Hydro Electric Power and Conversion

Hi, folks.

This is my first post, and thought I'd introduce myself. My name is James, and I've been living in the UK, working with audio electronics for some years.
I have no formal training on the matter, but my enthusiasm makes up for that.

I'm due to have a baby, so looking at alternative sources of power for the winter to save some money. I've also been looking at land, but I think I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, given the current situation.


At the moment, I have a number of materials available to me. Some sheet metal and plenty of wood. I also have some stepper motors and a universal washing machine motor.

I essentially want to turn the outside tap into a hydropower system running a Pelton wheel.
I haven't got the wheel, or should I say; "fabricated a wheel yet", as I'm going to need some numbers. I like numbers, but they don't like me!

Then, I want to build a sheet metal water wheel with buckets and a waterfall. Of course this is a future endeavour, but though it might be useful to think of them both at the same time, given, that they're the same thing...

I've watched countless videos online, but there isn't a place where a full breakdown or plans are available.
It would be great if I could (with a bit of assistance) get a fully fledged DIY Pelton wheel to run from a garden hose outlet.

The pressure here is really quite something, so I can't imagine I'd have issues achieving around 300W with something this small.
36v motor @ 9A is around 324W.
Problem is, a small jet of water isn't like to move that kind of load without gears. Even then I think it'd fall short.

I'll post my findings here, and hopefully we can make plans for a universal hydro system for everyone.

Rgerads,
J

Hi James;
Well, you have some ambitious plans!
I installed my micro hydro system in 1996, I have some experience with them.

My first question is about the "tap"... is this tap connected to a gravity spring?
You said it has tremendous pressure, hopefully, this is not a city water tap nor using some kind of pump to gain pressure.
When you run a hydro you must have a plan for the "waste" water leaving the hydro... it will be unpressurized and there will be a lot of it.
Think of releasing a new spring into your yard the neighbor's yard and the city street... chances are they will not like a new stream...
Next, you talked about making 9 amps @ 36 volts. are you planning to use 36 volts worth of large battery to store your power?
Systems generally run 12vt, 24 vt, and 48 vt.
You will need a pure sine wave inverter to change your 36 vt to 110vt
You must have a constant diversion charge control to divert excess power.
You will need a bank of deep-cycle batteries.
As you see there is much more to setting up a hydro than say setting up a solar panel arrangement.

I hope I did not puncture your balloon, that was not my intent.
It is just that hydros require more specialized equipment than a person realizes.
Solar power is much easier to harness and there is no new stream cutting its way through your backyard.

Could you explain how your hydro system works Thomas

Hi Lise;
I have a small year-round artesian spring on the mountain, depending on the season it produces 3-8 gpm  
It fills a smaller cement cistern, 4' x 4' x 7' deep.
Any extra that I do not use diverts around the cistern and runs off down the mountain.
I have 2200' of 1.5" (3.8cm) black poly line with 300' of vertical drop, water pressure at the freezeless hydrant in the yard is apx.125 psi.
In my yard at the foot of the mountain, I change to a 2" PVC pipe and run 30' over towards the house.
Off of the 2" line, I have a 3/4" line to the hydro, a 3/4" line continuing to the house, and also a 3/4" line that supplies our upper and lower gardens with pressurized water.
The Hydro is a Harris Hydro brand permanent magnet Pelton wheel.
I use a single nozzle with a 1/8"- 9/64- 3/16" hole depending on the season.
I produce from 7.5 amps @12 vt up to 14 amps depending on the nozzle size.
The discharge water falls into the plastic barrel and gravity flows down a 2" PVC under the county road to our pigpen, supplying them with clean cold water and then down into a shallow draw creating a wetland and water hole for the wildlife.

The hydro is connected to the house batteries (2 6vt 224 amp hour deep cycles)
The batteries are connected to a constant diversion charge control unit.
It diverts up to 100% of the incoming power to heat sink battery dumps to control battery voltage.
There is a pure sine wave inverter to supply the house with 110 power.

Hi James
Lots more hydro stuff lurking around on this site - try https://permies.com/forums/jforum?module=search&action=search&forum_id=12&search_keywords=hydro&match_type=all&search_in=ALL&forum=110&groupByTopic=true&sort_by=time&sort_dir=DESC&search_date=ALL&member_number=&member_first_name=&member_last_name=&member_match_type=memberPosted

There's a UK micro hydro plant, waterwheel attached to generator via a tractor gearbox. The devisor took the idea to Africa and Asia, as a low-cost way of generating elec using things they're likely to have knocking around: https://valeroyalen.weebly.com/energy---renewable.html

Generating power is complicated. If the energy is rainfall off a mountain, it's free. If the energy comes from an electrically driven municipal supply, it's not free.

I think the first rule is to massively reduce your electrical usage. It's not as sexy, but the maths suggest that's where the money is.