Floating water wheel

[anthonyvega]

Hi everyone!  newbie here.  We have a year round creek which we'd like to use to help power our home.  The idea was to use a waterwheel to recharge a set of batteries.  Can a waterwheel charge a huge set of batteries?  We typically work out of our house, with several computers going at the same time occasionally during the day.  all heat and cooking is natural gas, so no needs there.

The thing about the creek - its level changes all the time.  So i was thinking about a "floating" waterwheel.  Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?  could it generate enough power?  I read one post about a toy aircraft propeller, though I think there is too much debris for that.  There are several spots in the creek that are quite swift.

Not quite sure how to calculate the head and flow either, its not falling water, like the other water wheels seem to use...?

Any of your comments or suggestions are quite appreciated, we really are looking forward to this if its possible.

Anthony

[Muiller]

There are floating water wheels out there.Dont know anything about them but here is a link,it does not give any info but the picture might help http://www.navitron.org.uk/page.php?id=72&catId=70

[hydrosun]

Like all hydro the potential power available is figured by volume and speed. In this case the volume is the diameter of the propelor that can be sumerged in the stream and the speed can be measured by how fast the water flows. 10 years ago I looked into doing such a system and found a company in Canada that built a system with a propeler geared to a shaft to the surface and a generator above the water. I envisioned it attached to a boat looking like an outboard motor and anchored to the shore. I think the company was called alt-hydro, but a google search should find it. The standard unit swept a square meter and put out 200 watts at a walking speed water. This is all from memory so don't quote me.

Chris

[thirteen]

depending on the size of the creek do some inspection of the sides of the banks so you could possilby install cables on each side of the creek for stablity of your charging unit. Maybe even a bridge supports maybe used. But you might have a problem if it is a floatable creek by people. Warning signs will be needed. You will also need to make it so if there is alot of flooding going on you cna secure it to one bank. You might go up the creek and clean some of the brush that could give you a problem if it comes down the creek.Just some ideas MnMnRoy