Homebrewed Electricity > Hydro
Air Vents Again
Vortechs:
I have a micro-hydro that's been running for 20 years. It's a 3" HDPE pipe with 130 ft of head. I have always had air issues with the system due to the nature of the environment it's in.
The system is on a rocky mountain side where the pipe runs downhill over parallel ridges of rock which means there are unavoidably some dips, though I have done my best to minimize them. The intake filter is at the bottom of a rock pool which is fed by a waterfall. The water comes off of the mountain and contains a lot of small particles of peat which build up in the pipe and coat the insides.
To cope with all this I need to regularly flush the pipe through full bore to clear air and peaty goo. Last summer I spent 2 days cleaning out the pipe with a rubber scrapper system that I came up with, this increased the flow a lot and surprisingly so did the new adjustable nozzle I installed at the same time, the increased power output was great but also led to it sucking more air bubbles in and worsening the air problems.
Is there a self bleeding air vent system that I could install on this setup to deal with this? I've tried researching but cant seem to find much information on it.
Thanks,
Trev
Mary B:
Not self bleeding but a vertical off the high spots where air would collect would capture it. Add a valve on the end to open and bleed air out. If you make it 2-3 feet tall it can trap a lot of air before needing to be bled off.
Vortechs:
Unfortunately the top end of the pipe is very inaccessible and I need to vent the air regularly. Most of the air seems to accumulate just where the pipe rises up from the bottom of the pool through the front of the dam then drops away steeply down hill, at that point the top of the pipe is only just below the water level of the pool, so doubt it would be able to push the air up out of it anyway.
MagnetJuice:
I wonder if drilling a 2mm hole at the highest part of the pipe would work.
A small amount of water could come out of the hole, but not enough to affect the output.
If that would work, it would be maintenance-free.
Ed
joestue:
I would go with a bigger hole. 1/4"poly pipe is like 10$ for 100 feet. Can run it up the hill far enough to reduce the waste flow.
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