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Old 04-12-2005, 02:35 PM posted to alt.home.lawn.garden
 
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Default Should we be growing more "power plants" at home?


Mel M Kelly wrote:
I can get permission. I own both sides. My biggest problem would be ice
in the winter.


From Mel & Donnie in Bluebird Valley


That's not your biggest problem....

Understanding how hydros work and how much water it takes to make power
is something not many people understand.

The power in falling water depends on the flow and head (height diff).
You have to have a draft tube from top to bottom with a turbine
inbetween. Chances are your "waterfall" is nowhere big enough to spin a
turbine. Waterwheel? OK, but now you have a slow ass wheel that won't
have enough speed or torque to run a generator.

I re-installed a 35kW generator in an old Ford machine shop (think 30's
vintage) a few years ago. Everything was there to make it work, but he
still spent over $50k to get all the parts working again. It had such
bad stability that he could run about 20kW of electric heat and that
was about it.

Kirb