Hello all,

First off, this is my first post (other than my intro) so I just wanted to say "Hi" to everyone.

Ok, now that that's outta the way. I have recently purchased land that has a year round stream on it and I am looking to produce power on my property from this constant source. I have a couple 275 gallon containers and I think I can get almost 100 psi out of the system if I rig it right. My conundrum is, what do I use for the turbine and generator? Electric motor or Vehicle Alternator? I'm leaning toward the motor because of the high RPM's needed for the alternator to produce usable amperage. But this is going to run 24/7/365 (unless it freezes, which it shouldn't) and so I'm thinking the alternator would be more resilient for the long term use?

Specific questions: I've been all over Youtube and everyone and there brothers' got a pre-made or homemade rig, but no one is showing how they did it. Anyone have specifics or plans that I can look over?

I set up the water catching system per "Off Grid Homestead - Water" on Wranglerstar's Youtube channel and that has worked out great for supplying us with fresh drinking water (once it's filtered).

Thanks in advance for all the help and suggestions I know I will be receiving! Yahwah Bless you all!
SGT Pruee
FOB Sharana, Afghanistan

"If you're not ABSOLUTELY APPALLED, you're NOT paying ATTENTION!!!"

Mother Earth News had a buncha Systems - search MicroHydro or Micro Hydro for some articles...

Neat thing about Alternators, especially "One Wire" style is that they are simple and cheap to replace. The New FlatBelt style are pretty efficient, and nearly impervious to water for damage. The alternator will not like to get wet, so make a shaft extension to keep it in a safe area, or arrange for the alternator to be high.

Really cool thing about using a common brand (Chevy, Ford) is that you can have a series of different capacities in the same mount and configuration - if you find that your set-up drives a 60 Amp alternator with no sweat, maybe you can switch in an 80 Amp unit. There are even units (Found in Off-Road Mags) that go up to 140 or 160 Amps, if you have that need!

I am not sure about that, but there is a place called Green School http://www.greenschool.org/ who have set up a system where a stream enters a concrete circle which generates a whirlpool, this multiplies the power of the water before it hits the turbine.

something like this:

Helot, that's a pretty impressive school. I had a look at the gardening section, (very interesting), but couldn't find anything about the system you referred to. Do you have a link to that particular item?
And on the subject of interesting sites, have you visited www.journeytoforever.com? Now that is a really good site also.

I WISH! No, I'm not allowed to "deviate the flow of water" in my stream because it's actually the edge of my property and someone else's. So, I have covertly put a basket and hose in a low part of the stream and buried it so that no one knows its there. That's how I get the water from my stream.

Nice pic though. Do you know this person? What kind of power are they getting from this? 10's of Kw's for sure, if not a 100Kw's!

Thanks for the Pic though.

I just grabbed it from google. You can see a lot of designs like this by searching for vortex power. I don't know what kind of increase they get with this kind of design, but it would be awesome to have an all year stream to get one set up.

Link To Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRogfURdIHc



Link To Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkdNzEVRXKQ



Link To Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdTnLhksg1o




Link To Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Iq0b2jwyw

In the second and third videos, having the lower end of the water wheel clear of the discharge water would lower drag and increase efficiency...water draining out might also get a little more work out of the wheel.
Also, more height would build more velocity....maybe moving the wheel downstream would help in this regard, with the supply pipe directing the flow....increasing the speed of the water increases it's energy, or am I wrong?....it's been 30 years since I did a hydro project.....


Using as large a diameter pipe as possible to gain head, then reducing it to the discharge size JUST before discharge would build velocity...am I correct?
And using 'wide bend' PVC pipes would reduce internal friction/turbulence, water does not care for those sharp bends that most folks use. IIRC I was told that a 90 degree bend was the same friction-wise as adding 10 feet of pipe.

Comments?