Need Turgo wheel needed, I got 100 of flexible pipe

[oregoncreek]

I was told this hose could to flow 70-100 gpm at 30 head.

My ? is I was thinking or getting one of those Plastic turgo wheels sence they seem to good for low head n higher flows.

like this one lower price http://www.rpc.com.au/reindex.html?http://www.rpc.com.au/products/hydropower/wheel_runners.html

or this one

http://h-hydro.com/turgo_drive.html

I might use it some what on my 6 ft head dam but mostly as camping hydro soucre

where i could get 20-30 foot of head with 3" pipe.

I'm DIY guy so i'm looking for wheel n nozzle , and have 2 PM gens 1 spins 1800 the ohter 5000, I can very the load with series light bulbs.

[Nando]

Energy is not free, even the way you are expressing yourself in this message .

First the 1800 or greater RPM motor is NOT good, you need one with low RPM to be able to harvest the low power that a head of 20 feet = ~ 6 meter may have .

36 watt per liter/sec maybe attainable if properly done.

Nando

[chainsaw]

Try a cooling fan from a 10 to 20hp Briggs or similar air cooled engine, they make passable turgo, especially for testing purposes, can't beat the price as many junk engines are available.

[MtnTopRebel]

My son has hydro, and after buying a Harris hydro that was defecive, he sent it back and decided to find a cheaper wheel occuring in the wrecking yard.  After cutting up a series of automatic transmissions torque converters, he found that the older Subaru's 80's series had a perfect one, and with a couple flat washers to make the center shaft match, a 10" plastic pipe cap, and four rain bird brass jets, and the alternator, he had hydro.  

hope this helps

[MtnTopRebel]

here's an old link to pix of the unit... http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2005/4/21/32520/2658

[strider3700]

I haven't done it yet so it may not work out  but I noticed a few weeks ago that one of those brushes with spinning heads meant for washing cars and boats had what looked like a pelton wheel in the head.  the water from the hose hit the wheel spinning the brush and then poured out to wash the car.   If I find a cheap one I'll give it a try and see if it's any good for real small hydro or not.

[mobrien]

Thanks for the idea.  

Just picked up a Simoniz "rotary car wash brush" from Pep Boys.

It looks very promising.  In fact it just looks like a water turbine.

It has a runner, a nozzle directed at the runner, a clear hard (polycarbonate) shroud. It is intended to use a pressure washer to drive it, so obviously the usual hydro application will have much less pressure. On the plus side the materials used are probably going to be strong enough to last a while at the lower pressure of hydro...

It has a set of two  gears to gear down the runner speed for the brush used to scrub the car finish. I would guess it is geared down avout 4:1.

I also coincidentally got an Ametek motor from C and H.  It is marked DCM 2502

30 V and 600 RPM.

I figured this would be my first stab at a small hydro system.

I'm working with 25 ft of head and 60 gpm

I think I'll take advantage of the gearing.

It looks like I can just mount a coupler between the brush and the motor shaft. There is already a circle of holes in the hub of the brush that can hold screws for mounting the coupler.

I guess this will be a "pico" hydro.  The runner is only about 3.5 inches in diameter.  Obviously it can't handle much water.   It doesn't look like a Pelton or a Turgo. But then for $24 it might be a fun experiment.  

[mobrien]

The "Whirly Wash" works off of regular hose pressure, so maybe it would perform better than one intended for pressure washer pressure.

Here is a link:

http://www.autosportcatalog.com/index.cfm/fa/p/pid/3755/sc/7544

Amazon sells it too:

http://www.amazon.com/Whirlywash-The-Only/dp/B000GDXUTO/sr=1-3/qid=1153275733/ref=sr_1_3/102-5021943
-1579352?ie=UTF8&s=hi

Anyone looked at this?

[mobrien]

I went in  a diferent direction for my micro-hydro.  I bought a squirrel cage air blower from Harbor Freight and mounted the cage on my PM motor.  Preliminary tests with 200 ft of 4 inch and 12 ft of the 25 ft head look promising.  I will start a new posting on this project...