Hi Guys, I am new to this forum and decided I would make anyone who was interested aware of my plans and maybe they could share their expertise on the matter. I have purchased an old flax mill site in Ireland and the previous owners had the water wheel scrapped for money which was terrible. Bits of the cast iron frame still remain on the site. What I plan to do is build my house on this site and the old building will have to come down as it is in poor condition and parts were recently renovated and no longer look like a mill anyway. I am very keen to get a water wheel reinstated on the plot and supply electricity to the house. The house itself will be connected to the national grid and the main reason I want the water wheel is to keep some tradition to the site. Now there are a number of things high I need to consider:
1. The current mill race will need cleaned in order to divert the water back down to the wheel. This won't be a problem however I am trying to figure out the best way to do this....do I pipe it all the way down where it is contained or do I bring it back down the mill race so far and the dam it up, almost like putting a plug in a sink with an overflow and have an extract pipe taking water to the wheel. I do not want a large volume of water not contained near the house for obvious reasons.
2. The existing wheel would have been in the region of 16feet by 3feet wide, of course I would love a 16ft replacement but these things are like hens teeth, so hard to come by. So how best should I know what size to reinstate or have built from scratch.
3. Now that he water wheel will be turning I want reap the benefits of this by hooking it up to an alternator to generate electricity. Obviously this will generate me DC voltage, where I need AC for my house. I do not want any battery banks. How do I size an alternator accordingly to the speed which can be geared off the wheel and is it possible to have this system running in such a way that it will meet the demands of the house and then in times of high demand I can automatically switch on to the national grid to meet the excess demand? Also on the flip side of things, if I am not home during the day and 3kwh is being generated constantly off a wheel and I have only a demand of 300w what will happen that excess electricity that is generated? Ps I cannot connect to the grid as connection costs for exporting are so high at the minute.
Anyway thanks for anyone who takes the time to read the following. I am considering doing a blog on progress but this would depend on the interest both for the wheel configuration and the house build.
Regards,
G
