Whats the best generator for me ?

[gone fishin]

Hey sorry if this topic is talked about elsewhere on other threads.  I am new to hydro generators.  I was hoping to get some feedback on what might be the best generator for my needs.  

   The one thing i really have going for me here is a creek with major head and flow. I have rigged a firehose about 250 up the creek and am using it on my land for hosing off muddied concrete etc... i put a cone nozzle on the firehose and the pressure i have shoots a powerful stream laterally about 60 feet before it hits the ground.

   Basically my question is what would be the best hydroelectric generator (or generators) i could get to produce 5k to 10k watts of electricity.  Between our house and another building (our business) we sometimes use alot of electricity.

Whats the best type of generator ?  What are some good sites to look at that sell these generators ?  Would attempting to home build 1 or more of these generators be feasable ?  

Thanks ...its been tuff figuring this out on internet searches.  Any help is appreciated.  

[Basil]

Found this with 3 chicks. Lot's fo info.

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2009/7/27/2359/13783

[TomW]

gone fishin;

Always use the Google search the board link. The "internal" Scoop search is terribly bad and we really should just kill that link because it causes a lot of confusion.

ADMIN, are you listening?

Tom

[kurt]

no don't kill that link it is useful for allot of things especially with the database all messed up the way it is that is the only way to actually get older users diaries to display properly is to use the "search the board" tool set to diaries and search for the persons user name so killing that link would be very annoying to allot of advanced users.

[TomW]

OK, just make it clear its not much good for common searching.

Or move it off the top of the page maybe.

How many times has it caused problems compared to how often it is useful?

Removing, renaming  or just moving the link won't kill the function just make it not show up.

Not like we can do anything anyway so...

Fun to speculate, however.

I think ADMIN went into hibernate mode as I haven't seen a post on last weeks workshop?

Curious how that went building a 12 footer.

Tom

[wooferhound]

Please don't kill the Scoop search feature ! !

All you need to do is understand it. when you type text into that search it is as if you had put "quotes" around the phrase and it searches for the string and not the individual words. Plus the fact that you can search out Users, Diaries, Comments, Stories and more...

[wooferhound]

Oh ,  and another thing . . .

when I search using Google I get the same story repeated so many times that it takes forever to sort out the information from inside the search results.

[TomW]

gone fishin;

Sorry we blew this thread  off course. I hope you got your answer.

Tom

[gone fishin]

Hey ..

Well like i said i have done alot of reading and searching,and learned alot.  Of course still green to this though.  Basically i am just looking for some suggestions.

I am looking for the best way to get 6 or so kw per hour.  Is there some bigger hydro generators to buy on sites online ?... or should i use like 3 Harris hydros ?

Those i am seeing i could get up to 2kw per generator.

Please give me suggestions guys.

Thanks John

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

First thing to do is to figure out how much head you have.

Identify the sites where you can:

 - Pull the water out of the stream.

 - Build your generator and put the water from it back in.

If you can't get a good measurement of the height difference, run a hose from one to the other, get all the bubbles out of it, and then (slowly so it doesn't break) turn off the water.  Once it stops, measure the pressure at the "put it back in" site's height (or a known height above it).  One PSI is equal to 27.7 inches of water column, a little over two feet of head.

Another way to get a quick estimate the head is to aim the nozzle straight up and see how high it shoots.  But PSI and survey maps are more accurate.

Next you need to estimate how many gallons per second you can divert through your generator.

Finally you need to figure out a route for a pipe - how long it is and what sort of bends it has.

With those three numbers you can determine:

 - How much power is in the water.

 - What size penstock pipe to use.

 - What type of turbine would work well.

 - What efficiency to expect in extracting the power.

It sounds like you have a lot of head so you'll probably be able to use a Pelton or Turgo, or maybe a Banki/crossflow.  Peltons and turgos are nice because they are efficient and their RPM is high, good for generator design.  If you're in the right head/flow range for a Banki they're nice because they're easy to fabricate and self-cleaning, though slightly less efficient.

[hydrosun]

Hydro is always about head and flow. Without knowing how much head (or pressure) and how many gallons per minute there is no way to give good advice on the best way to harness the stream to produce power. Put a pressure guage on your hose with the valve at the bottom closed. Then the flow of the stream that can be diverted. How fast can your fire hose fill up a container. Once you have those numbers you can figure out the size of pipe and generator size. If you are on grid an induction motor as generator may be the lowest cost option. The Harris units maximum  output depends on the rpm or pressure of the water.  Maximum output doubles from 75 feet to 300 feet head. So again you need those numbers first.

Chris

[ebby1234]

www.alternativeenergysuppliesuk.com  will give you an idea of available water turbines