Does any one know how to buile a Hydro electric plant

[LowKey]

Hmm... If your stream doesn't have enough power for a turbine, can you install a ram, pump it into a tower and run a penstock turbine with it using gravity? Or is that violating some law of physics somewhere...

[hunter63]

So for all the home builders both water and wind........Try this.....find a auto generator or even a alternator, (alt. needs voltage to make coils work, though) put a pulley on it 6" or so, and try turning it by hand.

This will give you an idea of the power it takes to make electricity. and your only talking 40 to 90watts of 12 v DC.
So you need a lot of speed/gearing or a lot of power to make enough torque to turn the pully.

[Ssgt_DimeBag]

Does any one know how to build a Hydro electric power plant to power their cabon or house if so please shair the information.

No I don't ,but if someone on here did and had the money to do it then I think most of us would be hooked onto his or her grid.
Just my two cents......In fact that was only a penny's worth......coffee costs you know.Lol

[canid]

A small setup using a permanent magnet alternator isn't very dificult or expensive. Larger systems certainly are.
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[finallyME]

Hmm... If your stream doesn't have enough power for a turbine, can you install a ram, pump it into a tower and run a penstock turbine with it using gravity? Or is that violating some law of physics somewhere...

You would use more electricity to pump the water up than you would get when it fell.

[finallyME]

So for all the home builders both water and wind........Try this.....find a auto generator or even a alternator, (alt. needs voltage to make coils work, though) put a pulley on it 6" or so, and try turning it by hand.

This will give you an idea of the power it takes to make electricity. and your only talking 40 to 90watts of 12 v DC.
So you need a lot of speed/gearing or a lot of power to make enough torque to turn the pully.

You don't need an auto generator or an alternator to get power. You can use almost any PM generator out there and size it to your power input. But, you are right that a stream doesn't have unlimited power. By doing a flow rate calculation, you can figure out how much energy the stream has. And with that, you know you will only get a lower power output with any contraption you build.

[hunter63]

You don't need an auto generator or an alternator to get power. You can use almost any PM generator out there and size it to your power input. But, you are right that a stream doesn't have unlimited power. By doing a flow rate calculation, you can figure out how much energy the stream has. And with that, you know you will only get a lower power output with any contraption you build.

Yeah, I know, but there are a lot of people out there that are math-less, (including me) and I just wanted a quick illustration of what it would take.

I have been very interested in alt. energy for a long time, heating, elect. etc.

Mostly after doing a energy audit, it didn't take long to realize that it was by far cheaper to conserve energy than to create/store usable energy as you never really "create" it, but change one form to a usable form....... Ex: Sunlight=heat, wind= electricity. water=heat or electricity.

Most people have no clue of their usage, when it's cheap.
Example; DD and SIL live in an all electric house, in an area that loses power real regular form ice storms, hurricanes etc.

They burned up a 7500w generator, (sounded like a BIG number to the SIL) trying to run, the central A/C, and elect water heater (2 elements, @8000 w each) plus lights, TV, micro wave, stove fridge, freezer, etc.
Right on the box of the new gen-set was a chart (rough but pretty good), that listed the usage of most appliances....What a surprise!

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cost.html

Home Power mag, good reference.


http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Hydro/hydro.htm

[canid]

absolutely; reduction is the biggest part of energy problems. in lighting for example is it good to consider that energy requirements drop if one both 1.) audits the actual requirements for luminous output. this may consist of deciding not to directly light areas which can be comfortably accommodated by ambient illumination and 2.) audits the practical consideration of one lighting technology over another. e.g. if one is producing or storing 12-24vDC and needn't transmit current far enough to suffer considerable transmission losses, it could pay to use dc current directly for lighting, particularly in cases where such lighting would give the greater luminous efficiency.

of course if a person does not wish to work all this out and does not want to take the word of somebody with more experience, the entire feasibility of alternative energy sources should possibly be re-thought. many people just don't have the time and energy to get into it. otherwise, it's just about as much fun to get into as any other hobby.

[hunter63]

Our cabin is on a fair sized river, good flow, but The DNR has more rules and regs about ANYTHING that has anything to do with it.
I discounted any thought of this option (hydro) as the legalities far out weigh any possible benefit, cost/time/BS wise.
Advice to anyone, turn off unwanted appliances, lights.....learn to do with out.

And do your home work...........
The question, has anyone HERE done this (hydro), I'm guessing the answer is no.

[canid]

I have not, and am only studying it. I have only known a couple of people who have.