This info is in response to the post by scesnick titled 'creek water fro domestic use' here:
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/6/10/16720/6931
A couple of years back I built a hydro turbine to utilise the energy from a spring fed stream we had on a block of land we own. There is not a huge volume of water (min flow just over 1 l/s but a reasonable drop of 32.162m (yes I measured it that accurately!) I initially had an F&P smartdrive motor that produced around 180W but gave up on electricity due to the distance I would need to transmit it. I rebuilt the pelton wheel and replaced the F&P with a Hydrocell diaphram water pump. This pump lifts over 7000l a day to over 250m. The pump lifts potable water from a spring using energy from not-so-potable water from the stream.
I have been meaning to do I proper post on this system but have never got around to it... Any way, here are the details on how I set up the intake for the system:
The intake is positioned in a natural restriction in the stream. It has basically performed its function without fault or attendance for two years. Other than today to take pics, the last time I checked on it was after some heavy rain about 6 months ago. Although it has worked flawlessly, I can see that the installation will need some more work to stop heavy water flows undermining in the future.
The water from the stream is channeled into a 6" pvc pipe cemented between some rocks in a naturally occuring ~1.5ft waterfall. Attached to the end of the pipe is a chute covered with stainless steel mesh. The chute runs into an open side of a 6" 90deg elbow also cemented into the bottom of the creek. The stainless screen continues beyond the end of the chute to entirely cover the open end of the 90 elbow. Water entering the chute passes through the mesh and enteres the 90 elbow, however any debris in the water flow that cannot fit through the mesh (3mm) are washed down the chute and off the end of the mesh back into the stream. This setup has never been blocked.
Click on images to view at a higher res.
Water running right to left:
Here is the chute with the water running towards you:
The outlet of the pipe and the top of the chute:
The bottom of the chute and the 90 degree elbow:
Detail showing how I constructed the chute:
The whole thing is constrructed from approx 5ft of PVC pipe, a few screws and some stainless mesh. The most expensive parts by far were pieces needed to reduce from 6" down to 2" for the delivery pipe to the turbine.
