you said you may use your excess to run a battery car. Do you have any neighbors you can share with? You do know that lithium battery's create the same issue with depleted uranium in nuclear plants. The uranium takes 2000 years to dissipate so there is no safe waste storage. The same is true for lithium batteries.
We have since sold the Ford and bought a cheap petrol run-around as it felt like a better decision. I have thought about the best option for running a car as I have been into cars all my life. What do you think the best option is? Financially it seems like a bad idea buying an electric car as they depreciate so heavily and as you mentioned the batteries are very bad for the environment. One car has 70-150 times the battery capacity we need to run our whole house! But petrol cars still need the fossil fuels to run. We have as efficient a car as we can and it's used but it feels as though there isn't yet a perfect choice if you are earth conscious.
What a sincere person you are. I am watching everything you put out there about micro hydro because I live off grid and have 2 epic creeks that I want to create my power from. The lies from the self interested, money driven "regulators" (I have many other bad words to call them but will spare you) throughout our world and their extreme ignorance concerning how our Mother Earth works, has rob those of us who realize we are part of Her ecosystem, from the freedom to live gently upon her soil. Fossil fuels ARE renewable! Cell phones are dirty energy,.Lithium batteries are dirty energy. Solar panels are dirty energy All "smart"devices are human tracking dirty energy... We are being forced into a greater cage every day and without critical thinking about EVERYTHING those creature require, we are just sheep continually being duped. That's why I pay great attention to you. You and yours are doing it with love and sharing it generously. Bless you brother. I live in the woods in the Alps of California trying so hard to live under their radar.