Bob Greely

Update:
I am now getting  107watts. Making progress. Thomas in one of your posts you mentioned my nozzle opening was huge. So I put a smaller nozzle on, I went from a 6mm to a 4mm. And boom I have 107watts, up from 74. Next I will get rid of that 1/2" PEX, but I will have to wait until we do trip to the store for parts.

Thanks,
Bob

Wow thanks Thomas for all your input.

I did not tune the generator, there is nothing in the manual about doing tuning, so probably not something I can do.

As far as swapping out my 1" for 2", my wife is not real happy with you right now. She helped me with the 1" and hated every minute of it. And yes the cost would be huge. I could buy enough batteries and solar panels, instead of increasing my pipe to 2". Plus not have to pay for a divorce.

So I will try these to things.

1. take out the 1/2" pex and replace with 3/4".

2. At the spring put 200' of 2 inch and see if this ups my pressure.

3. I do not understand the intermittent 1" and 2" part, but I know pretty much nothing about hydraulics, so I will trust you that it works. I  will try it if my pressure is still low after 1 and 2.

Oh and yes I am using black poly pipe 165PSI.
The pipe is not buried it runs through the stream bed, We did bury  it with rocks where cows have paths through the stream.
Another question for you, did you use black pipe? How did you connect your lengths of pipe, we use blue-lock push-ons which work great for connecting to pieces. But we are using barbs to connect valves which constrict flow and seem to always leak. Have you found anything better?



Thank you,
Bob Greely

Thank you for your input. Here are some answers to your questions.

I have 500' of head and I am 3900' from my spring to my hydro.

I had a designer of solar and hydro systems size my system

My spring is approximately 25CFS, yes it is big. The 2" pipe is submerged and completely filled. I actually have a tee so water can flow in from both ends.

I am not sure what is under the hood of the unit, magnets or brushes. I think it is magnets.

I get 14GPM from my 1" pipe, I am not sure how many gallons of that flow through the generator when it is running.

I have a tail pipe, so the water free falls into a pipe, back to the stream.

I can upload a picture of my box with generator if that helps.

I have different size nozzles. 6mm was installed until a few hours ago 75 watts at 55PSI. I just put a 7mm on and now getting 38watts at 35PSI. I also have a 4mm and 5mm I can try.

Are you saying I should  vary the diameter of my pipe as it travels over the 3900'?

Also, you are saying run the 1" right to the nozzle? So I would put a reducer from 1" (pipe) to 1/2" (nozzle threads)?


Thanks you for your help.

Bob

Hello, I am new to this forum, and to micro hydro.  I am hoping to find someone that is good with water flow dynamics.

I just installed a watter buddy micro hydro generator. It should max out at about 200watts, which is plenty for what I need. I am only getting 75watts. I need to increase my dynamic PSI and I have a few thoughts on how to do that.

1. Currently I have a 1" water line with 180PSI static and 55PSI dynamic at the generator.  Within 2' of my generator I step down to a 3/4" PEX and then to a 1/2" PEX just before the water enters the generator nozzle. The nozzle has a 1/2" inlet and 6mm exit. If I remove the 1/2" PEX will that increase my PSI at the nozzle outlet?

2. At the head, spring, I have a 6' 2 inch pipe feeding my 1" waterline. I also have a valve on the 1" which uses barbs to connect to my 1 inch line. So I actually shrink down to 3/4" through my valve. If I remove this valve and go straight through with 1" will that help?
.
3. Just thought of this. What if I increase the length of my 2" pipe at the head. Say  to 100'.

Thank you,
Bob