You get more ad money and better watch time statistics (which means the algorithm shows the video to more people) if you break up long videos into segments, I think Mr Hydrohead has done a great job chopping up this video.
I keep telling my self, If I am fortunate to live in the mountains with access to a year round stream with a good head and flow, I am so going to do micro hydro. Not that I needed this series to inspire me, But It was a joy to watch just the same. It isn't every day you see such quality on UA-cam.
@@mrhydrohead Awe inspiring series, thank you. You have a wide variety of skills. I was wondering what your background might be. I have a friend in Leadville, ele. 9000.
scott jones I worked 30+ years as a Director of Photography in LA, commercials, features, music videos, docs, TV. Im certain you’ve seen something I worked on. Travelled widely, and private pilot. Finally retired and escaped LA for this piece of wilderness. Still try to learn something new every month. Thx for watching. Leadville is nice.
So many Great Projects, so few lifetimes to do them... Your Documentary of this endeavor should serve as a template (one of many fields in the Sciences) for education of our children. Earth Science is so much cooler than video games and social drama... Thank You For Sharing Your Considerable Experience In Such A Way !
@@mrhydrohead Question for you, sir. Do you still remove the new intake barrel and the staked down flexible pipe during the snow runoff? The new intake location looked like it is just to the left of the two rocks that formed the old intake and is relatively shielded from the erosion.
Your series is on par with the National Geographic television programming, very well edited, and always fully informative, as well as fully narrated with a clear and pleasant voiceover, well done, and I am in envy of such a project, actually looking at a full solar panel array myself.
This is amazing. I have been interested in off grid and micro hydro power for years but have never seen see such a powerfull and well executed system. I can use this as a map for implementing micro hydro myself in the future! Kudos
I am absolutely flabbergasted. I’ve read the first few pages of complimentary comments and I must say, they fall a little short of the reverence you are due BECAUSE YOU ARE A GOD! The entire series is well documented, well detailed and explained... simply, well done! Thank you for the appreciable effort you put into sharing your project with us. May the UA-cam Overlords see fit to properly compensate your channel at ten cents per view.
Wow thx for watching and for the enthusiastic compliment. It has been a labor of love and there has been a fair amount of remuneration for the effort although nowhere near that rate. Certainly enough to afford a nice meal now and then. It does amaze me that shooting it nearly completely with my phone and a drone which i was able to buy that the series has attracted millions of views and thousands of subscribers. The most rewarding part is living with the steady abundance of power that is the end result. Again, thank you for your kind thoughts. 🙏
Fascinating. Has inspired me to try and find sites in the UK to install micro-hydro projects myself. Thanks so much for posting all of the individual videos, along with these helpful summaries.
Glad to hear that. Thx for watching. Our site is unique, as are all. I’m sure you’ve probably seen the Kris Harbour series. If not, check it out for a much smaller system. It’s all good. 😉
Just finished watching through the whole series (and reading a bunch of the comments). Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone! It makes me think about setting up my own micro-hydro system some day.
Oh man i watched all of this. loved it! i have seen the most ghetto homemade hydropower setups from everywhere and you sire have the most professional one ive ever had the pleasure to see.
Thanks so much for the compliment. I wanted to make the system simple to operate, robust, and an asset to the property while at the same time keeping costs to a reasonable minimum. The system just hums away and requires next to no attention. So glad to have made the effort and also to have shared the experience with others.
just saw the synopsis after stumbling onto episode 18, gonna watch the whole series. amazing job. Hats off . 2019 i will (get help to) build a small (nano?) Hydro Power system in a much milder climate, and with half the psi...smaller house... not sure yet if you use batteries...probly not...i will need those ´cause in high summer not enough water - just enough for crops and household use. I lived 14 years with 250 watt solar panel...now temporarily on grid again...got so used to energy saving that the power company came to check 3 times if i hadnt tampered with the counter...lol...
thx for watching. You are the sort of person I made the series for. We are all straight AC here. Would love to document a DC system if I can locate one locally. No luck yet
I watch all the video clips, there cant be better way to explain than this ,how you have explain to have your very own hydro power station, if has water year around this is the way to go, thanks for sharing your grate knowledge with the public, Keep up the good work and most importantly contributing to the environment we all live. thanks aging..!!
Wonderful project. 💕 Reduces the CO2 pollution for all of US :-) Also can be used to heat up a green-house for fresh food in the winter. OR an infrared sauna for fun :-)
Amazing well worth the five years spent to upgrade the system, we adore your perseverance patients and many 1000,s of man hours, blood sweat and tears poured into such a great success, you living my dream to live off grid and in nature WOW !!!! All the best if only we have people in the world like you the World for sure would be a better place
ive been thinking of doing this for a couple of years somewhere in the mountains and i just found the 19 parts yesterday and now i want to do it even more great project and even better result considering the challenges you faced
Micro hydro is fantastic if you have a site that works. The difficulty is finding the right place. There are new designs that broaden the possibilities. ua-cam.com/video/gY3p2e1-kN4/v-deo.html Turbulent wasn't around when I got started in 1996. I think their design is great. I just wish they had a larger market penetration. I don't think they have a large number of installed units yet. The low head/high flow approach is something that can be applied in so many places. When you think about it, moving water is the largest collective of kinetic solar energy on earth. Wind and solar pales in comparison. Thanks for watching.
This has, by far, been the most interesting thing I've watched on UA-cam in a long while. Your clear explanation and beautiful detail has made this a true pleasure to watch. I have a trip planned from California to the Mid-West next summer. Would you be open to a tour of your system? :) Thank you for all your hard work!
Thanks for the generous comment and thanks for watching. Hopefully the documentation I've done is enough for someone to get a good foundation of how one goes about installing micro hydro. Every system is unique in and of itself and ours is just one example. Other folks have asked if they could visit. My wife is opposed to allowing strangers introduced to this via the internet being permitted to visit. I understand her trepidation as the range of comments we get ranges from enthusiastic to downright threatening. So, In respect to her wishes, I'm afraid I would have to say no to your request. Sorry if this is a disappointment and I hope you can understand.
Wow! It looks like you watched nearly everything. Thanks for watching. The more planning and research you do up front will be well rewarded in the end. Best of luck with your undertaking.
That exposed flexible black poly water pipe is going to have two problems, which we have in the California Sierra with that exact same pipe. The higher elevation means greater UV damage to the plastic (this also applies to your PVC pipiing, but that is a longer-term issue for that) making the exposed black flexi-tube brittle and crack-prone (which causes leakage). Second, the critters love to gnaw and paws on that exposed black flexi-tube and chew or claw holes in it. Apparently the black poly plastic is tasty to some critters - don't know it it's raccoons, possum, goats, or what - but they love to monkey with the black plastic drain tubing.
The poly pipe is to be considered a temporary solution to the longer term issue of massive spring run offs. We haven't had any issues like you mention, but this years run off has eaten away the creek in a monumental way. Future video will document it . Not sure what the next plan will be yet as the waters haven't fully subsided yet. Thanks for watching and for the comment.
Wow. Excellent content. I somehow just discovered your channel today. I love what you've done with a renewable resource. I used to live near Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs. The beauty is similar to where ever in colorado you are. As I sit here typing, electricians are finishing the grid interconnect on my newly installed solar photo electric system on our Wisconsin barn roof. It is a 17.5 KW-DC system expected to produce 22.3 kWh each year. It is grid tied and we have net-metering with our utility company. I expect a 15% ROI.
Best series on DIY of this topic for sure, very well documented detailed and explaind, so good that there is people out there who are speading there knowledged for younger generation like myself, who's planning on building a home and good enviorment for my faimily, help's a lot Thank you for that! My only advice or just idea worth considering if you now could build underground geothermal greenhouse that has been designed 1USD per day energie cost and use this hydro power system for powering that and in winter months LED or HPS lamps for extra heat for tropical plants and more lumens for the greenhouse, you could grow free organic food your faimily and sell some on Farmers market for extra bucks in your pocket, that would be so awesome to see. In future i'm planning something like this myself but first have to save all the € for those kind of projects. Thanks again for such a good video series. Best wishes your you and your faimily!
thx for watching. You are the sort of person I made the series for. I've thought about a greenhouse, but haven't gotten to it yet. Earth sheltering would be a great way to go too.
So when the electromagnet drops the jet diverter thing, do you have to go back and reset it manualy? Also are you going to be moving the vortex tank collecter in the spring? Also it's really awesome that you keep replying to these comments even so long after the video was posted! Great series, I'm in Colorado now studying Electrical enginering, hopefully I get to do something like this at some point seems like it was a lot of interesting work.
Good question. Yes, thats the way it is now. It seldom happens as we are aware of not overloading the system with too much demand. I did install control and sensor wires from the house to the powerhouse to be able to install a DC powered reseting actuator, but the man who said he would help with the control end didn't come through and its being a seldom occurrence I just haven't focused on resolving that.
Opps missed the other questions. The remival of the vortex collector is necessary every spring sometime in May. If I wait too long, i risk having it destroyed and lost. It’s not that it’s worth a great deal, but it would become pollution that im absolutely unwilling to accept. Negates the whole idea of the system. It goes back in after seeing water flow slow and how the creek bed has changed. There has been a recent huge surge in viewership of part 17 for some unknown reason. I get notifications of each comment and its fun to do replies. Makes the channel more valuable. Hope your studies yield productive results. Thx again for watching 😁
100 kWH for that one house seen at the end of this video?! Must be like "disco town" in that house as autumn arrives when heating and air conditioning aren't so important. That's a LOT of multicolored, swaying, flashing lights and one serious high-quality sound system! LOL! ;)
I think this is awesome! I wonder if you are taking any heat from environmentalists about changing the flow or path of the creek. Also Im not sure if you touched on it during the videos as I only saw the synopsis videos but what did all this cost you? The amount of time put in my number in the thousands of hours as well. Thanks
Thanks very much for your entire series. The engineer in me wonders about the cost / benefit type of stuff. For example, the cost of your installation vs installing a power line to the local utility. Or what is your calculated cost per kwh (based on what you use, not what you produce). Someone below asked could you sell excess power back to the local utility. Or maybe make a deal with some of your neighbors (you give them power, they give you firewood or something.) Anyway, congrats on a job well done!
andydickey thx for watching. 7 miles from grid. 1995 estimate to string power was $20k/mile and 2-3 times that $250-300k today! So we don't look at it in cost/payback as most people would but rather as an investment in the value of the property. There really isn't a way I could measure how much of the power is actually used. We always have 300 gallons of domestic hot water on hand and excess power is spent as heat. Neighbors are few and far. Other benefits of the system are discussed at beginning of part 1 of synopsis. Whatever the cost per used kWh is it beats the heck out of stringing power in decades ago. 🤓
60 Amps of continous AC power!!!! Guys i have not a single doubt that video documentation is great but if you could make a website with published cad files, math formulas and stuff arround what guide your devisions, bills of materials, and also financial aspect of the project. There would be no excuse for the rest of us not to try this.
Hghly interesting documentation. Thanks a lot for sharing. Why do you use baseboard heaters? Did you every thought about using heat pumps to conserve energy?
Good Question. The baseboard heaters were a short term inexpensive way to access the heat. Our house has an existing in floor glycol system and that is where I want to put the heat, but I've had a long extended difficulty in getting the plumber up to plumb in a second water heater to facilitate that. The issue of heat pumps comes down to cost. We already have an enormous amount of power available so efficiency isn't a factor. Heat pumps are an expensive system as well. Also as far as I know most heat pumps work with forced air heating systems which we do not have in our home. Thanks for the question and thanks for watching.
Not really. Any design would cost $ and time and the weir intake filters for weeks an months without cleaning and doesn't freeze to prevent water intake. Besides we enjoy the exercise 😉
144000 kwh of electricity is worth about 18000 USD. Pretty nice, and looks to be working reliably all the time. Also getting the electricity in would cost quite a bit, it would take very long for the return on investment. I am not sure the use of the old generator for the new stream was the best idea, but definitively cost conscious. I myself would use both systems, and use more modern turbine and generator for the second one, with electronic to do ac-dc-ac conversion, so it operates optimally. But if the existing equipement works, and you wanted to get rid of the other one, then sure, it makes the most sense. You can always change the generator later.
Thanks for the excellent series. Well done! We are setting up a smaller 1kw system, here in New Zealand, to pair up with our solar system to cover the lower daylight months. One thing that I'm trying to figure out is how to regulate the dump loads, not wanting our pelton turbine to over-rev. We are wanting to have 2 loads for when the batteries are full: firstly channelling 230v AC into our hot water cylinder, and when the thermostat cuts off then supplying AC 230 volt heaters in the glasshouse. Have you found anything that works well for sensing and switching excess power like this? We have a Victron Easy Solar unit charging Lithium batteries and providing us 230v mains power. Thanks : )
Our load controller was made by Thomson & Howe in Canada. (facebook.com/pages/Thomson-Howe-Energy-Systems-Inc/214294835610086) It utilizes SCR circuits to shunt the load. Our A-2 model probably is overkill for your needs. They may have other products which are better suited to smaller loads. Or you might look into a "hummingbird" design which you could build yourself. (www.researchgate.net/publication/265931735_A_Micro-hydro_Electronic_Load_Controller_ELC_for_the_Developing_World). Best of luck with your setup. Thanks for watching
What advice do you have for someone that hasn't even purchased their land in CO if they have a micro hydro setup in mind? Thank you for taking the time to document your journey and improving the quality of your videos over the years.
kirrilian Finding property isn't easy, but doable. With solar prices continuing to fall and efficiencies of use rising, that may be a simpler route. This property lent itself to hydro and solar costs in 1995 we far higher. My belief was always if you were going to buy land it should have water on it. There is an extensive answer as to how you might find land in the comments on part 19 I think. If you can't find it I may be able to locate it and repost
I searched and found it. Not sure if this is the one you found. I've answered literally thousands of questions. Many numerous times. I do most of the answering on my phone and for some reason I can't highlight and copy on that device. But I was able to with my computer. Here it is: My best advice is to find a smaller town that you dig & also offers commuter flight in/out of a reasonable sized hub. Look in states that have an abundance of at least seasonal water flow. Pick a clear day for weather. Book a window seat and look around. As a commuter flight gains altitude climbing, you will see what's around on the flight path. This assures you won't be too far from supplies, but likely in an in discovered area. Contact a local broker and ask them to look around in the area you're interested in. They are motivated by making a buck, but it may lead you to a heavenly property. Then tour the water and what is potential, you won't need that much but seasonality is important. Be certain to check the states water policy. That's how it happened for me flying Denver/Telluride/Denver way back in 1990. You might have to negotiate with a local on price, so be laid back and simple. With determination, effort,& luck you might land yourself in heaven. And then be faced with a much larger and demanding task of taming the ground. Best of luck to you. My 2 cents
I never considered using a commuter flight to look for property! We're focusing on CO for now but aren't stuck on it if we can find a property that meets our needs. Thank you so much for your advice :)
I really enjoyed the videos. I haven't seen them all (yet) but have a question. If there's an answer to it in a video, then you can point me there if you want. How do you handle the issue of voltage and frequency fluctuations? Do you rectify it to DC and then invert it back to regulated AC? I know that's not an efficient method, but it's the best I've got, as with this, you don't need to worry about being charged for wasted energy.
Part 14 of the series focuses on electrics. An Electronic Load Controller ELC is utilized to manage to load on the steady AC generation. It does this by using SCR circuits to shunt a portion of the sine wave off to resistive loads. It was made by Thomsen & Howe in Canada. It switches a different amount of load to maintain 60hz and monitors hz every few milliseconds. Hope this answers your question. Thx for watching
This is so awesome, thanks for sharing! Found this tonight while looking for ways to pump water up a hill so I can start an orchard and water some animals. Now you've got me thinking about providing my own power, too! I live in western North Carolina where water is fairly plentiful, but mostly in very flat streams with low head. For example, I have access to maybe 600 feet of a stream, but it only has about 15 feet of head. I figure I'll experiment with some homemade ram pumps, but I'm really curious about the power production potential here. Are you able to share any of your spreadsheets with calculations of cost versus pipe size, etc...? I love crunching numbers and have already started to gather some info- really impressed by how detailed and thorough you are! Any help or advice would be amazing!
Sorry for the slow response, our internet went down for 3 days right after your comment. You don't necessarily need a tremendous head. The pelton turbine I have is designed for a high head and considered a reactive turbine. There are other types which are designed for low head and high flow. 15 ft of head is a lot of head if you have lots of flow. www.researchgate.net/figure/Turbine-selection-chart-based-on-head-and-flow-rate-1_fig2_292726939 A Francis Turbine might suit your site better as it is optimized for low heads. Or maybe a crossflow turbine. This system appears to be promising although I don't have any direct experience with it ua-cam.com/channels/wVtAvxECRpogletKHlV_uQ.html My spreadsheets are specific to my site and I don't think they would be of much use to you. They take pipe friction and distance into account and I don't think that is the problem you are trying to solve here. There is a book which you can get which basically chronicles many different systems and approached to harnessing power. It is basically a grouping of articles which originated in Home Power Magazine which is no longer being published. www.amazon.com/Serious-Microhydro-Water-Solutions-Experts/dp/0865716382 There are all sorts of information on the web now about MH. That was not the case when I started in the 90's. I attended a class at Solar Energy Intl. to get my basics down back in 1995. www.solarenergy.org/training-schedule/?tribe_paged=1&tribe_event_display=list&tribe_eventcategory=124 From there its all been experiential for me. Hope this helps. Drop me an email at MrHydrohead@gmail.com if you need more pointers. Thanks for watching.
Amazing work! Very fun series to watch. What do you do with all of the extra power? Your system generates 6-7x my monthly home usage, that's an astonishing amount of power!
Typical lights, appliances, electronics, with excess going to heat 300 gallons of domestic water. Hot tub added last year for excess as well. Part 14 of series details some of the usage and electrics ua-cam.com/video/1c8AYt6C2P4/v-deo.html thx for watching. Maybe a greenhouse in the future. Time will tell.
What was the overall cost of the new system, including if you didnt already have the items from the first powerhouse? Would this system have been cost effective if you already had grid power?
Both questions are difficult to answer being hypothetical and hence require research I did not do 5 years ago. Prices for turbine equipment would have been bid from various sources and I would have looked for a salvage generator from numerous sources. Depending on those components I might have made different choices on pipe size, DC vs. AC, transmission, load controller vs grid as battery, and even combining some solar where costs continue to change. I also would have engaged a hydro engineer to give me advice from their broader perspective. Determining the situation with grid power is also an exercise in numerous what ifs. I don't know what the net metering rates are and if/ how they've changed over the last 5 yrs. Every hydro system is unique and needs to consider all options. Deep research should be undertaken to determine an acceptable course. How much power is actually needed should be factored in. Our situation was unique of course with existing equipment and resource. The intention of documenting our redesign and install wasn't to show a cost analysis (which is a popular and reasonable question) but to fill a large gap in both the detail and quality of the available videos out there. Sorry I can't be more concise in this reply.
Lots of people ask this. Installing the system was a bargain vs running power grid in 7 miles as discussed in part 1 of synopsis. We look at it as an asset that increases the property value and thus as an investment vs a cost analysis question
I have my eyes on Creek or stream property for this very reason. You are some lucky folks. You wouldn't happen to be in the engineering trade would you? There is a man near my house who bought the remains of a grist Mill. He allowed me to tour his set up one day. Still had one of the two leffel turbines from when it was "modernized" in the 1890s. He says at ~12ft of head he was putting out 35kw. He could have put out a lot more, had a 150ish hp turbine rigged through an old linear induction motor and gearbox. Kept having issues with the trash rack getting blocked. All built pre civil war... I think 1840 or so. Foundation of the house is 4 feet thick.
Sounds like a great mill site. Must put a LOT of water through it to get that power out of 12ft. Best of luck finding a suitable spot. We are fortunate to have found this property. Not in engineering, but worked 30+ yrs as a cinematographer in the film biz. Everyday you build up stuff and then tear it down upon wrapping. Leads to a practical sense of what can work and what is safe.
How necessary are the siphons? My 1700 foot run in 4 inch black pipe from the headwaters has great flow until it reaches the end, then it slows down considerable. With a small elevation change I am guessing a siphon may be required. Any suggested reading or Internet source for learning about siphons?
1700 ft could introduce a lot of pipe friction depending on flow rate. Static non flowing water would have constant pressure based on available head or fall 2.31 ft per psi. If your grade of pipe goes up and down you could have air lock which would need air vents at high points to let air escape. Our first spring fed penstock had this in its design. We don't really have a siphon in our system. Parts 16-19 of series show how trapped air can cause problems and potential solutions. Not sure what your site design is so it's hard to provide an informed comment. If you have sufficient fall you shouldn't need a siphon which would be very difficult to even get started with a 4" pipe A little more information on your situation would be helpful
sorry for my lack of knowledge , just something seems so off to me, if your using the same parts electric generation parts from the system created in 1996 which created 150Kwh from 96-15 and the new system made 100Kwh from 15-video post date how is that possible with the same generator ? from what i understood in the series you are still using the same intake as the old powerhouse
The old powerhouse sat at the end of a spring fed penstock with 212psi and a seasonal maximum flow of ~80 gpm. During those initial years it was a seasonal part time vacation home and the output of the system was generally between 1000-3000w depending on the season and our presence at the property. The system often was set to a lower flow while not present. The meter started reading in 1996 and never quit. We had numerous pipe breaks over the years due to the high pressure. We decided to move there full time and with the drought and lessening of the Springs’ flow, we decided to move the system to a newly designed powerhouse and construct a new penstock off the creek which afforded 96psi and 300gpm which is roughly the max of 1” single nozzle turbine. The lower pressure meant no breaks and we needed a belt drive to get to thebrequired 1800rpm at the generator. So we had a great increase in the amount of water at less pressure with the result of far more power output. As it now functions we make about 7500 w of power through the cold winter to heat the house and hot tub with all lights and appliance use and then dial back the flow for other seasons because we don’t need that much power which would only be wasted as heat. We might add a second jet to the turbine in the future to increase the winter time power production up to 10,000w, but haven’t committed to doing so at this point. Maybe use excess power in a greenhouse or do blockchain mining. Options remain open how to best use the power resource. Thx for watching and your question. Hope this clears any confusion. 😉
@@mrhydrohead thanks for replying, yes! That makes sense I totally forgot that u had a reduction in gears to spin the generator faster, very interesting stuff, thanks for taking the time to put this series together
@@mrhydrohead Have you read your spec plate on your alternator closely? You might find that it is rated for 12KW. I ordered a Lima direct from the factory back in 1993 and it was supposed to be a 10KW unit. When it got here, it was a 12KW 1800RPM 12 wire MAC unit. It is mated to a Farrymann twin V engine rated at 23 HP at 1800RPM. Marathon/Lima builds good units. But be careful, in a zigzag pattern for single phase they can lose 50% of their rating. And you lose 10% of capacity because of your altitude.
gravelydon I’ve been told that the lima could actually make 15kw if 3 phase wired,but unwilling to rewire house and load management issues with 3 phase. As a turbocharged pilot, i think the issue of power loss at altitude you refer to is more related to loss of compression in an internal compression motor than in the generator. Perhaps you know more but as is our system runs dependably unencumbered.
@@mrhydrohead Would not surprise me any if it could produce that at sea level. They are an underrated, overbuilt unit in most cases. They tend to build them that way so they last. Some are even qualified for use in explosive areas or in marine use.The reason for the derating is that cooling is less at altitude. You can always mount a bigger engine but you still have to get rid of the heat. On a 90° day at 8000 ft you will not get the same cooling as if you were at sea level with the same temp and humidity. If they kept the same HP engine, then they would have to derate for it too. Unless you were using a turbo or a gas turbine engine.
We decided against batteries long ago not wanting any toxic chemical or maintenance issues associated with them. We are direct AC and currently use excess power mostly for hot water and a hot tub. Thanks for watching
Great series. When i first saw the videos in 2016, it somehow raised my wish to have a waterpowered home myself in the future. 60Amps at full capacity is a lot of power. i don't think there is anything in any home that can use so much power. You should find something to do with the excess power this system provides. Like sucking the CO2 from the atmosphere or producing Hydrogen for use in a power station that provides energy to other homes that would otherwise use fossil fuels.
One thought originally was to make this a hydrogen farm and run a hydrogen vehicle. But it appears we're a bit ahead of the market. A greenhouse may someday be built. Or maybe block chain calculations powered. But it's all just simple now and harnessed power going unused is an asset for future use.
Gregory Thomas I have flown it up to check on the output of the creek diversion a few times. Getting lower and down close to the weir screen results in a poor signal due to trees. Anyway the exercise is good for my cardio health. Thx for watching
A fantastic series of videos, thank you so much. Even here in Tennessee it might be worth trying on a much smaller scale. You say that you transformer is 480 volts, you must then step this down to 220v 2 phase? yes?
Yes. There is only single and 3 phase which refers to how power is made in the windings of the generator. Our particular generator can be wired for several outputs. We chose 480v output because of the transmission distances. The higher voltage allows for less costly smaller gauge wire. A lot more detail on the wiring is in part 14. Thx for watching and your kind comment.
Thanks, being an English electrician, I do understand, although I have noticed in the US domestic supply is 2 phase. In the UK 3 phase is normally only present in industry and agriculture. With 230 V 50 Hz single phase for domestic use.
While I’m not an electrician, my understanding is that 240 or 220v is single phase on the sine wave, where you get high voltage across the two hot legs and 120 or 110v across either hot leg to common leg. I understand that single phase refers to the nature of the sine wave of the power.
Fantastic project! Given it is a really free and green power, I think state subvention should help more for such remote location. Edited / not enough power to consider it as a financial product
ROI? We don't look at it that way. The cost to run power in when we started in 1996 was estimated at 20k per mile or $140k. That initial system was $25k and we got domestic water and a pond to raise fish for that. The estimate to run power in was 250-300k in 2014 when moving the system to the creek was 55k. So you can see compared to the alternative of paying bills it was a deal. Furthermore, it is a massive improvement to the value of the property to have a power source which will last many many years into the future. So far the system has generated ~240,000 kWh, so choose your own cost per kWh and there's YOUR answer. thanks for watching...
@@mrhydrohead Thanks for your answer, you achieved a lot, congratulations for going through all these fantastic steps! Apologize to not have read more before posting. I am coming from the east of France and here there is some un used very old sawmill along water streams, converted to only hydropower now and connected to the grid. (in the past these sawmills even powered a bunch of houses for keeping workers and there family close to the factory)
We started in 1995 acquiring water rights and putting in a penstock from springs. That initial system cost around 25k in 1996 dollars. We also got gravity pressurized domestic water and a pond for raising fish at that price. When we moved the existing equipment to the creek we incurred additional costs of around 55k in 2015 dollars because we needed a full redesign of penstock, powerhouse, transmission and load management. People often ask how long it will take to payback the system, but this neglects to consider that we would have had to spend about $140k in 1995 to bring power lines 7 miles into the off grid property. That estimate had ballooned to $250-300k by 2015 when we moved the system. We would have had to pay that to bring power lines in and then had power bills to pay on top of that. So it was a no brainer to install our own system at either juncture and the question of payback was/is a moot question. We look at the installation as an asset investment in the overall property. Thanks for watching
Thanks for your video. With all that power have you thought about changing your vehicles to electric vehicles and powering them with renewable hydro power too?
Certainly. Problem is the road isn’t plowed in winter and access is via snowmobile so we have nowhere to charge road vehicle in winter. Also there are only 2 PHEV 4 wheel drive vehicles available. Mitsubishi makes the Outlander but the nearest dealer is 4 1/2 drive and Subaru is going to release a PHEV Crosstrek this year but won’t sell them in Colorado. No ideal solution available at this time. I keep looking though.
Hi kris, I have a small stream near my house that is similar in capacity to yours. And I would really like to build a power plant like yours. I already bought an inverter for 48v, I'm waiting for a turbine from the USA, I ordered a 120v at 1200 rpm and 250v at 2800 rpm, can you advise me which pipe to choose, how to measure liters per minute and height, and whether to buy a classic midnight he's only to 150v. I live in Ireland greetings Martin 🤓
Sorry for the slow reply. The earlier parts of the series on this channel goes through the process of measuring head and flow. Pipe sizing is based on how much water you can expect taking into account the seasonal variations in flow, length, and pipe friction. Picking the right diameter to handle the expected flow is a critical decision. Too small might be cheaper but friction loss may cripple the system. I've heard of one person that didn't follow the instruction given by a pro and the system consequently doesn't perform as expected. Kris is not me however and you might be confusing me with another micro hydro channel. Just the same Thanks for watching.
First, tnx for this great series! So is my understanding correct, that the system shuts, both, when its overloaded or underloaded? If so, how do u regulate the power in the summer when u can't use the baseboard heaters?
Because it is direct AC, the system needs to have load match production. If this gets out of balance, the AC hz goes above or below the thresholds set into the monitor system and the jet deflector shuts it all down. This seldom happens as the full production is handled by the load controller shunting a portion of the sine wave into an adequate load capacity via SCR circuit switches. The opposite is when my wife turns on too much load and the system slows via the load being greater than production. Its a rare event as she progressively learns not to create too much load and manages our use. Me, I designed it all, so I can't remember the last time I caused an overload. So, Spring through fall, we have another set of baseboard heaters in the garage/basement. 4500w or whatever is being shunted goes into a hot water heater that circulates glycol through at 300 gallons domestic water tank (always tons of hot water available). When that thermostat trips off at fully heated, the excess then feeds 3-1500w baseboards in the garage/ basement. The THES load controller manages the load in microseconds to a total of 4500w, whatever is needed to keep the hz at 60cps. It gets really hot down there for sure sometimesand thats why we dial back the system in all seasons but winter. Just not enough useful load can be put to work. We could set up an exterior power dump of 4500w, but haven't felt the need to wire it or spend the money to keep the basement cooler. Its nice to have a warm basement. Hope this gives an better overview of how it functions. thx for watching
Turbine was Canyon Industries, Deming WA. Generator is Lima now owned by Marathon out of Ohio. The costs of equipment were far lower in 1996 and have faithfully performed since then, so buying quality pays in the long run. thx for watching
The excess power is shunted as heat into 300 gallons of domestic water, a hot tub, and house heating in the Winter. The generator runs constantly and the load is always equal to the power produced. When there is more than needed it gets dumped as heat and never shuts down. thanks for watching
All the segments edited together would become a world class documentary.
You get more ad money and better watch time statistics (which means the algorithm shows the video to more people) if you break up long videos into segments, I think Mr Hydrohead has done a great job chopping up this video.
t**t
I keep telling my self, If I am fortunate to live in the mountains with access to a year round stream with a good head and flow, I am so going to do micro hydro. Not that I needed this series to inspire me, But It was a joy to watch just the same. It isn't every day you see such quality on UA-cam.
thx for watching. You are the sort of person I made the series for
@@mrhydrohead Awe inspiring series, thank you. You have a wide variety of skills. I was wondering what your background might be. I have a friend in Leadville, ele. 9000.
scott jones I worked 30+ years as a Director of Photography in LA, commercials, features, music videos, docs, TV. Im certain you’ve seen something I worked on. Travelled widely, and private pilot. Finally retired and escaped LA for this piece of wilderness. Still try to learn something new every month. Thx for watching. Leadville is nice.
Brilliantly edited, well shot, well summarised and explained. Very good job.
Iain Stenhouse thx for watching 😉
This whole project has been my favorite thing on the internet.
Thx for watching and thx for the compliment. I really appreciate that
I love this series. I'd love to be able to build my own micro hydro system.
So many Great Projects, so few lifetimes to do them... Your Documentary of this endeavor should serve as a template (one of many fields in the Sciences) for education of our children. Earth Science is so much cooler than video games and social drama... Thank You For Sharing Your Considerable Experience In Such A Way !
Thx for watching and the kind comment
Hey, thanks for those videos over the years. I probably won't ever be able to build something like this, but it was really interesting to watch.
Wow. Binge watched the ENTIRE series tonight when I should have been sleeping. Awesome work.
Thx for watching. So glad you enjoyed it. Most viewers don’t realize its a full series and only see one segment.
@@mrhydrohead Question for you, sir. Do you still remove the new intake barrel and the staked down flexible pipe during the snow runoff? The new intake location looked like it is just to the left of the two rocks that formed the old intake and is relatively shielded from the erosion.
Your series is on par with the National Geographic television programming, very well edited, and always fully informative, as well as fully narrated with a clear and pleasant voiceover, well done, and I am in envy of such a project, actually looking at a full solar panel array myself.
This is amazing. I have been interested in off grid and micro hydro power for years but have never seen see such a powerfull and well executed system. I can use this as a map for implementing micro hydro myself in the future! Kudos
I am absolutely flabbergasted.
I’ve read the first few pages of complimentary comments and I must say, they fall a little short of the reverence you are due BECAUSE YOU ARE A GOD!
The entire series is well documented, well detailed and explained... simply, well done!
Thank you for the appreciable effort you put into sharing your project with us.
May the UA-cam Overlords see fit to properly compensate your channel at ten cents per view.
Wow thx for watching and for the enthusiastic compliment. It has been a labor of love and there has been a fair amount of remuneration for the effort although nowhere near that rate. Certainly enough to afford a nice meal now and then. It does amaze me that shooting it nearly completely with my phone and a drone which i was able to buy that the series has attracted millions of views and thousands of subscribers. The most rewarding part is living with the steady abundance of power that is the end result. Again, thank you for your kind thoughts. 🙏
Fascinating. Has inspired me to try and find sites in the UK to install micro-hydro projects myself. Thanks so much for posting all of the individual videos, along with these helpful summaries.
Glad to hear that. Thx for watching. Our site is unique, as are all. I’m sure you’ve probably seen the Kris Harbour series. If not, check it out for a much smaller system. It’s all good. 😉
Just finished watching through the whole series (and reading a bunch of the comments). Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone! It makes me think about setting up my own micro-hydro system some day.
Glad you enjoyed the whole series. Thx for watching. It was a long term dream that came into being.
Creek? My dude, that's a full-on river!
Great content, thank you!
Thx for watching!
Oh man i watched all of this. loved it! i have seen the most ghetto homemade hydropower setups from everywhere and you sire have the most professional one ive ever had the pleasure to see.
Thanks so much for the compliment. I wanted to make the system simple to operate, robust, and an asset to the property while at the same time keeping costs to a reasonable minimum. The system just hums away and requires next to no attention. So glad to have made the effort and also to have shared the experience with others.
Thank you for sharing your amazing video. God bless you and your family
just saw the synopsis after stumbling onto episode 18, gonna watch the whole series. amazing job. Hats off .
2019 i will (get help to) build a small (nano?) Hydro Power system in a much milder climate, and with half the psi...smaller house...
not sure yet if you use batteries...probly not...i will need those ´cause in high summer not enough water - just enough for crops and household use. I lived 14 years with 250 watt solar panel...now temporarily on grid again...got so used to energy saving that the power company came to check 3 times if i hadnt tampered with the counter...lol...
thx for watching. You are the sort of person I made the series for. We are all straight AC here. Would love to document a DC system if I can locate one locally. No luck yet
I watch all the video clips, there cant be better way to explain than this ,how you have explain to have your very own hydro power station, if has water year around this is the way to go, thanks for sharing your grate knowledge with the public, Keep up the good work and most importantly contributing to the environment we all live. thanks aging..!!
Thx for watching
wow that moon shot!
This was excellent. Very well explained. Appreciate your effort in making this available online.
Thx for watching. My hope was to fill a gap in the internet with something i knew well from personal experience going back decades.
Wonderful project. 💕 Reduces the CO2 pollution for all of US :-)
Also can be used to heat up a green-house for fresh food in the winter.
OR an infrared sauna for fun :-)
Amazing well worth the five years spent to upgrade the system, we adore your perseverance patients and many 1000,s of man hours, blood sweat and tears poured into such a great success, you living my dream to live off grid and in nature WOW !!!! All the best if only we have people in the world like you the World for sure would be a better place
ive been thinking of doing this for a couple of years somewhere in the mountains and i just found the 19 parts yesterday and now i want to do it even more
great project and even better result considering the challenges you faced
Micro hydro is fantastic if you have a site that works. The difficulty is finding the right place. There are new designs that broaden the possibilities. ua-cam.com/video/gY3p2e1-kN4/v-deo.html Turbulent wasn't around when I got started in 1996. I think their design is great. I just wish they had a larger market penetration. I don't think they have a large number of installed units yet. The low head/high flow approach is something that can be applied in so many places. When you think about it, moving water is the largest collective of kinetic solar energy on earth. Wind and solar pales in comparison. Thanks for watching.
This has, by far, been the most interesting thing I've watched on UA-cam in a long while. Your clear explanation and beautiful detail has made this a true pleasure to watch. I have a trip planned from California to the Mid-West next summer. Would you be open to a tour of your system? :)
Thank you for all your hard work!
Thanks for the generous comment and thanks for watching. Hopefully the documentation I've done is enough for someone to get a good foundation of how one goes about installing micro hydro. Every system is unique in and of itself and ours is just one example. Other folks have asked if they could visit. My wife is opposed to allowing strangers introduced to this via the internet being permitted to visit. I understand her trepidation as the range of comments we get ranges from enthusiastic to downright threatening. So, In respect to her wishes, I'm afraid I would have to say no to your request. Sorry if this is a disappointment and I hope you can understand.
Plan to build water generated power, very nice seeing your process
Wow! It looks like you watched nearly everything. Thanks for watching. The more planning and research you do up front will be well rewarded in the end. Best of luck with your undertaking.
That exposed flexible black poly water pipe is going to have two problems, which we have in the California Sierra with that exact same pipe. The higher elevation means greater UV damage to the plastic (this also applies to your PVC pipiing, but that is a longer-term issue for that) making the exposed black flexi-tube brittle and crack-prone (which causes leakage). Second, the critters love to gnaw and paws on that exposed black flexi-tube and chew or claw holes in it. Apparently the black poly plastic is tasty to some critters - don't know it it's raccoons, possum, goats, or what - but they love to monkey with the black plastic drain tubing.
The poly pipe is to be considered a temporary solution to the longer term issue of massive spring run offs. We haven't had any issues like you mention, but this years run off has eaten away the creek in a monumental way. Future video will document it . Not sure what the next plan will be yet as the waters haven't fully subsided yet. Thanks for watching and for the comment.
Wow. Excellent content. I somehow just discovered your channel today. I love what you've done with a renewable resource. I used to live near Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs. The beauty is similar to where ever in colorado you are. As I sit here typing, electricians are finishing the grid interconnect on my newly installed solar photo electric system on our Wisconsin barn roof. It is a 17.5 KW-DC system expected to produce 22.3 kWh each year. It is grid tied and we have net-metering with our utility company. I expect a 15% ROI.
Wow that’s great news. Im happy for your accomplishment. Thx for watching
Outstanding job. Well spoken and informative.
Thanks for watching.
I may have watched all parts and you did an awesome job, both on video and your power system. Greatest respect!!
Thanks for watching and the kind comment
Best series on DIY of this topic for sure, very well documented detailed and explaind, so good that there is people out there who are speading there knowledged for younger generation like myself, who's planning on building a home and good enviorment for my faimily, help's a lot Thank you for that! My only advice or just idea worth considering if you now could build underground geothermal greenhouse that has been designed 1USD per day energie cost and use this hydro power system for powering that and in winter months LED or HPS lamps for extra heat for tropical plants and more lumens for the greenhouse, you could grow free organic food your faimily and sell some on Farmers market for extra bucks in your pocket, that would be so awesome to see. In future i'm planning something like this myself but first have to save all the € for those kind of projects. Thanks again for such a good video series. Best wishes your you and your faimily!
thx for watching. You are the sort of person I made the series for. I've thought about a greenhouse, but haven't gotten to it yet. Earth sheltering would be a great way to go too.
Congratulations on your project and the documenting of this is simply amazing!
thx for watching.
Absolutely amazing project and stunning scenery.
Amazing work! And i'm very impressed from a filmers point of view of how good you document everything, love it!
Thx for watching. Glad you enjoyed 👍🏻
Nice to see a system work out as planned after all the work. Job well done
Thx for watching 😎
Absolutely - Lead by example. Amazing project and fantastic execution.
SHANKAR THAKUR Thx for watching!
Just found your channel.. AMAZING! Vast experience in piping ... learn alot!
Thx for watching
Seems like a massive project to undertake.
It was, but the benefits have been well worth it. Thx for watching
Great Job ;utting all of this together. You are a hard working and intelligent person.I enjoyed all of it!
thx for watching. Just trying to spread some hard earned knowledge.
So when the electromagnet drops the jet diverter thing, do you have to go back and reset it manualy? Also are you going to be moving the vortex tank collecter in the spring? Also it's really awesome that you keep replying to these comments even so long after the video was posted! Great series, I'm in Colorado now studying Electrical enginering, hopefully I get to do something like this at some point seems like it was a lot of interesting work.
Good question. Yes, thats the way it is now. It seldom happens as we are aware of not overloading the system with too much demand. I did install control and sensor wires from the house to the powerhouse to be able to install a DC powered reseting actuator, but the man who said he would help with the control end didn't come through and its being a seldom occurrence I just haven't focused on resolving that.
Opps missed the other questions. The remival of the vortex collector is necessary every spring sometime in May. If I wait too long, i risk having it destroyed and lost. It’s not that it’s worth a great deal, but it would become pollution that im absolutely unwilling to accept. Negates the whole idea of the system. It goes back in after seeing water flow slow and how the creek bed has changed.
There has been a recent huge surge in viewership of part 17 for some unknown reason. I get notifications of each comment and its fun to do replies. Makes the channel more valuable. Hope your studies yield productive results. Thx again for watching 😁
Absolutely amazing! thank you for the amount of effort you took to put all of this together!
Thx for the thx and thx for watching
Well done, amazing determination and vision!
Genius, pure Genius.
100 kWH for that one house seen at the end of this video?! Must be like "disco town" in that house as autumn arrives when heating and air conditioning aren't so important. That's a LOT of multicolored, swaying, flashing lights and one serious high-quality sound system! LOL! ;)
A BIG Disco ball too! Thx for watching. We've been warm and toasty all winter in spite of the long and harsh winter in the CO rockies this year.
Good drone shots👍🏼😁
Thanks I'm getting a little better at it. Thx for watching
I may have missed it but, as your system is "non-consumptive", where do you get your drinking water from?
The first hydro system before moving to creek was two springs which still supply domestic water via secured water rights. Thx for watching
@@mrhydrohead Many thanks.
Very impressive.
Can't wait till you install the second turbine! I wanna see the power output
Great Work! Guys. Thanks for Sharing :)
Excellent video series!
Thx for watching
Yaaayyy new video!
I think this is awesome! I wonder if you are taking any heat from environmentalists about changing the flow or path of the creek. Also Im not sure if you touched on it during the videos as I only saw the synopsis videos but what did all this cost you? The amount of time put in my number in the thousands of hours as well. Thanks
Thanks very much for your entire series. The engineer in me wonders about the cost / benefit type of stuff. For example, the cost of your installation vs installing a power line to the local utility. Or what is your calculated cost per kwh (based on what you use, not what you produce). Someone below asked could you sell excess power back to the local utility. Or maybe make a deal with some of your neighbors (you give them power, they give you firewood or something.) Anyway, congrats on a job well done!
andydickey thx for watching. 7 miles from grid. 1995 estimate to string power was $20k/mile and 2-3 times that $250-300k today!
So we don't look at it in cost/payback as most people would but rather as an investment in the value of the property. There really isn't a way I could measure how much of the power is actually used. We always have 300 gallons of domestic hot water on hand and excess power is spent as heat. Neighbors are few and far. Other benefits of the system are discussed at beginning of part 1 of synopsis. Whatever the cost per used kWh is it beats the heck out of stringing power in decades ago. 🤓
Eliminating the utility overlords increases your value. Just bloody marvelous what you have accomplished. You are a blessed man.
Thx. We are so fortunate to have found this lovely and powerful spot
60 Amps of continous AC power!!!! Guys i have not a single doubt that video documentation is great but if you could make a website with published cad files, math formulas and stuff arround what guide your devisions, bills of materials, and also financial aspect of the project. There would be no excuse for the rest of us not to try this.
Hghly interesting documentation. Thanks a lot for sharing. Why do you use baseboard heaters? Did you every thought about using heat pumps to conserve energy?
Good Question. The baseboard heaters were a short term inexpensive way to access the heat. Our house has an existing in floor glycol system and that is where I want to put the heat, but I've had a long extended difficulty in getting the plumber up to plumb in a second water heater to facilitate that.
The issue of heat pumps comes down to cost. We already have an enormous amount of power available so efficiency isn't a factor. Heat pumps are an expensive system as well. Also as far as I know most heat pumps work with forced air heating systems which we do not have in our home. Thanks for the question and thanks for watching.
Loved the series. Have you considered using some power to set up auto-cleaner and defroster at the weir? Could be interesting project.
Not really. Any design would cost $ and time and the weir intake filters for weeks an months without cleaning and doesn't freeze to prevent water intake. Besides we enjoy the exercise 😉
144000 kwh of electricity is worth about 18000 USD. Pretty nice, and looks to be working reliably all the time. Also getting the electricity in would cost quite a bit, it would take very long for the return on investment. I am not sure the use of the old generator for the new stream was the best idea, but definitively cost conscious. I myself would use both systems, and use more modern turbine and generator for the second one, with electronic to do ac-dc-ac conversion, so it operates optimally. But if the existing equipement works, and you wanted to get rid of the other one, then sure, it makes the most sense. You can always change the generator later.
Inspirational! Congratulations
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the excellent series. Well done! We are setting up a smaller 1kw system, here in New Zealand, to pair up with our solar system to cover the lower daylight months. One thing that I'm trying to figure out is how to regulate the dump loads, not wanting our pelton turbine to over-rev. We are wanting to have 2 loads for when the batteries are full: firstly channelling 230v AC into our hot water cylinder, and when the thermostat cuts off then supplying AC 230 volt heaters in the glasshouse. Have you found anything that works well for sensing and switching excess power like this? We have a Victron Easy Solar unit charging Lithium batteries and providing us 230v mains power. Thanks : )
Our load controller was made by Thomson & Howe in Canada. (facebook.com/pages/Thomson-Howe-Energy-Systems-Inc/214294835610086) It utilizes SCR circuits to shunt the load. Our A-2 model probably is overkill for your needs. They may have other products which are better suited to smaller loads. Or you might look into a "hummingbird" design which you could build yourself. (www.researchgate.net/publication/265931735_A_Micro-hydro_Electronic_Load_Controller_ELC_for_the_Developing_World). Best of luck with your setup. Thanks for watching
I'm not experienced enough to build this myself but here is a link on design of hummingbird www.remotehydrolight.com/DigitalELC.pdf
AWESOME IT'S VERY BEAUTIFUL THERE✌👍🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄
thx for watching. True story!
What advice do you have for someone that hasn't even purchased their land in CO if they have a micro hydro setup in mind? Thank you for taking the time to document your journey and improving the quality of your videos over the years.
kirrilian Finding property isn't easy, but doable. With solar prices continuing to fall and efficiencies of use rising, that may be a simpler route. This property lent itself to hydro and solar costs in 1995 we far higher.
My belief was always if you were going to buy land it should have water on it. There is an extensive answer as to how you might find land in the comments on part 19 I think. If you can't find it I may be able to locate it and repost
I'll see if I can find it, I don't always read all the comments on videos, sorry.
I found your message to the person in MT if that's the one you're referring to, thank you for sharing all this info, it is very helpful :)
I searched and found it. Not sure if this is the one you found. I've answered literally thousands of questions. Many numerous times. I do most of the answering on my phone and for some reason I can't highlight and copy on that device. But I was able to with my computer. Here it is:
My best advice is to find a smaller town that you dig & also offers commuter flight in/out of a reasonable sized hub. Look in states that have an abundance of at least seasonal water flow. Pick a clear day for weather.
Book a window seat and look around. As a commuter flight gains altitude climbing, you will see what's around on the flight path. This assures you won't be too far from supplies, but likely in an in discovered area.
Contact a local broker and ask them to look around in the area you're interested in. They are motivated by making a buck, but it may lead you to a heavenly property. Then tour the water and what is potential, you won't need that much but seasonality is important. Be certain to check the states water policy.
That's how it happened for me flying Denver/Telluride/Denver way back in 1990.
You might have to negotiate with a local on price, so be laid back and simple. With determination, effort,& luck you might land yourself in heaven. And then be faced with a much larger and demanding task of taming the ground.
Best of luck to you. My 2 cents
I never considered using a commuter flight to look for property! We're focusing on CO for now but aren't stuck on it if we can find a property that meets our needs. Thank you so much for your advice :)
Absolutely awesome!
Thanks for watching
I really enjoyed the videos. I haven't seen them all (yet) but have a question. If there's an answer to it in a video, then you can point me there if you want.
How do you handle the issue of voltage and frequency fluctuations? Do you rectify it to DC and then invert it back to regulated AC? I know that's not an efficient method, but it's the best I've got, as with this, you don't need to worry about being charged for wasted energy.
Part 14 of the series focuses on electrics. An Electronic Load Controller ELC is utilized to manage to load on the steady AC generation. It does this by using SCR circuits to shunt a portion of the sine wave off to resistive loads. It was made by Thomsen & Howe in Canada. It switches a different amount of load to maintain 60hz and monitors hz every few milliseconds. Hope this answers your question. Thx for watching
*+MrHydrohead* Okay thanks, I'll watch that one.
This is so awesome, thanks for sharing! Found this tonight while looking for ways to pump water up a hill so I can start an orchard and water some animals. Now you've got me thinking about providing my own power, too! I live in western North Carolina where water is fairly plentiful, but mostly in very flat streams with low head. For example, I have access to maybe 600 feet of a stream, but it only has about 15 feet of head. I figure I'll experiment with some homemade ram pumps, but I'm really curious about the power production potential here. Are you able to share any of your spreadsheets with calculations of cost versus pipe size, etc...? I love crunching numbers and have already started to gather some info- really impressed by how detailed and thorough you are! Any help or advice would be amazing!
Sorry for the slow response, our internet went down for 3 days right after your comment. You don't necessarily need a tremendous head. The pelton turbine I have is designed for a high head and considered a reactive turbine. There are other types which are designed for low head and high flow. 15 ft of head is a lot of head if you have lots of flow.
www.researchgate.net/figure/Turbine-selection-chart-based-on-head-and-flow-rate-1_fig2_292726939
A Francis Turbine might suit your site better as it is optimized for low heads. Or maybe a crossflow turbine.
This system appears to be promising although I don't have any direct experience with it ua-cam.com/channels/wVtAvxECRpogletKHlV_uQ.html
My spreadsheets are specific to my site and I don't think they would be of much use to you. They take pipe friction and distance into account and I don't think that is the problem you are trying to solve here.
There is a book which you can get which basically chronicles many different systems and approached to harnessing power. It is basically a grouping of articles which originated in Home Power Magazine which is no longer being published.
www.amazon.com/Serious-Microhydro-Water-Solutions-Experts/dp/0865716382
There are all sorts of information on the web now about MH. That was not the case when I started in the 90's. I attended a class at Solar Energy Intl. to get my basics down back in 1995. www.solarenergy.org/training-schedule/?tribe_paged=1&tribe_event_display=list&tribe_eventcategory=124
From there its all been experiential for me. Hope this helps. Drop me an email at MrHydrohead@gmail.com if you need more pointers.
Thanks for watching.
RAM pump
This is amazing and inspiring!
Thanks for watching
thanks for sharing
Most Welcome. Thanks for watching
this is great, do you plan on storing excess energy in powerwalls or similar?
Amazing work! Very fun series to watch. What do you do with all of the extra power? Your system generates 6-7x my monthly home usage, that's an astonishing amount of power!
Typical lights, appliances, electronics, with excess going to heat 300 gallons of domestic water. Hot tub added last year for excess as well. Part 14 of series details some of the usage and electrics ua-cam.com/video/1c8AYt6C2P4/v-deo.html thx for watching. Maybe a greenhouse in the future. Time will tell.
What was the overall cost of the new system, including if you didnt already have the items from the first powerhouse?
Would this system have been cost effective if you already had grid power?
Both questions are difficult to answer being hypothetical and hence require research I did not do 5 years ago. Prices for turbine equipment would have been bid from various sources and I would have looked for a salvage generator from numerous sources. Depending on those components I might have made different choices on pipe size, DC vs. AC, transmission, load controller vs grid as battery, and even combining some solar where costs continue to change. I also would have engaged a hydro engineer to give me advice from their broader perspective.
Determining the situation with grid power is also an exercise in numerous what ifs. I don't know what the net metering rates are and if/ how they've changed over the last 5 yrs.
Every hydro system is unique and needs to consider all options. Deep research should be undertaken to determine an acceptable course. How much power is actually needed should be factored in. Our situation was unique of course with existing equipment and resource.
The intention of documenting our redesign and install wasn't to show a cost analysis (which is a popular and reasonable question) but to fill a large gap in both the detail and quality of the available videos out there.
Sorry I can't be more concise in this reply.
MrHydrohead no problem, appreciate the reply. I just know the one video you had a lot of spreadsheets and figured you may have ran those numbers.
What is the financial cost benefit analysis?
Lots of people ask this. Installing the system was a bargain vs running power grid in 7 miles as discussed in part 1 of synopsis. We look at it as an asset that increases the property value and thus as an investment vs a cost analysis question
Amazing project, awesome!
Thanks for watching
One solar panel sales guy disliked this... lol
Great video, great job.
Thx for watching. Yup always lots of judgement out there
I have my eyes on Creek or stream property for this very reason. You are some lucky folks. You wouldn't happen to be in the engineering trade would you?
There is a man near my house who bought the remains of a grist Mill. He allowed me to tour his set up one day. Still had one of the two leffel turbines from when it was "modernized" in the 1890s. He says at ~12ft of head he was putting out 35kw. He could have put out a lot more, had a 150ish hp turbine rigged through an old linear induction motor and gearbox. Kept having issues with the trash rack getting blocked. All built pre civil war... I think 1840 or so. Foundation of the house is 4 feet thick.
Sounds like a great mill site. Must put a LOT of water through it to get that power out of 12ft.
Best of luck finding a suitable spot. We are fortunate to have found this property. Not in engineering, but worked 30+ yrs as a cinematographer in the film biz. Everyday you build up stuff and then tear it down upon wrapping. Leads to a practical sense of what can work and what is safe.
How necessary are the siphons? My 1700 foot run in 4 inch black pipe from the headwaters has great flow until it reaches the end, then it slows down considerable. With a small elevation change I am guessing a siphon may be required. Any suggested reading or Internet source for learning about siphons?
1700 ft could introduce a lot of pipe friction depending on flow rate. Static non flowing water would have constant pressure based on available head or fall 2.31 ft per psi. If your grade of pipe goes up and down you could have air lock which would need air vents at high points to let air escape. Our first spring fed penstock had this in its design. We don't really have a siphon in our system. Parts 16-19 of series show how trapped air can cause problems and potential solutions. Not sure what your site design is so it's hard to provide an informed comment. If you have sufficient fall you shouldn't need a siphon which would be very difficult to even get started with a 4" pipe
A little more information on your situation would be helpful
sorry for my lack of knowledge , just something seems so off to me, if your using the same parts electric generation parts from the system created in 1996 which created 150Kwh from 96-15 and the new system made 100Kwh from 15-video post date
how is that possible with the same generator ? from what i understood in the series you are still using the same intake as the old powerhouse
The old powerhouse sat at the end of a spring fed penstock with 212psi and a seasonal maximum flow of ~80 gpm. During those initial years it was a seasonal part time vacation home and the output of the system was generally between 1000-3000w depending on the season and our presence at the property. The system often was set to a lower flow while not present. The meter started reading in 1996 and never quit. We had numerous pipe breaks over the years due to the high pressure. We decided to move there full time and with the drought and lessening of the Springs’ flow, we decided to move the system to a newly designed powerhouse and construct a new penstock off the creek which afforded 96psi and 300gpm which is roughly the max of 1” single nozzle turbine. The lower pressure meant no breaks and we needed a belt drive to get to thebrequired 1800rpm at the generator.
So we had a great increase in the amount of water at less pressure with the result of far more power output. As it now functions we make about 7500 w of power through the cold winter to heat the house and hot tub with all lights and appliance use and then dial back the flow for other seasons because we don’t need that much power which would only be wasted as heat. We might add a second jet to the turbine in the future to increase the winter time power production up to 10,000w, but haven’t committed to doing so at this point. Maybe use excess power in a greenhouse or do blockchain mining. Options remain open how to best use the power resource.
Thx for watching and your question. Hope this clears any confusion. 😉
@@mrhydrohead thanks for replying, yes! That makes sense I totally forgot that u had a reduction in gears to spin the generator faster, very interesting stuff, thanks for taking the time to put this series together
@@mrhydrohead Have you read your spec plate on your alternator closely? You might find that it is rated for 12KW. I ordered a Lima direct from the factory back in 1993 and it was supposed to be a 10KW unit. When it got here, it was a 12KW 1800RPM 12 wire MAC unit. It is mated to a Farrymann twin V engine rated at 23 HP at 1800RPM. Marathon/Lima builds good units. But be careful, in a zigzag pattern for single phase they can lose 50% of their rating. And you lose 10% of capacity because of your altitude.
gravelydon I’ve been told that the lima could actually make 15kw if 3 phase wired,but unwilling to rewire house and load management issues with 3 phase. As a turbocharged pilot, i think the issue of power loss at altitude you refer to is more related to loss of compression in an internal compression motor than in the generator. Perhaps you know more but as is our system runs dependably unencumbered.
@@mrhydrohead Would not surprise me any if it could produce that at sea level. They are an underrated, overbuilt unit in most cases. They tend to build them that way so they last. Some are even qualified for use in explosive areas or in marine use.The reason for the derating is that cooling is less at altitude. You can always mount a bigger engine but you still have to get rid of the heat. On a 90° day at 8000 ft you will not get the same cooling as if you were at sea level with the same temp and humidity. If they kept the same HP engine, then they would have to derate for it too. Unless you were using a turbo or a gas turbine engine.
Hydrohead: "What are we going to do with all of this extra power?"
Other person: ".......Hot tub?"
Hydrohead: ":D"
And so happy we did! 3 to 4 evenings a week watching the sun go down or sitting through a snow storm. Such a luxury, with no power bills too!
Grate videos of being off the grid. I was wondering as to your backup, are you using battery?
We decided against batteries long ago not wanting any toxic chemical or maintenance issues associated with them. We are direct AC and currently use excess power mostly for hot water and a hot tub. Thanks for watching
Great series. When i first saw the videos in 2016, it somehow raised my wish to have a waterpowered home myself in the future. 60Amps at full capacity is a lot of power. i don't think there is anything in any home that can use so much power.
You should find something to do with the excess power this system provides. Like sucking the CO2 from the atmosphere or producing Hydrogen for use in a power station that provides energy to other homes that would otherwise use fossil fuels.
One thought originally was to make this a hydrogen farm and run a hydrogen vehicle. But it appears we're a bit ahead of the market. A greenhouse may someday be built. Or maybe block chain calculations powered. But it's all just simple now and harnessed power going unused is an asset for future use.
Awesome 👍👍👍👍
Just curious...do you use the drone to check for issues so you don't have to physically go all over hill & dale?
Gregory Thomas I have flown it up to check on the output of the creek diversion a few times. Getting lower and down close to the weir screen results in a poor signal due to trees. Anyway the exercise is good for my cardio health. Thx for watching
Awesome work!
Thx for watching
Great job!
Thx for watching
A fantastic series of videos, thank you so much. Even here in Tennessee it might be worth trying on a much smaller scale. You say that you transformer is 480 volts, you must then step this down to 220v 2 phase? yes?
Yes. There is only single and 3 phase which refers to how power is made in the windings of the generator. Our particular generator can be wired for several outputs. We chose 480v output because of the transmission distances. The higher voltage allows for less costly smaller gauge wire. A lot more detail on the wiring is in part 14. Thx for watching and your kind comment.
Thanks, being an English electrician, I do understand, although I have noticed in the US domestic supply is 2 phase. In the UK 3 phase is normally only present in industry and agriculture. With 230 V 50 Hz single phase for domestic use.
While I’m not an electrician, my understanding is that 240 or 220v is single phase on the sine wave, where you get high voltage across the two hot legs and 120 or 110v across either hot leg to common leg. I understand that single phase refers to the nature of the sine wave of the power.
rearly nice videos, thanks
Thx for watching!
Amazing thank yiu for sharing
Thx for watching
Fantastic project!
Given it is a really free and green power, I think state subvention should help more for such remote location.
Edited / not enough power to consider it as a financial product
ROI? We don't look at it that way. The cost to run power in when we started in 1996 was estimated at 20k per mile or $140k. That initial system was $25k and we got domestic water and a pond to raise fish for that. The estimate to run power in was 250-300k in 2014 when moving the system to the creek was 55k. So you can see compared to the alternative of paying bills it was a deal. Furthermore, it is a massive improvement to the value of the property to have a power source which will last many many years into the future. So far the system has generated ~240,000 kWh, so choose your own cost per kWh and there's YOUR answer. thanks for watching...
@@mrhydrohead Thanks for your answer, you achieved a lot, congratulations for going through all these fantastic steps! Apologize to not have read more before posting. I am coming from the east of France and here there is some un used very old sawmill along water streams, converted to only hydropower now and connected to the grid. (in the past these sawmills even powered a bunch of houses for keeping workers and there family close to the factory)
I watched the 3 part synopsis but I didn't see anything about ROI. How long did it take to pay back the investment? Thanks for the great videos.
We started in 1995 acquiring water rights and putting in a penstock from springs. That initial system cost around 25k in 1996 dollars. We also got gravity pressurized domestic water and a pond for raising fish at that price.
When we moved the existing equipment to the creek we incurred additional costs of around 55k in 2015 dollars because we needed a full redesign of penstock, powerhouse, transmission and load management.
People often ask how long it will take to payback the system, but this neglects to consider that we would have had to spend about $140k in 1995 to bring power lines 7 miles into the off grid property. That estimate had ballooned to $250-300k by 2015 when we moved the system. We would have had to pay that to bring power lines in and then had power bills to pay on top of that. So it was a no brainer to install our own system at either juncture and the question of payback was/is a moot question. We look at the installation as an asset investment in the overall property.
Thanks for watching
Wow amazing
Thx for watching
Thanks for your video. With all that power have you thought about changing your vehicles to electric vehicles and powering them with renewable hydro power too?
Certainly. Problem is the road isn’t plowed in winter and access is via snowmobile so we have nowhere to charge road vehicle in winter. Also there are only 2 PHEV 4 wheel drive vehicles available. Mitsubishi makes the Outlander but the nearest dealer is 4 1/2 drive and Subaru is going to release a PHEV Crosstrek this year but won’t sell them in Colorado. No ideal solution available at this time. I keep looking though.
amazing
Thx for watching
Hi kris, I have a small stream near my house that is similar in capacity to yours. And I would really like to build a power plant like yours. I already bought an inverter for 48v, I'm waiting for a turbine from the USA, I ordered a 120v at 1200 rpm and 250v at 2800 rpm, can you advise me which pipe to choose, how to measure liters per minute and height, and whether to buy a classic midnight he's only to 150v. I live in Ireland greetings Martin 🤓
Sorry for the slow reply. The earlier parts of the series on this channel goes through the process of measuring head and flow. Pipe sizing is based on how much water you can expect taking into account the seasonal variations in flow, length, and pipe friction. Picking the right diameter to handle the expected flow is a critical decision. Too small might be cheaper but friction loss may cripple the system. I've heard of one person that didn't follow the instruction given by a pro and the system consequently doesn't perform as expected. Kris is not me however and you might be confusing me with another micro hydro channel. Just the same Thanks for watching.
First, tnx for this great series!
So is my understanding correct, that the system shuts, both, when its overloaded or underloaded?
If so, how do u regulate the power in the summer when u can't use the baseboard heaters?
Because it is direct AC, the system needs to have load match production. If this gets out of balance, the AC hz goes above or below the thresholds set into the monitor system and the jet deflector shuts it all down. This seldom happens as the full production is handled by the load controller shunting a portion of the sine wave into an adequate load capacity via SCR circuit switches. The opposite is when my wife turns on too much load and the system slows via the load being greater than production. Its a rare event as she progressively learns not to create too much load and manages our use. Me, I designed it all, so I can't remember the last time I caused an overload.
So, Spring through fall, we have another set of baseboard heaters in the garage/basement. 4500w or whatever is being shunted goes into a hot water heater that circulates glycol through at 300 gallons domestic water tank (always tons of hot water available). When that thermostat trips off at fully heated, the excess then feeds 3-1500w baseboards in the garage/ basement. The THES load controller manages the load in microseconds to a total of 4500w, whatever is needed to keep the hz at 60cps. It gets really hot down there for sure sometimesand thats why we dial back the system in all seasons but winter. Just not enough useful load can be put to work. We could set up an exterior power dump of 4500w, but haven't felt the need to wire it or spend the money to keep the basement cooler. Its nice to have a warm basement. Hope this gives an better overview of how it functions. thx for watching
@@mrhydrohead thank u very much for this detailed reply!
What company or brand was the turbine and generator seems you left no expense on equipment
Turbine was Canyon Industries, Deming WA. Generator is Lima now owned by Marathon out of Ohio. The costs of equipment were far lower in 1996 and have faithfully performed since then, so buying quality pays in the long run. thx for watching
Fantastic :)
good job!
good job pal. nice one
What is done with the excess power that you generate? Does the generator disengage when no power is needed?
The excess power is shunted as heat into 300 gallons of domestic water, a hot tub, and house heating in the Winter. The generator runs constantly and the load is always equal to the power produced. When there is more than needed it gets dumped as heat and never shuts down. thanks for watching
I love this channel
Well done
Thx Robb. Dry over there too?
russian also watch you canal . thank you
Thx for watching
Top notch sir!