Converting my windmill into a wind turbine

[jeremygrech1]

Hello my name is jeremy grech, i am a 17 year old living on the beautiful island of Malta. My cousin and i have recently become interested in environmental issues, alternate energy etc.

i have an old metal windmill in my garden. it used to draw water from an underground spring but now it is disconnected. it is an interesting feature but we were wondering if we could convert it to generate electricity.

it only takes a breeze to turn the fans and im sure if i oil the mechanism it will turn easier.

i am ready to spend alot of my summer time on it and i would be extremely grateful for anyones help and advice.(i already posted this on the treehugger forum and they suggested this site)i have important exams coming up so i dont have the time to trawl the website for posts that will help me so for now i was just wondering if it is possible and worth it. thanks

photos

http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/nn163/jeremygrech1/?action=view&current=windmill002.jpg

http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/nn163/jeremygrech1/?action=view&current=windmill001.jpg

[Old F]

 J Man

Your new here a an excited to get started

 Slow down take a deep breath an look around

See how things are done when it comes to posting no need to post the same thing in two spots

Old F

[la7qz]

Me, I got confused too because someone changed the other posting (where there were several replies already) to read-only WHILE I was trying to reply to it.

In that thread, Old F pretty much shot Jeremy's balloon down saying that it's not worth doing.

I'm here to propose the exact opposite. To me this seems like a VERY worthwhile project. The reason for this is simple. The windmill is already there. It spins in the wind and it is beautiful. It can be made to produce electricity at very low cost. It may not produce A LOT of electricity, but that is not the point. Jeremy did not ask whether the turbine would power his entire household or village, just whether it would be worthwhile to convert it to provide electricity.

Others have suggested using the tower to mount a modern wind turbine. I would not do this. I would keep this beautiful machine looking exactly as it does today and simply use it to charge a couple of batteries and power a couple of lights. The free Garbogen stators offered elsewhere on this site come to mind. Jeremy is 17 years old and he will learn a lot from this project and it won't cost him much other than his time.

Even if the machine only produces 100W (and my guess is it'll produce more than this, 100W is worth having just for the gee wiz factor.

Go for it, Jeremy!

Owen

[jacobs]

Jeremy,

I would suggest reading the following interview with Marcellus Jacobs by Mother Earth News. Marcellus gives a better description than I can as to why windmill blades are very inefficient. What you want to do can be done but I think you will be disappointed with the results. http://www.motherearthnews.com/UnCategorized/1973-11-01/The-Plowboy-Interview.aspx

[Old F]

If the well is still good  you would get far more bang for you buck restoring  it for what  its intended for than  trying to get a little electricity out of it

 From what he is saying  all it needs is a little TLC to get it going

It s in a garden after all  

An you can still watch it spin :  )

Old F

[CmeBREW]

Hi Jeremy-- and welcome to the group.

Everyone is giving great advice. You can see there are many possibilities with your project.  Your project also can depend on some other factors such as Local codes (Arg!), how much power you realistically wish to generate, how much money you want to invest in it, the possible noise any 'gearing' might make to nearby neihbors, and how pleasing to the eyes it will look in the end.

It looks like a very fun and beautiful 'artistic' first project for you and your cousin.  I personally love the looks of those water pump mills. I think most people do. It is very 'non-threatening' to the eyes.

Currently, I also am making something very similar to what you have, for generating, hopefully, 'pretty good' electricity.

Mine will be a SIMULATED water pump mill, but it has only 8-10 thin carved blades at a steep angle (4 degree blades) for much more speed than the high torque slow metal blades on your metal mill.

The blade rotor on mine is going to be about 6 feet diameter and directly hooked to a low rpm 'normal' dual rotor alternator (made W/small trailer hub)  such as made here on this site countless times. It will be about the same height as yours.

The simulated "water pump mill" I am putting up will look more like just a big 'yard decoration' with flower planters around it.  

Have fun with your project, keep asking questions, and always be safe.

     

[dynaman]

I say go for it, it should be a great learning experiance, but don't put too much money into it, as others have said, windmills have some serious drawbacks. They have lots of torque but not much rpms so anything you put on it will have to be geared up which will eat up the torque. check the link to otherpower.com for a wealth of good info.

[elvin1949]

    I agree a restore is in order.It is in a garden and gardens need water.

 It may be possible to belt up a low speed DC pm motor to it for a few watts.

 Bingo water and light,maybe.Gardens like light to.

later

Elvin

[vawtman]

(they have lots of torque but not much rpms so anything you put on it would have to be geared up which will eat up the torque)

 I would say a properly designed alt would eliminate gearing but may cost a few bucks.

 Mark :v)

[TheCasualTraveler]

Jeremy,

     Good for you. Thats a beautiful old mill (in my eyes) and I wouldn't change blades either. We can go on forever with ideas but how about getting together the facts of what you have now mechanically speaking. Maybe your brother can help you put together a diagram of what you have to work with along with lots of photos of the workings behind the blades and down the tower.

     I think the first thing to do is get that thing spinning nice and see what kind of RPM's you are getting out of whatever drive shaft you have. Check to see what is working and what is disconnected. Make sure you do this safely, we don't want you getting chewed up in any mechanism up there on the tower. Possibly the shaft coming down is still functioning but maybe it was disconnected above. Anyway, it's all just speculation till we know what your working with. Please check with your family to find out anything you should know about to be safe when working on it. So, go get us some more info, we'll wait here....

[domwild]

Hi,

Have read the following inefficient solution, but nevertheless one solution in an Oz magazine:

Leave the old wheel on and get someone to turn a wooden pulley for you. The wooden pulley needs to be connected to the wheel of the sails and will drive a generator from an old tractor. Not a modern alternator, which requires higher RPM. Such a tractor generator will turn like a motor when the batteries are connected, so you need a switch to only switch it on when the wheel is turning fast enough and is generating power. Or a better solution are diodes to ensure the current only flows one way!

The diameter of the pulley will need to be calculated, but I suspect it will be about a 4 : 1 ratio to the diameter of the tractor's generator. This generator will have carbon brushes which will wear out so the first thing you have to do is change the old brushes and perhaps also the bearings.

Not many watts but enough for a few lights and perhaps a lap top with a 12V interface. A large enough car battery should be OK for this experiment rather than a deep cycle variety.

Old mills like that need to be manually furled out of the wind when storms are expected, so watch it! Many a windmill lost its wheels during cyclones (hurricanes) in Australia.

Have fun in Malta!

dominic

 

[Capt Slog]

We have one of these in my local park, once upon a time, it used to pump water out the ground to fill a concrete paddling pool and stream for the kids to play in.  I always considered it a thing of beauty, but sadly it has not worked for many years as the health and safety fascists don't like the idea of moving parts and thought of kids drowning in 4 inches of water!

I too vote for leaving it as is.  As others have said, it's not efficient but to me thats not the point.  I'm certain you can rig it to do something.  Also, people are used to seeing it there and so are unlikely to object now just because it's started spinning.  

[CmeBREW]

That first photo gave my the impression it was much smaller. I didn't realize that was a FULL size water pumper.  It looked to me like 8' diam rotor and about 15 ft in the air. I see now its MUCH bigger.  Wow. Nice.

Like many others said, it would be a shame to change it.  You should fix it and make it operate again. It might just prove to be Very valuable thing to have around.  You might want to make a smaller electo-windmill beside it for a first project.  -Have fun in the sun.