Authorized Personnel Only - Inside The Bottom Of A Hydroelectric Power Plant

[@sinergistic]

this video gave me an unreasonable amount of anxiety.

[@МаркоАрдалић]

haha , same here.

[@blackula666]

Wimp

[@skylined5534]

I concur! Same for me! This chap has no fear! Just a pool pump is enough to put the frighteners on me!

[@Studio23Media]

Same. It just feels very dangerous and dystopian.

[@StevieCooper]

I wouldn’t be able to do that. I have a strange fear of large machinery.

[@kobi399]

Always crazy to realize how truly ancient these power plants are. Similar to how NASA today, builds spacecraft designed in the 2000s with at the time 20 year old tech, witch makes them nearly 50 years old. This power plant was first commissioned in the 80s or so, at witch point the plans where probably already 20 years old and at the time those plans where based on technology from 20 years ago. So basically the powerplant you are running today was in one form or another designed in the 1940's and its till running today. I myself am working on hydropower plants, and we have a backup generator that was cast by a company that went out of business in the 1850s. This thing is still standing today (granted only for use in emergency's) in our mashineroom over 150 years later.

[@Sevenigma777]

I always wondered how ladders like that are attached to the wall. They always look so unstable but seem to last forever.

[@Viper555]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe it’s steel rebar that’s actually cast into the concrete

[@sbdragoo4463]

They use these same style steps in utility manholes. They don't last forever, especially in sanitary or combined sewers. The humidity levels cause them to rust and become unusable (safely). That's why you will technicians using a step ladder instead of the built-in steps. They can be replaced by cutting the old ones off, then drilling new holes and epoxying in new steps. Just a side note for us nerds out there..

[@josephpadula2283]

To add any one watching. This is a Kaplan Turbine. It is a reaction turbine, the water flowing over the blades moved the blades , the opposite of a ship’s propeller where the blades push the water. So high flow, low water pressure , called head, because the dam is not high. My dam is 100 feet high and is a Kaplan. For very high dams you use an Impulse turbine called a Pelton. Imagine a garden hose solid stream hitting the blades of a pin wheel. No wicket gates, a valve regulates the flow in the hose nozzle. Other dams use a Francis Turbine , more pressure than Kaplan , less than Pelton. The main regulation of speed when under no load is the wicket gates signaled by the governor. When under load the governor controls the power produced by moving the same wicket gates but the speed does not change it stays at grid synchronous speed. The blades on the propeller , called a runner in a Kaplan Turbine, also move Under governor control but this is more fine tuning to increase efficiency as the water level upstream changes or unit is not running at design load.

[@otiselevator7738]

Well I sure do admire Chris’s enthusiasm for his hydroelectric powerhouse. How fortunate to have such a passion for his work. And his efforts to pass along his knowledge and access.

[@anguslithgow5786]

I don't don't normally get anxious about situations like this, but seeing a person in that space that is normally be filled with water made my chest tighten right up! Very cool to see the moving parts of the intake.

[@nocloo6829]

This is really cool and somehow really scary. Just watched you opening the gates of hell. Delta p is no joke.

[@fardreaming]

Love stuff like this. I wish more hydro plants would let us look inside.

[@Physicsduck]

There's more coming :)

[@lukeonuke]

> works in a hydroelectric power plant cant swim

[@Physicsduck]

Loves boats, gets motion sickness.

[@TheBigDanois]

Comes back from lunch: "Who tf turned #2 off?"🤔 Flips switch back on.

[@Malaphor2501]

Just seeing a video of a guy in a room that can be completely full of rushing water gave me anxiety.

[@matthewlane4390]

Rushing water is terrifying, the power behind water is just so amazing!

[@thedirtyhalfdozen4269]

I am petrified of being near hydroelectric turbine when its running and Im also petrified of being sucked into a intake pipe near a turbine

[@88_TROUBLE_88]

You and every other rational person on the planet

[@russellking9762]

tell me about it..in Africa i’ve been 300 ft down to help maintain one of these…each of the wicket gates were something like 9ft high….the grill easily 50x50ft…the water coming down towards the wickets on a 45degree slope and i remember the concrete was all slimy…from where the grill was about 200 ft away up the slope everything tapered down to an opening the width of a doorway into the wicket gates….it was so eerie… uuugghh….i was absolutely scared shitless the whole time i was down there

[@nmccw3245]

I bet you love ship propellers rotating underwater.

[@Michael_Livingstone]

Glad to know I’m not the only one.

[@BrotherWitch]

Ok, so that is a completely normal and rational fear? Because I am absolutely terrified of water pumps. I don't even want to mess with a sump pump. That shit? Nope nope nope nope

[@AlekRawlins]

Thank you for taking time out of your day to produce this type of content. As a member of the public, I realize there are literally hundreds of thousands of dams world wide. Not many people are willing to show off this remarkable feet of engineering. Altho it be a smaller plant this is still amazing to see these concepts haven't changed too much. Thank you! Truly keep up your amazing job.

[@ocsrc]

I remember watching the building of a small plant like this in Maine and I walked through the concrete structure with the temp dam holding back the river before anything else was put in. Really amazing This reminded me of that experience

[@szeraax]

This was absolutely amazing to see! Thank you

[@vincentrusso4332]

Thats awesome someone takes time to educate... not sure my Good Enough Diploma and felon conviction helps getting on at the plant but I sure appreciated the editing and hard work into making the videos.

[@WhatWorxDev]

Thank you for taking me where I always wanted to go, but without the water. Also, you can try my dad's method to learning how to swim; throws you in the deep end, and you learn how to swim out of rage.

[@scottcol23]

This is so cool. Thank you for sharing this rarely seen peek into a hydro electric plant!

[@Physicsduck]

You are so sincerely welcome. :) I'm thankful that there are curious people like you out there who appreciate this incredibly weird content!

[@cheyneyjones4396]

It's so cool to see what runs our city behind the scenes

[@sethrice9939]

Even funnier to think of the canoe coming in the back

[@Physicsduck]

Check out my other Hydro Dam videos here: kzbin.info/aero/PL-3Y2XexL9dRz9zskedt9vejSoNFmAESQ If you like what you see here, I'd appreciate your help to continue making free, educational videos for all: ko-fi.com/captainboden

[@JoshllerraH]

Ladder breaks, video ends and that’s pretty cool.

[@Rokynutz]

Hydroelectric is hydroelectric. By scale, this is a tiny unit. The various dams I've worked on to rebuild turbine units, the headstock (intake) range from 60-120' from floor to ceiling. The draft tube is where I really like to be. Avg 300ft below the surface of the headwater. It makes you feel sooo tiny.

[@Rokynutz]

Thank you for making these voesoa

[@filanfyretracker]

oh wow I did not expect to see outside from where the turbine is, though the only hydro stations I have been inside were one in CT and Hoover, both used those big penstock pipes. And the plant was running so all we saw was the driveshaft that went up to the power house.

[@Snyper1188]

That was the adrenaline rush I needed without leaving the house haha super cool aspect to see, thanks! Oh, I subscribed, I love these civil engineering masterpieces!!

[@dh-1399]

I am 41 years old and have always been fascinated with hydroelectric dams having vacationed in TVA country all my life. These videos are absolutely incredible (and just a little bit terrifying). I can't thank you enough Chris. One question... does the outflow water level tend to be fairly close to the turbine blades at all times? I'm trying to understand how in certain parts of the video the water on top of the turbine blades looks stationary.

[@TrapperAaron]

I'm glad u brought up the TVA without Roosevelt and the TVA programs rural electricity would not exist. By rural I mean most of the southeast and the entire Midwest

[@b3j8]

Now these kinds of vids are what I truly love about YT! Bingo, subscribed!

[@dustys5512]

I remember vising an Idaho Power hydroelectric plant about an hour from my house as a kid (either Brownlee or Oxbow) and being in a room with a giant spinning shaft. The amount of water that flowed through that plant was indescribable. It was the stuff of nightmares thinking of being out in the water and swimming too close to one of the inlets.

[@scottlawson9206]

Those rusty ladder rungs look like they'd be rather uncomfortable on ungloved hands.

[@imbeast191ify]

dude i've wanted to see inside a penstock ever since I was a kid, coolest video for "dam lookers" as my dad says

[@gibblespascack1418]

Wow, the whole dam tour!

[@DarkWolf5250]

Interesting structure, and it's cool to be able to see inside. I've only been inside of the semi-spiral scrollcase of a new hydro dam I worked on a few years ago, and it's interesting to see how much the hydraulic design has changed in the century+ of time between them. My province has quite a few stations from the early 1900s, and I'm hoping I'll get to do some interesting inspections throughout my career!

[@AndrewScott83815]

This is how I imagine the oregon city willamette power house works

[@l33th1nk1ng]

its also extremely easy to learn swimm. Just fill your Loungs and go upside down. Youre swimming right now. Point some thrust and so on.

[@Hagfan789]

This is the stuff my nightmares are made of...Yet I love every minute of it. 🥴

[@cpypcy]

I can't swim... works at a hydroplant. Someone likes to live dangerously!

[@assassinlexx1993]

You can still see the outside. I been 600 feet below and up in the 2 inch thick steel tube. Where the water drops down around and into the turbine. Most fish that get caught in here are chopped up like a blender.

[@allezvenga7617]

Thanks for your sharing

[@GeologicalNerd]

Nice vid! RIP Mr Frog.

[@brickbraker5033]

The sheer fear of getting turned into a spaghetti sauce puree while down there would be immense, bet the job requirement includes having balls of steel, good vid Chris 👍

[@Jonas_Keunecke]

Hehe thanks, that is real dedication with what you pointed out at the end there

[@TheKurtsPlaceChannel]

Very nicely put together video and very entertaining as well. Thanks for posting this.

[@tedrex8959]

Hang on you can't swim but own a boat, forgive me for my bluntness, but for somebody so prepared that seems a little odd.

[@Physicsduck]

I like boats but hate waves, and only boat on the river, where the water is smooth and seldom too deep to stand up and walk out. I also own the finest automatic deployment life vest that money can buy. I am most certainly a little odd, but prefer to think of it as "Happy in dangerous ways."

[@tedrex8959]

@@Physicsduck Sadly I can attest to the fact that boats do not always stay afloat. I was trapped in the cabin of one that sprung a leak and almost drowned. Luckily I had a belt with me that allowed me to haul stuff out of the way so I could swim down and escape. Drowning is one of the more common forms of accidental death, I am a big coward who likes to work out the odds, so learning to swim to keep me and people with me safe with no extra equipment seemed like a good use of my time. (All of which is a very long way of saying, please learn how to swim. I'm sure I am not the only one who would hate it if something happened to you.)

[@petesmith2234]

That’s nothing, I have a friend who owns a plane, but he can’t fly 😂

[@JamesChurchill3]

How do you ensure that room doesn't get filled with water while you're in there?

[@Physicsduck]

A substantial faith in Physics, Engineering, and my brilliant trustworthy coworkers. Which is why I was scared shitless.

[@JamesChurchill3]

@@Physicsduck The physics and engineering parts are fine, I definitely don't trust the humans on the switches either!

[@joshuapk9808]

@@Physicsduck I bet you were glad it wasn't "take your kid to work day". One of your coworkers' kids: "Daddy what does this big red wheel do? Can I turn it??"

[@twwtb]

Oh, they just turn off the river. Piece of cake!

[@gregobern6084]

Mulder and Scully always get in trouble in a room like that

[@Romans-310]

Somebody’s gotta do it but it’s definitely not gonna be me I’m glad it’s you because that shit looks terrifying.

[@Doodlebug1996]

Hard to believe this is the same Chris that had a blue mohawk and wore shades with two different colour lenses. Anyone remember those days ?

[@Physicsduck]

To look back upon yourself a decade before and cringe is a good indicator that you have grown and matured. Never be embarrassed for who you once were, and never be satisfied with who you are today. Imagine what a waste it would be to look back a decade from now and find you are still the same person.

[@Doodlebug1996]

@@Physicsduck That is some truth. A decade ago I looked like an overweight Sid Vicious.

[@arrow9311]

Do you have any recommendations. Evolution is awesome

[@ChrisG0]

Whatever happened to that mechanical computer?

[@SpaceCaptainDR]

This is my absolute favorite KZbin channel.

[@magic.marmot]

Dang. I knew that the wicket gates were adjustable, but I didn't know the turbine blades were as well. That becomes a pretty complex control system to maintain synchronization and output power, and now I want to understand how they correlate in action.

[@Physicsduck]

A detailed breakdown of that, showcasing both the old manual way and the new PLC method is coming in Season 4 :)

[@ausseamore8386]

thanks

[@Physicsduck]

You're welcome :)

[@TomFynn]

You had me at "Inside The Bottom". I really said that out loud, didn't I?

[@MissilemanIII]

I almost drowned twice. I watch this kind of video just to scare myself. And it works!

[@John_Smith__]

Thanks for sharing, great video!

[@rmrazr7495]

amazing! i always wanted to see such things. thanks :D

[@Physicsduck]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

Looks like something from the new James Bond movie, Goldtoilet and how they plan to flush him to death.

[@klausolekristiansen2960]

I was very surprised by how unpleasant this was to watch. Fear of falling, fear of drowning, fear of enclosed spaces.

[@collinsmcrae]

Poor mr frog is gonna be going on mr toads wild ride, at some point.

[@holyngrace]

Wow, that's rally neat, thx!

[@weetecguy97]

What type of occupation is this ? I got my BSc in Computer Networking, but ideally dont want to be chained to a desk 24/7. Seeing alot of install engineers and content similar to this, which sort of ticks all my boxes for an ideal occupation. Thanks guys ! Based in Scotland

[@nmccw3245]

In this particular location, swimming would have little bearing on the outcome should a rapid ingress of water occur.

[@pentatron3127]

03:20 Welp that Frog is dead XD

[@Physicsduck]

Nope, they flush right on through. It's a hell of an exciting ride for about 15 seconds, but they're fine.

[@garygatto3410]

Thank you, nice video

[@thof-kw8os]

Very interesting. Good job

[@prestonburton8504]

I love your passion! - awesome video thank you!

[@PHAER]

Fascinating stuff! Thanks for sharing that!

[@Alastair510]

Surprised there isn't more of a fall from the river height to the turbines.

[@ZsomborZsombibi]

Somehow it's more spectacular than any computer animation.

[@m3nathan]

Fascinating and terrifying....water and big pipes and chambers and turbines and all that are exactly where "some sort of monster" that is my anxiety lives. When you took us around the back of the stack into the dark my hackles went straight up haha But all in all I really appreciate you showing us into there, thank you.

[@LichaelMewis]

Very cool, please make more.

[@Cemental]

Neat video1 Thanks! What was keeping the room from filling all the way to the top?

[@ImnotgoingSideways]

2:29 FROGGY!!!! XD

[@jerahmysmith4459]

I don't get how it generates energy with no penstock to drop down? I understand there a outflow tube under there but isn't the turbine usually on the end of the outflow to maximize potential energy? I know nothing about this so please educate me.

[@petyuriy]

simply amazing and simple

[@davidbudka1298]

Early hydroelectric plants didn’t always have the stack. The turbine, the drive shaft, the wicket gate control shaft, all would have been open! Wow!

[@HeppKattProductions]

I love these.

[@tbcarleton]

Confined space in waders? Nope. But then again... still nope.

[@defjamsgreen]

Now that’s an awesome water room of how it’s full of water 💦 is no place for a human . 😮

[@markdavis8888]

I hope your lockout/tagout is better than your PPE.

[@Physicsduck]

We're so good at lockout, Bootsie once locked himself out of the plant.

[@RadioMarkCroom]

@@Physicsduck 🤣🤣🤣 well played

[@sargundhillon2808]

How did you turn off the river?

[@hythesailor]

I've always wanted to see one of those turbines so thank you for the insight!

[@szeraax]

Ok, when the plant is tied into the grid power and set to automatic controls, does the computer so anything with these inlet flow gates that you demonstrated fully closing? What about those blades inside the inlet?

[@Highland_Moo]

Nope. Nope. I live in the Scottish highlands and we have lots of hydro electric dams and they all give me the willies. Same with canals.

[@weltvonoben]

Thanks for showing us, I'm pretty much afraid of underwater structures.

[@bindig1]

And then the lid slams shut and the water starts to rise cuz no one knows he went in there........

[@BobSmith-mj7ik]

I agree. I was anxious too. What if the water starts coming in?🤔

[@Lyssor]

Whats down there, some type of kaplan turbine?

[@Physicsduck]

Exactly that, yes.

[@richranchernot]

That is one of the smallest Kaplan turbines I have ever seen. Is that a Station Service turbine, and not a main turbine? Also, would that not be a permit required confined space?

[@anoimo9013]

would like to know what parameter is adjusted with wickets and what with blade pitch. I guess they has to bear different functions

[@czechgop7631]

Well they kinda bear the same function. Wicket gates regulate the flowrate while the blade angle is changing to optimise for it. This is a Kaplan turbine if I'm not wrong, so look for that for further information.

[@fardreaming]

Can this plant be "black started"? Are there generators to power things like the wicket gate motors and control equipment?

[@Physicsduck]

Yes, in the unlikely event that we needed to do it, we can do a Black Start. The old system here used to have a battery bank for it.

[@fatman123526]

Blackstarting a single plant by itself isn't generally very hard as long as they have some sort of backup power. Getting the whole thing synced together again would be a chore.

[@misters2837]

Well you have one on me....I can't swim, or climb ladders.....

[@davidhamm5626]

So, is this a place where a "sticky wicket" would be an issue?

[@vadimmartynyuk]

Trtijg to decide what’s more terrifying, heights or depths of a hydroplant

[@CodingExpress]

O boy, that plant needs a total rehabilitation

[@06fz1000]

Mr frog is going for a ride

[@zedsez]

lol that frog ded

[@g1expert102]

Can the stop logs be replaced with a system similar to the wicket gates?

[@xl000]

Interesting nugget. I have a very similar one but I didn’t know what was underneath that manhole

[@chrism4008]

I hate swimming, but i know how to do so proficiently just in case. I even learned rescue driving techniques for lost swimmers. Its not difficult, its easier than a bike, its just hard to get passed the fear

[@444mrjimmy]

sorry Chris I'm not knocking you at all but when I hear someone cant swim it blows my mind because here in (at least Queensland) Australia anyone that grew up in the city and most (not all) kids in the country know how to swim because beach holidays are a big past time, or swimming in the dam

[@Hopeless_and_Forlorn]

Speaking of efficiency, would it not be worth the effort of cleaning those inlet guide vanes, or wickets as you call them, to reduce the drag on passing water? I know that much buildup on ship hulls would cause quite a loss.