Hydroelectric Penstock Pigging

[@quickdry3]

it might sound odd, but if you tie a length of line to the pig and send it down _ahead_ of the pig, if the pig were to get stuck you can pull it down the pipe with the water pressure assisting you instead of working against you (it would be a hell of a job pulling the pig back up the pipe against the water, you'd probably have to disconnect the pipe). Cool project, I wish I had a property like that.

[@KrisHarbour]

That is a very good idea 👍

[@paulsmyers203]

Except you'd be pulling against whatever the pig had gotten jammed against. I think shutting off the water flow and pulling it back out the way it successfully had traveled would be the better solution. Maybe?

[@tempus.narrabo]

Well in that case two pieces of string, one in front of the pig and one behind that way if there is a large blockage in front of it, you can just pull it back up.

[@gravelydon7072]

@John Chrysostom Rev 3:9 Also would be able to tell where it was stuck at from outside the tubing'

[@briangarrow448]

As a retired wastewater and water treatment plant operator, I approve of this video. Well done sir 👍 Well done.

[@jamesculp3622]

it looks like a lot of dirt got knocked loose. The water looks muddy with the pig in there.

[@laneyweb]

Another enjoyable watch, thanks Kris. A small part (well most of me actually) wanted to see you attach a GoPro to the pig. Weeeee.

[@bobf12]

That would be a cool video. lol.

[@alec4672]

We'll have to remember to remind him in 2 years 😂

[@RubenKelevra]

Doesn't make it more sense to have a plastic propeller between the brushes and then a rotating swivel followed by the cord? The brushes would be forced to spin and the resistance of the brushes is getting the thing pushed down the pipe.

[@paulsmyers203]

It's good to know how much the penstock gets dirty in an installation this size. Seems like you could probably go close to a decade without needing to clean it. Especially in your build - the water entering at the intake must be mostly clean, otherwise your jets would be getting clogged and/or your impeller would be getting pelted constantly. I'd say looks like you've done a great build! After you've sent the pig through a few times and are certain there are no major obstructions or snags, I wonder about sending something like an over-sized loofah through it to really scrub the walls of the pipe. Though again, likely unnecessary.

[@Pogimo68]

It looks like the bacteria growing on the sides of the pipe. I use well water and have the same stuff in my pipes. Unless you see chunks of stuff don’t worry about it. You do awesome things there!

[@jerrykew]

I’m sure you already know but a nice bit of trivia is that it is the size of the Pipe Inner Gauge, hence pig 🐖

[@RingingResonance]

Maybe you should have an auto shutdown a few times a day to clear the intake.

[@1richiescott]

Brilliant very cleaver nice one. You could see the peat coming out on first run so it worked 😁👍💪🐷

[@cho4d]

Love the hydro vids. *dreams about off grid future*

[@Nebechadnezzar0311]

cho4d for real...

[@ajabusamra3901]

What do think of a couple of fins on the pig to make it spin whilst it moves through??

[@KrisHarbour]

It wouldn’t spin, the water is pushing from behind not flowing through it. It would require water to move passed it faster than it was traveling to be able to impart any energy to spin it

[@sebastienleherissier3672]

Thank always good , i will come to you to see if you could help me for a similar project in France , i ve got a small river in my property , with 20 meter of head and now 30l per second , propably 10l /s in summer ;always great to get news from you . Have a good day

[@mattwoodproperty]

Should be good for consistent 1.5kwh...... get it done !

[@AlanTheBeast100]

I would expect that if there is a reference amount of head and shutting off the turbine valves, that flow (litres/minute) through a large orifice could be a good indicator of buildup over time. Testing that after a pig run would validate the method as well. Could some sort of automatic brush be devised to clean the intake slowly and continuously? A wheel-brush the height of the intake oscillating left-right for example? Electrically driven from the turbine (use the 3 phase side to reduce overall losses and permit small diameter wires). Or vibrate the Coanda grill to help the leaves shimmy off of the grill?

[@michaelschmidt7014]

I like the couplings on your piping I have never seen that in the States before. Please provide a link to the manufacturer.

[@ketas]

late unneeded comment? i'm aware of us liking pvc pipes lot more for some reason... or so it seems... i'm not entirely sure what they make water mains out of out there... but i could still find that you can get both hdpe pipe in all colors and stripes and compression couplings there... there is also option for electrofusion fittings that melt and join with pipe or brass ones with short inner brass tube in the end to avoid pipe getting squeezed in

[@montedaestrada3563]

Our home in Portugal is not on a mains water supply and neither do we have any independent source. All of our water comes from the agricultural irrigation supply which is virtually unfiltered. Our water is very iron rich which is no good for drinking and destroys metal pipes and clogs plastic pipe especially when its heated. We have to buy drinking water. However as an engineer I find your videos very interesting even when they have no relevance to my situation. Our primary sources of energy, if we want to take advantage of them, are solar and wind. I designed and specified a solar system to power our needs 18 months go but then the world went to shit.

[@davesalmon2492]

That pig whistled down and cleared loads of what looked like algae another great job. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@RubenKelevra]

9:47 man, use a socket wrench, you get way more leverage, and don't damage the plastic in the long run 😙🎶 And you might want to have just a drainage valve at the bottom of your welded distribution box, then sperating these fittings all the time 😂

[@chuckmayes2294]

Would have helped to us clean out plugs along the way , just for this purpose...

[@carlbergenhem8125]

Very nice. What size/type of pipe are you using here? Flow gpm?

[@cliveramsbotty6077]

would be a swine to pull out if it got stuck

[@CarlJones14]

Is that a play on words? Pig, swine? Don't tell David Cameron, he'll be down in a flash.

[@CrusherFitter]

Carl Jones bet your fun at parties

[@CarlJones14]

@@CrusherFitter what sort of parties? I do like watching people making fools of themselves. Sex parties are good, well, they were in my day.😂😂😂

[@cliveramsbotty6077]

@@CarlJones14 the 'sex parties' of your day aren't really the done thing anymore, they're now called 'paedophile rings'

[@KrawmKruach]

MAnifold good sir, there will sediment in the manifold as well good idea to clean it out as well.

[@Starkchris]

What type of pipe and threaded couplings are those. Super nice.

[@jonathancook4022]

The sound of your stream makes me sleepy :D zzzz

[@RaulGillett]

How much pipe is upstream of the access port? Is that worth cleaning too?

[@KrisHarbour]

About 20m I think and I got 10m of it when I brushed it at the start so I got most of it 👍

[@RaulGillett]

Kris Harbour Natural Building fair enough, hope it makes it slightly more efficient.

[@JOHN-wy2iv]

Hi Kris, really love your videos. From experience, hold the lower rod when unscrewing the upper rod otherwise it might unscrew further into the pipe making extraction a real pig (pun intended) At least yours would be in nice clean water.

[@AddictedtoProjects]

As an alternative to the ratchet strap method, consider using an oil filter wrench. There's many different types. And they're really cheap. You have ones with a flexible strap or a wrench type. Will probably make it easier and it doubles as an oil filter wrench.... 😁🛠️

[@richardjellis9186]

What's your day job mate.?

[@jeremiepoirier1]

Nice video Again great job! y You are not scare thatsomething or a animal goes in your vaccum breaker pipe? it straight up without any filter or gose neck... What about the maitenance of your system daily, weekly, annually that you need to do? is it a lot of work or it is almost a maintenance free system? Maintenance cost if there some? thanks!

[@richardjellis9186]

The water was turning brown every time you pushed another rod up, so there's obviously crap being stuck to the side of the pipe (which will give your pipe extra resistance, lowering your psi at the bottom end) which has come out easy enough. But, I don't think it will make any difference if you don't get it all the way down the pipe. Love your work ethic by the way. I'm out of breath just watching you graft😂😂

[@2g273]

I hope Thames Water does this at least with our drinking water pipes

[@annrhodes3544]

I live in Northern California since 1982. Back when I lived in the UK I remember hearing that London drinking water went through 2 1/2 people before it reached you!

[@malcolmquick3708]

I've watched several of your videos you have convinced me that the way to build a good system is a water wheel

[@pontuslaurell8178]

i was thinking of instead of cleaning the whole pipe length every 2 years or more. Wouldnt it be possible to install some kind of filter at the top where the water starts to flow and a filter from the dam to the pipe? instead of cleaning the pipe just change or clean filters? is this at all possible in a set up like this? For future projects could you build a vice like you have in your workshop? could be fun to watch and maybe give us who want a cheaper vice to get a few ideas for our own vice project :)

[@mx96288]

Nice video Kris, enjoyed it as always. Have you thought about getting a coanda screen instead of the mesh for the intake box? Would prob need to change the angle a bit, but would certainly get rid of debris building up when running the turbine full bore. Keep up the good work mate!

[@Whorifice]

The water was absolutely manky by the time the pig reached the end of the pipe, what might seem like a small reduction in the effective inner diameter of the pipe is still significant volumetrically, so it could help more than you expect!

[@jonathansweet1112]

I really didn't think it would work, I'm glad I was wrong, great idea and another great video. How afe the trees coming along ?.

[@brianeustace4175]

Great to see more hydro videos, could you do a video on the details of the choices you made for you`re system...........like why you chose the turgo wheel over the pelton and the size you went with, some of the finer details of setting-up a system would be interesting to watch.

[@carolewarner101]

There was definitely a lot of brown water that shot out of there with the pig running through it! Pretty great little gadget to have to help maintain your system!

[@peoplenewstoday]

Genius level cleaning.

[@richardjellis9186]

You could do with a few taps installing down the length of the pipe eh.! For maintenance reasons.

[@Sqtgdog]

I can't wait for the bigger intake video! Thanks for this very educational additional content!

[@markgoode4109]

This was very interesting. It will be fascinating to see if you get an increase in power after cleaning the pipe. Thanks for sharing. All the best.

[@ksingleton101]

Should be a way to create a self cleaning screen for the intake. Cleaning off leave twice a day would be a pain!

[@marcocruz6859]

Pretty simple yet incredibly effective way to clean that pipe.. hope you find the way to keep clean that intake..

[@richardjellis9186]

You put some faith in that string the first time you did it dood🤔🤔😬😬😬🥺

[@freman]

What about all that dirt you blasted into the pipe at the other end of the pipe you disconnected? I agree put a prop on the pig so it spins :D

[@fmslickful]

Maybe add something some fins to the pig so it can spin going down the pipe. BTW what size and type of pipe is that?

[@Mr.Mystery]

post 10 energy

[@kenleach2516]

You keep it simple, yet technical, doing great stuff

[@jackcrane6668]

Lovely job! How’s it going with all the rain we’ve had?

[@RoryVanucchi]

Good video. I learned a trick or two for my spring fed system

[@horstszibulski19]

Great little pig! :-D Where is dirt, there are pigs... :-D

[@PavelPodesva]

What about some plastic barrel as a particle catcher near the intake?

[@moulinenpierre]

Very good video, what a great way to clean the pipes

[@alec4672]

By my extremely rough calculations that pig is traveling 9.1 m/s, or 20.3 mi/h. That's the fastest pig I've ever seen in my life 😂

[@gravelydon7072]

Ever try to catch one? They will surprise you as to how fast the little pigs can move.

[@iamric23]

I am amazed at your knowledge of so many things. One question I have is where do you get the money to buy things when you need something. Maybe I missed something about your job. You also seem to have every tool in the maintenance box, how did you get so many great machines?

[@KrisHarbour]

Alot of my tools i have accumulated over the years when i was working in london. i now make some money from youtube and because i dont spend out on nice clothes or holidays or kids i can afford tools and parts for these projects.

[@jessjulian9458]

That was fun. Thanks for the trouble friend.

[@eyezonmy6]

So what's your next project?

[@johnhenderson8360]

I was surprised how much silt did come out!

[@offgridwanabe]

Nice setup and the pig works great

[@Who.is.Clinton]

Loved this video Kris, well done.

[@skoto.power.systems]

Thank you Kris, you always give us the chance to learn a new thing from you. We are grateful.

[@ursodermatt8809]

looks like Kris is getting bored

[@homomorphic]

Awesome stuff as usual.

[@bochereauaugerghislain4561]

JE T écoute ,a la proch

[@JerryDodge]

Every bit of your work has inspired me to design and build my own hydro system - but I intend to go much further and capture more water in separate hoses, driving separate turbines. But I'm far from a position and budget to do so.

[@KrisHarbour]

It's much better to have just one turbine fed by multiple sources otherwise you just add losses. The turbine itself is the biggest loss so having one big turbine fed from multiple pipes is better than having multiple turbine

[@JerryDodge]

@@KrisHarbour True, but my idea is redundancy. Just in case one goes bad, I still have another operational one.

[@MrThomBeck]

Could have the backup right next to the main so you could switch over whilst doing maintenance on the primary. Best of both worlds.

[@KrisHarbour]

@@MrThomBeck There really isnt any need for that. a wel made turbine will run for a year without stopping no problem at all, then in the summer you do some maintenance and it runs for a year again. having a spare really isnt needed.

[@ohske]

😯👍👍👍👍

[@a5248714]

极好的

[@AngelLuisTrinidad]

I thought you were going to use a real pig.

[@gravelydon7072]

A guinea pig maybe. Boilers/feedwater heaters/heat exchangers are sometimes cleaned with rats.

[@annrhodes3544]

Never wrestle with a pig. You get filthy and the pig likes it.

[@salimufari]

$5 - $15 for a strap wrench to make and break those fittings.. just an idea.. or make it out of ply and a 1" - 2" strap.

[@moiragoldsmith7052]

So satisfying to watch! Well done re the convoluted 'pig'. Brilliant! x

[@-joe90]

the problem is that when you unscrew one, you also want to simultaneously unscrew another one inside ...

[@JessicaRyan7of9]

I think this was a really cool idea. As a modification to this Pig. You could put some directional fins to make it spin. When it's going down the pipe which would probably make it more efficient at cleaning the pipe. Rather than it just going straight down the pipe.

[@KrisHarbour]

It wouldn’t spin, the water is pushing from behind not flowing through it. It would require water to move passed it faster than it was traveling to be able to impart any energy to spin it.

[@metallitech]

Total waste of time then ? :)