Best Idea for Wind

[Yianie123.]

Now that I realize that heating water with wind is not best idea what do I do with wind power in the winter when its windy cold and snowing?  I live 50 Miles east of Chicago, have an evacuated tube solar water heating system, hydronic water heat for my floors.  I wanted to heat water with wind, but it seems to not be smart.  Now what do I do with the wind power.  Feed the grid?  Go with batteries? My electricity usage is very little, florecent bulbs, high eff. appliances, so the bill is really low.  I want to build a wind turbine but do not know what to do with the power.  Any help will be great

[ChrisOlson]

Now that I realize that heating water with wind is not best idea

It's not that heating water with wind power is a "bad" idea, just that it takes a big turbine, or lots of small ones, to get enough power to do anything useful.  For instance, the average home water heater has two 2,000 or 2.5 kW elements in it.  A wind turbine with a 17 foot rotor would be pushed hard on any average day to just run ONE of those elements.

If you have a very low electricity usage now, why not build a small turbine and see if it eliminates your electrical bill altogether?  Do you have a backup generator if the power goes out?  Building and flying a small wind turbine is about the same amount of money as installing a backup genset - with the difference that the wind turbine gets used every day the wind blows, and never has to be refueled.  And with the battery bank/inverter, does the same thing as a standby when the power goes out - your lights stay on.

What's wrong with using a turbine for that?
--
Chris

[Yianie123.]

Your idea is reasonable, but I was told that batteries are expensive and a hassle to deal with.  I did think of using a grid inverter but still up in the air.  I do not have a gen.  If I went with batteries, how many does the average person have and what is the investment like?

[tecker]

Start with preheat using wind and batteries . water return into a preheater with resistive elements in series with a battery bank . I don't know your circuit s you have on RE So  just a suggestion

[B529]

Don't think heating water with wind is a necessarily bad idea, just an inefficient way of going about it. It would be especially inefficient with you already having a vastly more efficient way to heat water.

I 2nd what ChrisOlson suggested. With your described little use of power. Design a wind system to address that usage, and weigh out the option of battery vs grid-tied.   

[Rover]

First question, do you have wind?  ... sound like you are getting good solar.

[Yianie123.]

I have wind in the winter months.  I also have a 90 evacuated solar tube water system that heats the water, spring thrue fall.  Its the middle of winter in which the snow and the wind blows that I feel foolish not taking advantage of.  I do have 4 - 500W PMA's that are not as impressive as I have heard.  I also have a neighbor that wants to start a patition because she does not like the current system.  I have to keep the not as high as I would like, but like everyone has said, I am not getting good results.  I think my best option is to go with batteries and isolate a circuite or feed the grid.  I also think I would get better results if I had a larger turbine instead of smaller ones.  Additional imput is greatly appreciated