Author Topic: 3 years of wind turbine abuse (Read 3007 times)

Dixie · « **on:** November 21, 2007, 04:11:39 AM »

It's been an awful long time since I posted anything here... In fact, the last post I made was when the Otherpower folks were off in... well... on a "working" trip out east... yea right.

I've been out here keeping busy as always... but unfortunately, I've not had the chance (or help) to take down the good old 15' windmill that powers my house. Three years and a month, and poor Bill hasn't had a break... Here you see Bill's windmill (Bill is the model for the tail) when it was first raised. This is about the last of the Volvo hub mills that is still flying... Bill the border collie has been herding the wind since July, 2004.. there was an issue shortly thereafter (October '04) that forced it to be taken down for inspection and repair, but since then.............

Above is how it looked then... below is how it's lookin' now"

Poor Bill...Cheap paint and neglect... even Bill can't keep his shiny coat, but he keeps on workin'.. hearding the wind. Poor Bill needs a good brushing if nothing else.

We only have about 300 watts of solar... it's OK, but... sure enough doesn't cover the load...

I went up today to check on the windmill... first examined the guy wires... they looked OK. All the turnbuckles stilll seem tight.

Dammit Matt... lets get with the program here... I can't do this without thumbs... unplug and unwind the damn cord more often... this is preposterous. Sure... silly Koko might thing it looks like a yummy pretzel, but it ain't a joke.. ain't a snack.

We all know that snacks come from the refrigerator... folks cook food, let it sit in the fridge for a day or two longer than they should, then they feed it to me. Yum! Good ol' Bill hearding the wind has provided me plenty a good meal.

Do note that is an elecric fridge.. been running for a year and a half now.

There are other loads on the batteries... video games and such.. sheesh.. what a waste...

But then... not only people wasting away.. some dogs just do nothin' but sleep... Good to have Morwen visit as always, but geez... we ain't a couch rental facility... but she's so sweet....

In all honesty, the very best part of the windmill is having fresh toast with morning kibbles... Thanks again Volvo Farmer!

The chickens seem to like toast as well...

Genreral opinion... Three years, no maintenace, electric refrigerator, toaster, TV, Video games, computer with satellite internet... Not recommended. It's a well built machine, good Volvo bearings, some luck....

In days of darkness and now wind, the generator has been run. We've had this generator in place for about two years, and it's been run perhaps 20 hours total to charge batteries during dire times...

But... for the most part, it's mostly been the wind....

Maybe a lot of luck....above you can clearly see the ammeter... sitting at a conservative kilowatt... it was pegged at over two kilowatt not 2 minutes before I could get this picture set up....

Best,

LD

(Littlest Dix.. workin' dog)

Jrmobb · « **Reply #1 on:** November 20, 2007, 10:24:46 PM »

Great pics, Im impressed that the one mill and those few cells keeps everything running so consistently, that's great to hear.I have heard that satellite Internet is slow, how do you like it?

Nothing40 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 20, 2007, 11:39:57 PM »

Nice!

Get that McIntosh fired up! ;-)

DamonHD · « **Reply #3 on:** November 21, 2007, 01:46:04 AM »

Nice write-up!

How many kWh do you get through in an average day, BTW?

Rgds

Damon

AbyssUnderground · « **Reply #4 on:** November 21, 2007, 02:48:07 AM »

I agree with you Damon, very nice write up indeed. I too would like to know the kWh throughput as well. 1KW on the meter, that would do me if it sustained it all the time! :-)

1000 watts would run my pc, 2 servers, laptop and a small 500w heater :-) Lovely :-)

Dixie · « **Reply #5 on:** November 21, 2007, 09:03:01 AM »

darnit I should have expected someone would make me do math. I hate doing math. Not that it's too difficult, but it's hard to hold the pen...

Trimetric shows a total of 29,600ah out in 550 days. Rounding some numbers, I get about 750kwh used in that time.

Estimating about 1kwh/day solar, and a total of about 20kwh generator, that leaves about 230kwh from Bill's mill.. round it off again and call it 0.5kwh/day

Solar may well be a tad less. The meter on solar only charge died, but never saw more than 9amps, and certainly not for 4 hours/day. Then again, in extremely windy periods, the windmill is off...

something like that anyhow... please correct my math if it's all messed up.

fungus · « **Reply #6 on:** November 21, 2007, 09:07:22 AM »

Cool

Nice to see some dogs posting once in a while

I like the picture with all the controls etc on the wall...

DamonHD · « **Reply #7 on:** November 21, 2007, 09:35:45 AM »

So, I'm not understanding: are you saying that your daily consumption is ~20kWh+ of which maybe 10% is RE (ie solar and wind)?

That's not meant as a criticism at all. (Instead, I can bask in the glory of my family's/house's 7kWh/day consumption! B^> )

Rgds

Damon

Dixie · « **Reply #8 on:** November 21, 2007, 09:54:07 AM »

Daily consumption ~1.5kwh.... Most of which is the fridge (about 1kwh/day alone)

750kwh total used in 550 days

all RE except the 20kwh of generator.. this is an off-grid application

DamonHD · « **Reply #9 on:** November 21, 2007, 10:33:02 AM »

Hi,

Ah, thanks for explaining! I couldn't work out of the 20kWh was per day or not!

Your 1.5kWh/day consumption is amazing IMHO. My fridge/freeze currently uses ~2kWh all by itself!

Rgds

Damon

DanB · « **Reply #10 on:** November 21, 2007, 10:40:47 AM »

I don't think Dixies numbers quite add up (its too conservative). I can't believe the figures from the tri metric. (I wonder if the wind turbine is hooked through the trimetric there) Knowing Dixies household I would make the following guess....

Fridge: 1kWH/day (that's probably a bit conservative)

Computer/VSAT modem (4 hours/day average guessing...): very close to 1kWh/day

Stereo - television/lighting - .5kWH/day.

That sums up the loads anyhow.

I expect their consumption is closer to 2.5 kWH/day - I know (even though it's shut down half the time) the wind turbine must be doing better than .5kWH/day...

He also dumps some excess wind to heat.

Dixie · « **Reply #11 on:** November 21, 2007, 10:58:50 AM »

I have to agree... I pondered for a long time thinking it didn't make sence...

The trimetric does see windmill power in and out (except the rather insignificant car radio), but... I'm not sure I can trust what it says...

DamonHD · « **Reply #12 on:** November 21, 2007, 12:37:37 PM »

Well the best I could do next to reduce our daily load (I think) is buy a very efficient new replacement for one of our big appliances: washing machine, dishwasher or fridge/freezer.

None of them is going to die very soon though, the fridge/freezer in particular is still going strong though is the biggest consumer at 2kWh/day. I'm not going to replace something that is working well.

The (EU) A+ rated fridge/freezers are claimed (in the standard tests) to use well under 1kWh/day for ~270l capacity. I'm not sure if I believe those numbers as given: does anyone have any experience of comparing actual consumption with that claimed on the 'energy saving' sticker?

My target is to get us down to 5kWh/day without sackcloth and ashes, but I can't see it happening very quickly. So I admire 2.5kWh/day!

Rgds

Damon

jmk · « **Reply #13 on:** November 21, 2007, 02:10:39 PM »

I'm glad to hear that the mill can take a licking and keep on turning. I enjoyed reading your post too. I remember reading about your mill in the wind section of Other Power. I like the tail. Its a great way to appreciate both the dog and the mill.

PaulJ · « **Reply #14 on:** November 22, 2007, 03:10:21 AM »

Without knowing the details of the EU standard, the numbers are believable for that size fridge, my 4 1/2 star rated (by the Aust/NZ standard) 440l frij/freezer uses about 1.05 - 1.10 kWh/day @27*C or less as measured by me, the label said 417 kWh/year, pretty much on the money.

Paul.

DamonHD · « **Reply #15 on:** November 22, 2007, 06:39:13 AM »

Ah, good to hear a positive data point, thanks.

Rgds

Damon

Eirbyte · « **Reply #16 on:** November 22, 2007, 11:52:48 AM »

Nice photos thanks it's a good design we have an 8ft at 24v and the only problem is rust on the mags any cures?. We are now building a 12ft or maybe I should go bigger you can watch the progress on our Irish forum at www.eirbyte.com/itm. But I will have to put something other than a collie on the tail as he might frighting the sheep and the local farmers might shoot him.

Did you make that big frankenstein switch and if so could you share the details thanks.

Flux · « **Reply #17 on:** November 23, 2007, 01:39:39 AM »

Most of the people who post here live in fairly dry areas and we see little comments about magnets rusting.

In Ireland with its damp climate and proximity to sea air it may be something of a problem. I have not had serious problem in the UK but there is signs that it might be an issue long term with magnets potted in polyester resin. Probably potting in epoxy would be far better as the polyester doesn't really stick to anything. I have no experience of Vinyl ester but it may be ok as it seems to be based on epoxies.

I haven't tried polyurethane compounds but they might work. I would prefer not to pot the magnets at all but I would never risk it from the corrosion point of view.

Flux

Eirbyte · « **Reply #18 on:** November 23, 2007, 05:54:30 AM »

Thanks Flux we might try epoxy coated magnets this time has anyone experience with them.

MattB · « **Reply #19 on:** November 25, 2007, 12:40:33 PM »

"Did you make that big frankenstein switch and if so could you share the details thanks."

Got if off eBay. The seller had one almost twice as big, which of course, I tried to win.. but, not surprisingly, a better funded movie prop supplier in Hollywood won it.

Of course, the one I did get is way, way overkill for the task. But it looks neat. Lets just hope it doesn't fall off the wall.

-Matt (caretaker of Dixie)

tmmjohnson · « **Reply #20 on:** December 29, 2007, 07:17:13 AM »

Just thought I would give you an answer. I am in Africa (90 degree days)and run a stand up freezer with an external temperature controller as a fridge. It is a Siemens 16 cu. ft. It was rated at A plus and said to use 950 watt/hours a day as a freezer. I am averaging 1000 watt hours a day using it as a fridge. The kids have it open a fair amount and it is an upright so lots of the cold goes out. I am satisfied as I paid half the cost of a sunfrost and didn't have to ship it, but could buy it locally. My neighbor just bought a bosh freezer that he will use as a freezer. I will pass on the numbers after he gets it up and running.

DamonHD · « **Reply #21 on:** December 29, 2007, 08:20:42 AM »

Good, very encouraging.

I think I'm going to do two things for the current house ASAP.

Put a ~1kWp grid-tie solar PV on our roof to offset the power used by stuff in my office plus a bit more to be roughly carbon-neutral. That will knock ~1kWh/day off our effective energy imports to the home. I'm just starting to write this up (work-in-progress!) here: http://www.earth.org.uk/towards-a-LZC-office.html
Buy a newer fridge/freezer and sell or give away our existing one, which should save about another 1kWh/day (and about 20x cheaper for that saving than the PV!).

That will sort of get me to my target 5kWh/day net electricity consumption for the house.

Rgds

Damon

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Author Topic: 3 years of wind turbine abuse (Read 3007 times)