Part 16 MicroHydro Power System in CO

[@PracticalEngineeringChannel]

Awesome series. Keep it up!

[@mrhydrohead]

+Practical Engineering Thanks, will do. Like your videos as well, thanks for sharing

[@Alexwilson225playsMC]

Can't wait for the next episode! Awesome Series!

[@mrhydrohead]

+Alexwilson225 More coming although slow to do this year due to selling city house and moving here permanently. A big process. Sorry for the delay on new vids. Thanks for watching

[@Alexwilson225playsMC]

Thank You! Great series!

[@deere3321]

I'm a retired lineman and I thoroughly enjoyed watching all of your video's. Thank you for taking the time to video the project. Your explanations through out the project were excellent.

[@mrhydrohead]

+deere3321 Thanks, it's been fun doing the series

[@CalPhotoGuy]

This is a positively outstanding series of videos. I've always hoped to someday put together some place nice and make my own power but worried about needing to build close to running water. I'm happy to see it's not too incredibly difficult to move the water to where you need it. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you.

[@mrhydrohead]

Thanks Zach. It has been a long term project of now about 20 years which was functional in about 3-4 months initially in 1995. More to come but most likely at a slow pace, so subscribe if you wish. Glad you like. Thumbs up helps ratings on KZbin.

[@robnnorthaustin]

So glad you posted an update. I had wondered if something got in the way of finishing the system or the you tube series. I would have never thought a single person could of completed as much work as you have. It's time for me to rewatch the entire series to see the beautiful landscape in Colorado. I edited out my question about a break even cost as I found you answered it in a reply to another post. Thanks again for the smile and good feelings your series gives me. Rob

[@mrhydrohead]

Yup it has been a ton of work stretched out over a long while. The final steps will be to increase the AC load on the system to maximize the power produced/used, and add remote controls and monitoring equipment. Once that is complete, I plan to document other folks systems that I know of and continue with efforts to spread the knowledge. Lots of the questions I get are similar in nature, so I guess I should create a blog page to fill in the blanks and give more detail. It all started out to show someone that might acquire the property in the future how the system functioned and then morphed into a how to hands on series. Thanks for the interest and support, it makes all the more fun for me.

[@doggydriveruk]

+MrHydrohead I understand the concept of load balancing but to me, it seems wasteful, at least after you've got all the hot water you'll need :) Did you consider the possibility of controlling the frequency by adding a controlled valve to the water input of the generator? This also leads to the possibility of installing a header tank that fills during low load times and can be utilised when you need to draw high power. Not critisising though, just wondering. Really high quality work and also well produced and informative video, excellent job and thank you!

[@mrhydrohead]

+DoggyDriver UK Your questions lead to an interesting discussion. The flow in the system will be varied depending on the time of year by gross adjustments to the flow. Winter=higher, Summer=lower. The idea is to set the flow somewhere in the range of expected peak load demand. We will install a means of monitoring and seasonally adjusting the flow remotely. That will be the the topic of a future video, so subscribe if you have interest in that. On the topic of waste, the only consumption in the system once installed are flow of water and mechanical wear on components. Heat as kinetic energy is either lost in the movement of water in the creek or in a concentrated form in the dump load. There is actually less evaporation of water while it is in the pipeline vs. tumbling down the watercourse, so in a way there is a small conservation of resource with more water in the pipe. Mechanical variance of flow via solenoid or stepper motor is much slower in response to load changes than electronic control of load and that equipment might require more maintenance long term. The reaction time to be fast enough to adjust large loads could lead to a water ram and endanger the pipeline pressure wise as well. Also the cost of adding it would be a waste of money as the system works well as is. The idea has been to repurpose all the existing equipment into the new design which saves some resources. As far as storing water, it would take a large pond or small lake to make effective use of storing water. The intended top flow rate will be roughly 300gpm or 5 gallons a second. That's a LOT of water! And even that is a small percentage of what is available in the creek depending on the time of year. Thoughtful questions though and interesting for me to consider the reply so thank you for your interest. Thanks for watching and subscribe for more videos, the more subscribers we get the more KZbin promotes the series and the more people see it. Well over a million views on the series now which goes far beyond any expectation I had at the outset. It's a trip!

[@doggydriveruk]

+MrHydrohead Yes, what you're saying makes perfect even to a non-engineer like myself. When I referred to waste, I meant the panel heaters that were switched on after you'd heated your water. What I was thinking of was a storage tank to collect water during low loads. Lets assume that at night you only require 50% of your average load so 150gpm is available for storage over a period of 8 hours (72000 gal). To store this you'd need approximately 325m3 so just under a 7m cube tank would hold this. Then during peak power needs, you could add this into your input. Anyway, that was my thinking but I'm not an engineer, it was just a thought. As you say, you have a lot of spare capacity anyway if needed. I've subscribed to your channel and I look forward to following your progress, it's really interesting and I'm sure as fossil fuels deplete this will become more and more important. Great work!

[@mrhydrohead]

+DoggyDriver UK There's always lots of things to consider. If I put in a storage tank, it would cost a lot and require state permits from the Water Court as well. Constructing a pond or lake would require a large dam which would have to be permitted engineered and inspected. Not an easy access area either and it would alter the natural state of the land there as well. Always lots of things to consider. Better to just tap the creek for what we need. Thanks for your interest, share with friends if you have any that would find any of the series interesting. Decentralized power capture is the way of the future.

[@anglerbeaudry1027]

I scanned through the series in a matter of an hour, but will be sure to watch it, in its entirety when time allows. First thoughts/opinion (for what it's worth), AWESOME! Had to subscribe. What you are doing by taking the time to create the series, while trying to take on such a task, is very awesome of you! Shooting, editing and producing videos is a lot of work in itself, much less creating the awesome hydro system you have created! Very much appreciated by many, I'm sure! May God Bless You and Your's with an awesome 2016 and beyond, Anglers.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Angler Beaudry Hey thanks for the feedback. I appreciate that others find the information useful. That was my intent.

[@SparkyMcBiff]

I was hooked since I came across the very first video. This was an amazingly well documented series of videos on an amazing project. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us armchair engineers.

[@mrhydrohead]

Most welcome. thx for watching.

[@egustafson]

This is the most fascinating project I have seen in a long time and really sparks the senses. Beautiful engineering and craftsmanship.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Erik Gustafson Glad you followed along. It's rewarding in both the doing and sharing of it all. Thanks for the comment. Subscribe and share so more will see it all.

[@2swagdaddy]

Very interesting stuff! I'm a electrician in CO... during my apprenticeship I took a tour of the Manitou hydo-station. They use a similar system. During construction they made the incline for building and servicing of the pipeline. It would be great to come check out your setup!

[@52nenne]

I have only seen some of the videos of this creation, but deeply impressed and amazed of all the work, possibilities, intuitive ideas, I have to sign up and look at the rest and educate myself.

[@m1geo]

I just stumbled across one of your videos, and made the decision to go to part 1. Almost 3 hours later (and at 3:24am, with work tomorrow), I am fascinated. What an amazing project! It's a real testament to you. And it should keep you warm. Looking forward to more parts! Thanks!!!

[@mrhydrohead]

George, Sorry to keep you up so late. It has happened to others as well as you might discover in the comments. The videos started out as a way to give any future owner some documentation on maintaining/repairing/understanding the system. As time progressed it morphed into a makeshift expose DIY on micro hydro. I realized that no one had created a beginning to end guide to installing a system and decided it might be fun to do. Now years later and well over 600,000 views worldwide on the series later, it is quite rewarding and flattering to receive your comments. Thanks so much for your interest. My plan in the future once done with all aspects of our own system being finished and documented is to locate and examine in some detail other folks' systems large and small. Each installation is unique and usually proudly managed and appreciated by its owners. I will do this as a hobby and with a desire to spread the practical knowledge of creating one's own power. So, if you subscribe to the channel, this is just the start and you can follow the journey of discovery with me. Thanks again. Your interest makes my efforts all the more rewarding. Pass it on to others that might find it interesting. I get a tiny reward of fractional pennies of payment that add up from the ads placed by KZbin. A small but welcome reward for the hours I've invested.

[@m1geo]

I found your comments while doing just that; showing the video to a friend who was also very interested. It's very interesting to see how you're actually living with it, rather than it being a cool experiment - I wonder to what extent it features in your life? Does it purr away every day and you think "oh, that needs a service/grease, I will do that next week" or do you constantly have to tinker/maintain? Do you have to consider electrical use, or is it pretty much life as normal? Just curious. I live in London, so power is just always there - We had one powercut in the last 10 years! haha. Anyway, I shan't waste more of your time! I will be fondly checking back for updates, and also very keen to read the documentation you mention in the future! (Ps, my earlier comments are from my Electronic Engineering background).

[@sundancefeather]

Very informative and inspiring series of videos. I've just built a tiny hydro system on my property that produces around 90 watts in 3 phase AC which I then rectify to DC to run charge in to a battery that powers my cabin. However after watching this it makes me want to build a larger turbine in the future. Good work!

[@richardbarber4444]

Great job well done. To keep cows away from creek provide a creek fed water tank. They much prefer water in a tank to going down to the creek. Put in a floating ramp so careless critters can climb out and not drown.

[@mrhydrohead]

Thanks for the idea. It is fun to hear some of the good ideas people suggest.

[@AminadabLugo]

Amazing, I just finished viewing all the videos in this series and I am very impressed by the magnitude of this "Project" and how well it was done! Thanks for taking the time to document and explain all this for us to enjoy. Excellent work!!!

[@mrhydrohead]

+Aminadab Lugo Thanks for the encouragement. Still more to do. Please subscribe as more will follow. I know...it's so slow, but one set of hands working here for the most part. Thanks for watching.

[@alaamohsin2204]

I'm really amazed of what you have done. Great patience, hard work, and great results.. congrats.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Alaa Mohsin Thank you. Still working to make it better. I appreciate the encouragement.

[@ajwatters4431]

Your videos are very insightful, thank you for all the time and effort you have put in. i am glad all has worked out as you have planned. looking forward to part 17.

[@LuisCorreiamcc]

Hello Great job, lots of work but big results. You are a man of big prespectives, congrats. Thanks for the videos.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Luis Correia Very welcome. Thanks for watching

[@cathedralpie8729]

Are you going to make more videos

[@mrhydrohead]

+Im Beast Yes, there's still more to do with increasing the flow and load on this system. Also monitoring and controlling the powerhouse remotely is in the works. It all takes time money and effort and this year has been about selling another house and relocating here permanently. Once this system is finalized and I have more time, my plan is to continue by providing exposes of other functioning systems of all sizes and types. So, please subscribe if you have interest. Thanks for watching.

[@SachiWI]

And to think I almost forgot about you and then here you are again - glad to see you are self reliant

[@michaelhunt1115]

+Sachi In Wisconsin I could not forget this guy he helped me out with my own hydro plant. I lost a creek with mine this winter wash out of a damb that took me 3 years to build due to shale rocks. Came down like toilet paper being flushed in a toilet. Destroying 2 logging roads.That six inch poly pipe is expensive but i hooked up to the grid and my bill was over 550 dollars.

[@jeffdunnell508]

Lot of work and trials and errors with Mother Nature,payoff is huge,envious of your lifestyle,something this city boy only dreams about,thanks for sharing

[@mrhydrohead]

Thx for watching

[@jeffdunnell508]

MrHydrohead 👍

[@neillsmart213]

Great following through your build series :) Thank you for sharing your journey!

[@mrhydrohead]

You’re most welcome. Thx for watching

[@bobbrackpool2004]

Great update, from the last video assumed all was good but mother nature certainly throws challenges.

[@mrhydrohead]

Yeah, it is a long process. I have yet to finalize all the elements of the load system to harness the potential power output. More power is available than I am currently accessing. Also a monitor and control system is yet to be completed and thus the subject of the next video. Hopefully done with everything by spring/summer next year. Once you get into hydropower, it becomes addictive. 19 years now. Patience is the only remedy. Keep moving forward, improving and refining... I hope it is at least interesting.

[@danielbarr4630]

EXCELLENT EXECUTION AND RESULT! Deliberate, pragmatic, thoughtful, effective. I will use this "case study" for my own projects. THANK YOU!

[@mrhydrohead]

Thanks for your interest. On the question of how much... Reposting a previous answer to a similar question: "It's a good question, but very difficult to answer. First, one would have to amortize the cost of laying in grid power in 1994. At the time of the switchover the system had produced 145,000 kWh for a basic cost of $25,000 versus $140,000 for laying powerlines. Add $52,000 of current development costs and you are paying for all the future power generation in the systems lifetime. You would also need need to subtract the cost of line power over the last 19 years to determine the cost per kilowatt hour over the first system's history. The other reality is that the present level of power production is maybe 1/5 of what we eventually hope to accomplish. Ultimately because it is AC you have to use whatever power you are generating at the time you're generating it. Living off grid with hydropower means that you use more power than you usually would, you run appliances more frequently, have access to using large electric tools, you always have hot water available at no cost, can defray the cost of heating your home in winter, and you are paying for all future power at the beginning. So, it becomes a lifestyle choice. Are you willing to pay for all of your future power upfront and have no environmental impact and thereby increase the asset value of your property, or are you buying into the centralized system with power production which at this point is based about 50% down to 42% on coal for power generation over the life of the current system. Changing one's approach/reliance on the polluting centralized system requires planning, commitment, and patience. It is not something most people are willing to undertake, or have the financial wherewithal to complete. I got lucky and found myself able to pursue this undertaking nearly 25 years ago and am fortunate enough to share my experience via the Internet which has developed in the interim. Hopefully people somewhere in the world will find the information useful."

[@robvries2568]

Hello there, i just watched your series and i liked it verry mutch! Keep living of the grid. Greetings from The Netherlands

[@mrhydrohead]

+rob vries Glad you liked it. It's a pleasure to live with this power source.

[@jimmartin7899]

Cement canvas can be a very useful tool. It has many applications.

[@MM-un3nb]

A big thank you for sharing these series of videos. I found it very informative & interesting.

[@Over50YearsOffgrid]

Good to see the refinements you did over the summer. Your intake point is really challenging engineering. With the severe drought here in CA we had to get a little more innovative to keep things like the walk in freezer running. It forced us to learn more and plan to refine those innovations next year. Load leveling is very useful. If you start running out of power look into it.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Joel Horn (DIY Homestead) Thanks Joel, Yes unfortunate the drought in CA(we spend part time in SoCal). We lost 2 wonderful trees to it. I'm assuming you mean 3phase. Might be pretty difficult for me to balance (3) 4K legs effectively. Or so I was told by Thomson/Howe, makers of my load controller. Risk burning up generator. Thats why I stuck with 1phase. Still figuring out how to put the potential 200KWH/day to good use. Hope you post anything new of interest on your channel. Cheers

[@Over50YearsOffgrid]

+MrHydrohead Load leveling is any way to store excess power during low use periods and then pulling it back into the system when your loading goes up. We are using battery based and water storage based storage for load leveling.www.victronenergy.com/inverters-chargers/quattro# This inverter/charger can be hooked up to your single phase AC hydro plant. It will take only your excess power to charge the battery and then when you load the hydro plant beyond its limits it will supplement just the amount of power you are over drawing. It is called power assist. It does not switch over to all battery power if the hydro is overloaded like most all other inverters do. Disclaimer I am not affiliated with Victron at all. It allows us to use electric stoves and ovens for cooking even when the turbine was putting out only 4kw. Our high head system is run of the stream like your system with no storage but the low head system has a 60,000 gallon pond so we diverted water from the high head to the low head system to fill the pond which we could drain when power usage was larger. Sorry about getting long winded.

[@mrhydrohead]

Very interesting. I've never heard of this sort of device. I will look into it. Your setup has always been so cool because of the two sources blended at different pressures. It shows how well you understand it all. The calculation and building of your custom runners to accommodate this is a real feat. Hats off to you. I'm all eyeballs if you ever share more video on the load leveling aspect of your system. Someday I'd love to see it all in person.

[@Over50YearsOffgrid]

+MrHydrohead Someday we will have to make that happen. I would love to see your setup.

[@adarianalt]

Very nice installation! We made something like this in Siberia and get 2.2 kWt power, and connected to Xantrex XW system, works great!

[@mrhydrohead]

+Adar Toboev How much battery capacity does your system have? How much maintenance do the the batteries require?

[@adarianalt]

2x200 A*h , AGM, almost no maintenance.

[@dennis8445]

This is the way to go for sure. It's a lot better than solar system which just heat's up the planet. Thank you very much for sharing.

[@mrhydrohead]

You're very welcome. Thx for watching

[@ThiasRussell]

I amm very happy to see your system works. Thx for sharing.

[@woolever02]

Great series! Is there any change to the forest downstream from the meadow? Curious if the reduced water flow in that spring where the water is picked up and redirected to the power plant has had any effect to the lower vegetation. thanks

[@mrhydrohead]

+woolever02 No, the point at which we picked up the Spring water in the meadow was only about 100 ft. from where it joined the creek anyway. The diversion of water from the creek to the meadow is a small portion of the available creek water, so there really is no impact to the forest from that either. The seasonal changes in flow of both the spring water and the creek are very large anyway and always have been in this area. So, no real impact to either flora or fauna.

[@hydropv9371]

This series really drew my interest in Micro Hydro and now that we just moved and are looking for a new home what do you think I should look for in a suitable property for Micro Hydro? can't wait for the next video!!

[@mrhydrohead]

+Green Jeans A piece of land with water flowing on it that either has a lot of flow with some fall or one with a lot of fall and some flow that you can get access to. Every installation is unique and gets designed to the potential power available. In contrast to our system, going DC with batteries can provide ample power with much less expense. Parts 6 and 7 of the series is an introduction to the process of determining the available power. Fall(head) and Flow are the two essential measurements and of course being able to acquire legal rights to use the water for power which varies depending on jurisdiction. Having some year round flow is ideal. There are lots of manufacturers with calculators to determine power on their websites. Glad you like the series. More vids to come in the spring. All is functioning under the snow at this time of year. Any filming is cumbersome.

[@drewberger434]

This is awesome I've always wanted to mess with this on a small scale but wow this is incredible

[@mrhydrohead]

+Drew Berger Thanks for the interest.

[@sdrshnptl]

Hello there, very interesting is that efforts you people take to create offgrid electricity, and that is very nice!

[@mrhydrohead]

+Sudarshan Patil Thanks for watching. Living off grid is a very rewarding experience.

[@holohol542]

Thank you! This series has been very informative and inspirational!

[@johnmorton6018]

Outstanding! Looking foreword to your next installment.

[@mrhydrohead]

+John Morton There will be more vids, just can't say when. I have an electrical engineer who is working on some remote control features and I'll be adding capacity to the load on the system. Complicated things so it may take some time. Thanks for watching.

[@paulsharpe7740]

hi great sistom and video, just one comment the north end of the pipe bridge anker. going round the trees will cause the back harfe of the tree problems in growth as the bark and cambium are crushed. an olternative is to drill a hole through the trunk and fit a 3" stanlase steel plate and rod with an eye at the end the 2 woonds can then be sealed with wax ,the tree will then grow around this. We have done this at the local scout campsite for the plonering 3 years ago and they have heald up fine and are still solid.

[@mrhydrohead]

Thank you for the input. We will look into it.

[@djoooop]

Great docu, enjoyed it a lot!

[@tiredpopeye]

Wonderful set of videos. Good job on the editing too.

[@mrhydrohead]

+tiredpopeye Thx man. So glad to share

[@bobsmoth7837]

Thank you for sharing this info.I'm a mechanical engineer and finally watched the whole series. Things make more sense now that I've watched all of it. I'm impressed that you went heavy duty on the system. So many people cut corners up front and pay later to keep a system running.I'm wondering if you considered increasing the sizes of your spring boxes to hold more water. It would have dried up eventually anyway but it might have given you time. Along the same thought did you consider a battery / inverter addition into the original system? You could have generated power on a more consistent basis and drawn down the battery during peak loads. 20 / 20 hind sightYour intake screen design is terrific. Love it.With a 6 inch line your velocities are going to be so low that you probably have very little pressure loss. I never did catch how much water your intake can provide. I assume much more than you can consume. I take it your amp meters are for each of the 120 volt sides. They never run equal.Are you considering to automate your needle valve. Right now I see you manually setting it and then the system dumps the excess load as heat. Or slows down if you have too much load.Why did you go to a belt drive in the new system? The generator turns at the same speed but the Pelton wheel now runs slower. Have you considered a timing belt instead of a v-belt? They're more efficient.Just as a comparison. I had a house with an air to air heat pump with electric backup and for the defrost cycle. My January usage was 85 amps and my June usage was 10 amps. That's monthly average.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Bob Smoth Lots of questions here. Good ones too, so let me try to dig into them in some depth. First off, I’m glad you enjoyed the series. I started out in the first few videos to attempt to explain how the system functioned to someone that one day might own my property after me. Since the 1996 original installation I experienced several years of reducing water flow(worst in winter) which I attributed to drought conditions. By the time I had discovered the potential that the aquifer feeding the springs might have been compromised, the water rights to the causative pond had been made absolute in water court and so it was a done deal. No legal recourse is available. This process occurred over a span of about 5-6 years, so it was difficult to gauge what was really occurring. The idea of building larger spring boxes wouldn’t have worked because the simple aim of the system is to keep the pipe full for full pressure. You can’t create water flow where there is none and adjusting the flow at the power house was how I knew how much power from the available water could be created. I kept pretty accurate records of flow settings and could see a slow degradation taking place over the years. Spring/Summer were never a problem except for shifting ground and pipeline breaks due to the high 212psi pressure. Fall/Winter when the most power is desired was a sliding slope of less and less power over many years, to where I had less than 10% of the designed power and was experiencing efficiency issues with the shape of the water jet due to the greatly reduced water flow. The jet just wouldn’t form an efficient shape to get the most out of the turbine/pelton design. I had purchased the additional land with the creek on it with the intention of one day putting in a bigger system and developing a "hydrogen farm" and having all the power I would ever need and being able to one day store or sell hydrogen for transportation or whatever. That technology is still yet to become reasonably affordable, but one day it hopefully will be. Prior to building the house the initial choice was made to put the system on the springs due to the fact we could get gravity flow spring water, have a trout pond, drive the power production at a very reasonable comparative cost of $25K vs $140k to run mains power on poles to the property and then pay a utility to generate our power. The decision to go AC vs. DC/Batteries/Inverter was made for efficiency reasons as direct drive AC production was possible due the available high pressure. AC generation is a lot more efficient than DC with a lot less energy lost and you don’t have the maintenance issue associated with batteries. The property was to initially be a vacation home with only part time occupancy and the thought of batteries at 8600 ft in the cold of winter and providing less efficient power production overall, with the eventual need to replace them and contend with the toxicity of the chemistry involved seemed like the less attractive alternative to AC which was clean and simple. The velocity of the water in the 6" may potentially at some point in the future rise to somewhere near 5 ft. per second which should be an upper limit I don’t think I want to exceed. The manufacturer of the Turbine(Canyon Industries) informed me that the maximum design flow I could expect to get through the 1" needle nozzle would top out at about 300 gpm or .66 cfs. This flow combined with the expected pressure of ~100psi told me I would have capacity to generate about 8.5Kw single phase or 12KW three phase. I already owned the generator which was rated for 10KW single Phase/ or 15KW Three phase, so the sizing of the pipe was based on this exit end limit vs. the amount of flow available. At some point it comes to how are you going to use the power you make and I’ve yet to maximize what I can already generate. I decided to see what winter flows could handle. To date I haven’t been able to accurately measure how much flow there is in the dead of winter, although at this point I think I’ve proven that water freezing issues will not be of great concern. This winter has seen several multi-day dips to single digit temperatures and the system hasn’t shown any problems thus far. The wires in the ground and the pipe were designed for potential future expansion should I need it. The turbine could one day be retrofit with a second water jet to increase the available flow onto the pelton thereby increasing the power production. I’m just going in stages at this point seeing how much can reasonably be utilized. One of my fellow hydrohead guys suggested I look into an inverter that can synchronize a battery source with a live AC system which would enable me to store some of the power in batteries. I hadn’t ever heard of this and apparently such a system now is commercially available, so that would be a consideration in the future should I choose to size up the system. You are correct in assuming the amps are 2 - 120v legs, Single Phase. I considered rewiring the house for 3 phase and having 3 legs and more efficient transmission/utilization of the power, but the maker of the load controller(Thompson Howe) advised that I stay with single phase. He said the difficulty of balancing the loads on the 3 legs on anything less that 25KW total power would be very problematic and most likely result in burning out the generator. This discussion took place after I had put the 4 wire transmission line in the ground, so even though there was some waste there the saving grace is that someday I could size it all up and have existing wire that could handle it. The plan on the needle valve is to create a remote monitoring system that I can read in the house or over the internet which would first look at water pressure and alert any change in it which would indicate that the pipe is draining due to a clog at the intake or a flow rate that is greater than the available water. Pressure is the primary indicator of the system functionality. I do plan to make a remote drive for the needle assembly with stepper motors, but it won’t be automatic, but remotely and manually adjusted when pressure is indicated to drop or when the season demands more/less power. Winter is when the greatest need is required for heating the house and I’ve yet to complete that part of the overall plan. First I have to determine if there is adequate flow in the dead of winter to justify the expenditure in dump loads and relays which will heat the house. The load controller is a primary part of the whole system and designed to manage the balance to 60hz via electrical load vs. a system where the needle valve is manipulated. Either way works, but the ELC(electronic load Controller) is the fastest and lowest maintenance. On the belt drive part of the system, the speed of the water jet as it exits the beak of the nozzle is governed by the water pressure(psi). With the first spring fed system, 212psi was fast enough of a jet stream to drive 9.5" diameter pelton on the turbine shaft to a range of 1800 rpm when under load. 100psi in the second stream creates a jet which is not fast enough to rotate the 9.5" pelton fast enough, so it has to be stepped up via the belt system to achieve 1800rpm. I didn’t consider a timing belt as I was advised by both a hydro engineer I employed and Canyon Industries that a duel belt system was very forgiving on alignment. Alignment was an issue as I had to build all this before I could install the machinery. The loss of power is not severe as far as I know and there is a ton of power there anyway so a small incremental loss is not a big deal. My systems for heat are three fold with passive solar(South facing windows) where sun strikes slab floor and stores heat in addition to radiant glycol lines circulating in that slab. The glycol can be heated with either excess hydroelectric power or propane as required and lastly there are 3 high efficiency wood stove throughout the house. You can imagine in a cloud covered Winter cold spell at 8600ft. it can get quite cold in the mountains of colorado, but the house has adequate design to remain cozy in the worst conditions. Nicest heat I’ve ever experienced without the dry nose effect of forced air. On a sunny day it is not uncommon to crack some windows to cool off when its 30-40f outdoors and 90f inside. Whew! Just the same, I am curious about your 85 amps. Is that at 240v? VA=Watts X hours=KWH. How many KWH per month do you consume? I’m not sure there is any sort of heat pump available for glycol system, but I’ve heard heat pumps are quite efficient. How big was your outdoor heat coil? Buried I assume. If I had been smart I would have buried a coil in the transmission wire trench at no extra cost besides the pipe. But as you say 20/20 in hindsight. Oh well, we are blessed anyway with what is. More vids to follow in the future(Spring) when I get the monitoring and remote control systems set up, so please do subscribe, share with interested friends, and give a thumbs up as it helps with the KZbin ratings. I will most likely create a blog to include questions/answers like this so I don’t get repetitive. Thanks again and please share any thoughts or further questions. Nice to have an engineer ask cogent questions, though I am a neophyte myself.

[@bobsmoth7837]

+MrHydrohead Thanks for the quick reply. WOW you designed in a lot more than what shows in the videos. I'm impressed !!.......I did some preliminary design work for my father-in-law in the early 1980's trying to size solar power, wind mill and energy loads. This was for a cottage north of Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. I had real issues with seasonal loads vs instantaneous loads. I could use the solar panels to create a hot water heat sink ( indoor swimming pool ) and use a heat pump to draw the heat out to warm the house. He had a hill near the house and I considered using a windmill to pump water from the lake up the hill to a storage pond and generate hydro on demand. System sizing was impractical and the control systems were going to have to be analog. Computers just weren't up to the task yet......As you've found, the sun doesn't always shine when you need heat or the wind doesn't blow when you need electricity. Either you vastly oversize on the generation side or you put in some kind of storage capability ( battery or collection pond ). ( random thought here: if you run into freeze up issues at the intake end and water flow, you could dig out the pond by the weir to increase storage and put in a pool solar blanket during the winter, or just a black plastic sheet ).......Heat pumps are a very efficient way to heat a space ( fridges and air conditioners are heat pumps ) They are rated by COP ( coefficient of performance ). A COP of 3 means it's 300 % efficient !! What that means for every 3 units of heat you put into your living space you buy one ( generate from your hydro system ) and get two from your heat sink ( air or ground ).....It is theoretically possible to use a heat pump to generate steam to drive a generator that will drive the heat pump and still have power left over to do other things. Possible but not practical......We built our house in 1987 ( 2500 sq ft main floor, 1000 sq ft second floor 2500 sq ft basement. ). We had allergy issues with hydro carbons so decided to go with a heat pump and electric back-up rather than natural gas. They were going to make us put in a 400 amp service. 200 amp service is standard. We had to explain that the heat pump was so that we didn't need so much hydro. Ours was an air to air system so it looks like an oversized central air system with a big compressor outside. The load issue ( and you'll find the same ) is that there is a huge draw on the system when the compressor is running. I think ours was a 3 HP motor. Also being air to air means the outside would frost up and had to be defrosted periodically, which means the heat pump reverses and draws heat from the living space to defrost. During those periods you need back-up heat. In our case that was 120 amps. Also the backup would kick in if the heat pump couldn't keep up because it was too cold outside In short, the system was drawing zero when it was off, 3 HP when it was running, 3 HP plus 120 amps during the defrost cycle. That's instantaneous incremental steps. That's hard on your system unless you have a battery / inverter to help balance the load. Those are becoming more economical as more people go off grid.......As for generating hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis for other uses, good thought. Personally I'd probably lean towards ammonia, the system pressures are much lower.....Love your thought on burying a glycol line with the wire. I'll have to remember that one.......My usage was 3245 KWH in February and 1743 KWH in July. Don't know how I got those earlier numbers. The heat pump made heating costs manageable. We went with an air to air system as we would have had to drill down being in the city......You have a very interesting house, congratulations.......Sorry for the bad formatting .........PS I'd suggest a full size relief valve near the bottom in case someone closes the needle valve quickly and blows half your pipeline apart. All the best

[@mrhydrohead]

Yup water ram would be a disaster, but it's locked up and not many people around on my road that dead ends at a wilderness area. Still, it is a concern for any remote control over the Internet. Best to keep it inaccessibly simple and stupid, KIISS. I appreciate the notes on you setup. It's clear your expertise are deep and informed. I will ponder your description and ask questions if they occur if you don't mind. That's a lot of juice. Wow 400amp service. I would love to find a device that could heat glycol at the ratios you describe. That would be killer! I'll have to do some research. Maybe that's a niche market to create and patent a device if one doesn't exist. What say you? On the collection pond, it is currently lined with a rubber liner and I hadn't thought of the potential solar thermal gain benefits. Dumb luck I guess. Good thoughts thanks...

[@bobsmoth7837]

+MrHydrohead Those ratios are for off the shelf heat pumps. Been around for a long time. Trane makes a very good system .....If you talk to central air contractors they can fill you in on how the systems work. Be prepared to go around many times as you ask questions with the answers that lead to many more questions. When I sold the house real estate agents ( and buyers ) were afraid of the heat pump. It should have been a plus. ......I'm in London Ontario Canada. I worked for Westinghouse for years building transformers....I imagine your system works by you setting the needle valve, which gives a constant generation level. If you don't have enough load on the system, it overspeeds and you have resistance loads that come on and bring it back into balance. If you have too much load it underspeeds and the resistance turns off. Your range of 50 to 70 Hz can be real hard on any electric motors you have. I just found that out the hard way.....I did my fourth year engineering thesis on windmills, back in 1975.........I assume you connect to the internet through wireless....I hope you do start a blog. Some one needs to be a central source for information. I'd do it but I'm not that good at it..... Is there a way to contact you directly. Say no if you have security and spam issues. The email attached to my account is to prevent spam on my primary account.

[@mrhydrohead]

Bob, You are right on how the ELC(electronic load controller) functions with load. It shunts off a segment of the sine wave via thyristors to keep a constant 60 hz. I did use a wide range 50-70 ha. It used to vary a lot on the spring fed system due to debris getting stuck in the jet assembly, but now it's just super constant with the big flow from the creek. I will tighten the range I've set given your comment on motors. Thanks for that. I actually can't see any email address for you. Comments just get forwarded to me and it's all public what others can see here in the discussion. You could use lensermanATgmail,com for a private discussion.

[@TheFogLakeshore]

I love the explanation of the electrical system and the decisions that were made. Can you provide a schematic of the basic water system from first weir to powerhouse and pond? That's the one part I am not completely clear about. You are also building on constantly-moving morraine and alluvial deposit. I really applaud your commitment to the project. You could control the water situation, with D9 Cats, thousands of tons of concrete, maybe a few tons of explosives, and the blessings of FDR.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Robert Anderson I have to chuckle on your comment in the second paragraph. How true it is! It has continued to be a real struggle and DEEP into the woods where it occurs. IT IS out into the wilderness where only wildlife, cows, and hunters trod. The whole hill above the creek is moving, just remarkable. The idea of an approach which tries to set things in stone would be incredibly expensive and doomed to eventual failure. A dynamic changeable approach seems most reasonable. On your first question are you looking for detail on the first system in parts 1-5 or the redesign from parts 5-16? If you provide an address I can provide you a detailed answer. Thanks for your comment and for watching. It has been fun to share and there is more yet to come so please subscribe.

[@perstaffanlundgren]

While i am at it . How do you clean the intace in the creek ? Stopping turbine periodicliy and letting the Waterflow over the screen flush in away? Nice system by the way. Sorry for the spelling..

[@mrhydrohead]

+Staffan Lundgren The creek that feeds the meadow intake is largely self cleaning by its location in the creek water flow. The other screen at the weir passes debris via the excess flow. Both screens require the occasional cleaning with a simple brush. No need to shut down for that, but we expect to flush the penstock once a year, so any fine silt that has settled can be cleared. Opening the jet and pipe drain all the way with the jet deflector(system off) in place should accomplish this. The maintenance is part of the fun with the system. Thanks for your interest, subscribe for future updates, it helps with KZbin's ratings and more people seeing the series.

[@Thenormalnut]

where did you get the irrigation gate from, and who makes it?

[@mrhydrohead]

A local supplier stocked it. Unfortunately it doesn’t have any mfr markings on it

[@tommy1273]

New update please! Love these vids from over here in the UK :D

[@maltipoomadness8807]

Nice work, really good job. I wish you many happy years of carbon free power

[@mrhydrohead]

Thx for watching and the kind comment

[@ChrisDIYerOklahoma]

Just subscribed to your Channel. Well done system! I do home solar...but, someday will homestead with solar and micro Hydro.

[@mrhydrohead]

Thanks for watching. Good luck with your plans. I did the series to help people understand how my system(just one unique example) works and show it is very doable. More to come next year...

[@SteBros]

Well planned system. Nice detail.

[@LouisVillemaire]

Your problem with the dirt could be resolved by put a regular filter with a big pipe in the bottom of the water, also the pipe should be attached at the top of a pyramid and you put this pipe in the big water container, once the pression is in the pipe, the water can go over the edge of your pound in the pipe, also you can control it with a valve far a way! ;)

[@FarmEngineer]

I was just wondering if you are planning on making another update video? I'd love to know if you ever achieved your goal of closer to 9k watts. One other question, do you sell any of your excess power back to the power company?

[@mrhydrohead]

+Craig Bauman (VeypEngineer) 7 miles from the grid, so no sale possible. The cost of wires were/are prohibitive to reach the grid. It's been a crazy year, first preparing(starting Nov15) and selling our house in LA, closing, packing, moving, fighting invasive weeds, and getting resettled(Sep16). Exhausting. So there's been little time for videos all year. Since arriving in July we've had the system throttled back on flow at about 3k not needing any excess power/heat. Even so, needed to ventilate the garage to make working there cool enough. Our complication on ramping up to 8.5-9k at this point is the dynamic changing quality of the creek diversion. We pulled the flexible pipe and screen out for the spring run off and that was good because the creek scoured a different shape. I'm just now beginning to focus on getting the diversion pipe re-installed. The intake point of immovable rocks remained intact, but the flexible pipe course needs to be re-situated. Also there need to be additional loads and relays added to handle the added power. Chicken and egg scenario. Don't want to purchase and install more load devices than there is additional power until the flow capacity and power is proven. So it all comes down to how much water can be diverted through winter when the power is most needed. This will be our first full winter here, so it's still a learning process getting the diversion right and overcoming any unforeseen problems. It's a complicated thing to explain it all in videos as well, but that's the goal for this fall. To get it all ramped up, installed and explained. Also, I've had an electrical engineer friend who's designed a circuit board for monitoring and controlling the powerhouse remotely. That has yet to be installed but is in the works. Long winded answer, sorry. Lots left to do but living with the power is good fun, very satisfying. Basically doing all this work myself, so there are limits to how much one man can accomplish, but still pushing forward at a reasoned pace. I'm certain as a viewer it is excruciatingly slow. Thanks for watching, more WILL come as it unfolds.

[@shhmule]

Hi, please explain why the diversion plan was necessary to provide water to the meadow?

[@mrhydrohead]

+Samuel Arnold Besides being inaccessible to heavy equipment, the intake point at the edge of our property is in an unstable zone of soil and rock. There are huge flows of snow melt water in the spring which change the shape and course of the creek thru that region. The topography on one side of the creek is completely unbuildable. Lastly, the meadow has additional water flowing into it from a nearby set of ponds. It has proven a good choice as we can capture all available waters in the meadow from that point and allow any sediment to settle so it doesn't enter the penstock.

[@1Triton]

Nice to see an update.

[@mrhydrohead]

That is a lot of power! You either require a lot of volume of water or a great deal of pressure and a very strong pipe to safely hold all the pressure from a large head. How much water do you consistently have flowing at your site? And secondly how much is the maximum amount of fall you can reasonably access. These are the two fundamental questions that govern the potential of any hydro site. The formulas once you know those two numbers are fairly straight forward. Also, are you talking 3 phase or single phase power. 3 phase is a lot more efficient.

[@xontay]

Just wow!! Awesome work.

[@mrhydrohead]

+xontay Thanks for watching. More to eventually come so please subscribe.

[@naybobdenod]

Great video, also entertaining and educational. Most sincerely JF ( UK )

[@banyantree8618]

Really enjoyed the series, took over my Sunday morning. You obviously went to a lot of expense to put this system into effect - both in terms of the overall construction and the quality electrical systems and control. Could I ask what it cost overall vs. paying for power company to connect you to the grid, and what area you might have saved costs on I.e an over ground pipe from meadow to power station. Thanks again for a great compelling to watch series - really have made sure this is a consideration for land I am looking to purchase.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Banyan Tree Reposting a previous answer to a similar question: "It's a good question, but very difficult to answer. First, one would have to amortize the cost of laying in grid power in 1994. At the time of the switchover the system had produced 145,000 kWh for a basic cost of $25,000 versus $140,000 for laying powerlines. Add $52,000 of current development costs and you are paying for all the future power generation in the systems lifetime. You would also need need to subtract the cost of line power over the last 19 years to determine the cost per kilowatt hour over the first system's history. ....... I got lucky and found myself able to pursue this undertaking nearly 25 years ago and am fortunate enough to share my experience via the Internet which has developed in the interim. Hopefully people somewhere in the world will find the information useful." I'm glad you enjoyed the series. Its rewarding to see others get something out of it. In terms of burial of our pipe, it was certainly necessary due to the deep winter cold and the potential for animals or falling trees to damage the pipeline. It was very rocky ground and made the burial more difficult and the bridge added a great deal to it as well. Labor and machinery cost was the highest portion of the overall cost. Not sure on the first system which was installed 1994 or 1995, but on the second pipeline it was roughly 56% or 29K of the 52K. The pipeline and parts were about $7800 and diversion pipe about $650, Bridge ran about $1600, Weir under $300, powerhouse $3600, wire & electrics $4800, legal and consulting $2100. That labor and equipment rental was for all the work including laying electric wire, building powerhouse, weir, and bridge, and burying the pipe. Sorry I can't really break out the labor for the pipeline separately, but those are the numbers I have, roughly totaled. As you can see the lion's share of costs were labor and equipment rental and of course I already owned the hydro machinery from the first installation. Also my time isn't calculated into any of this which was a substantial effort to accomplish. I attempted to save money wherever I could by finding things salvage or on ebay whenever possible and neighbors helped with some labor, parts, and expertise as well. The reality with Hydro is that you are paying almost all your costs up front for all future power with very little parts or maintenance costs once installed. The more power you produce and put to good use the better amortization of the costs. Still to date, I've saved a great deal being off grid vs. running power in(w/1994 dollars). I can't imagine what they would charge me now to run 7 miles of service, probably double the 1994 figure. So, I feel fortunate and happy to see the meter spinning madly in my favor. Of course if I was grid connected I could be selling the excess power, but it is fully off grid. Please subscribe and share the series with friends that might have interest as that helps the KZbin channel get better promotion and more people will see it. 1.1 million views so far, I can hardly believe it. Hope this helps, best of luck with achieving your goals. Thanks for your interest!

[@andrewpilling1929]

What!! a barbed wire fence. With all that juice you’ve created, you can run a line back to the fence and fry them unruly varmints, then you will have a tasty fringe benefit, free meat to eat added to your “No Carbon Footprint”. Best wishes for long-term Success…….

[@manvstaco]

Your videos are amazing!

[@sef2273]

Absolute beautiful paradise you have there. When's part 17 to be released or made?

[@mrhydrohead]

+Brian Patton Sorry I've been slow with the next video. This year has involved selling our other home and moving here on a permanent basis now that I've retired. There will be more vids, just can't say when. I have an electrical engineer who is working on some remote control features and I'll be adding capacity to the load on the system. Complicated things so it may take some time. Thanks for watching.

[@chrisrhodes5464]

i enjoyed wacthing this series is there gonna be any more updates on it

[@mrhydrohead]

+chris rhodes Yes for sure. Please subscribe. Timeline is not clear due to major changes going on. We are relocating full time to the property and that's the focus just now. But if you subscribe you get notifications for each new video. Thanks for watching.

[@alexholz5033]

muito bom mesmo, assim se eu tivesse um rio desses aí, parabéns..

[@eddiebowens1919]

great job

[@mrskeets52]

So if you dont mind me asking, just how much do you think you have tied up in this project?

[@mrhydrohead]

Reposting a previous answer to a similar question: "It's a good question, but very difficult to answer. First, one would have to amortize the cost of laying in grid power in 1994. At the time of the switchover the system had produced 145,000 kWh for a basic cost of $25,000 versus $140,000 for laying powerlines. Add $52,000 of current development costs and you are paying for all the future power generation in the systems lifetime. You would also need need to subtract the cost of line power over the last 19 years to determine the cost per kilowatt hour over the first system's history. ....... I got lucky and found myself able to pursue this undertaking nearly 25 years ago and am fortunate enough to share my experience via the Internet which has developed in the interim. Hopefully people somewhere in the world will find the information useful." I'm glad you enjoyed the series. Its rewarding to see others get something out of it. In terms of burial of our pipe, it was certainly necessary due to the deep winter cold and the potential for animals or falling trees to damage the pipeline. It was very rocky ground and made the burial more difficult and the bridge added a great deal to it as well. Labor and machinery cost was the highest portion of the overall cost. Not sure on the first system which was installed 1994 or 1995, but on the second pipeline it was roughly 56% or 29K of the 52K. The pipeline and parts were about $7800 and diversion pipe about $650, Bridge ran about $1600, Weir under $300, powerhouse $3600, wire & electrics $4800, legal and consulting $2100. That labor and equipment rental was for all the work including laying electric wire, building powerhouse, weir, and bridge, and burying the pipe. Sorry I can't really break out the labor for the pipeline separately, but those are the numbers I have, roughly totaled. As you can see the lion's share of costs were labor and equipment rental and of course I already owned the hydro machinery from the first installation. Also my time isn't calculated into any of this which was a substantial effort to accomplish. I attempted to save money wherever I could by finding things salvage or on ebay whenever possible and neighbors helped with some labor, parts, and expertise as well. The reality with Hydro is that you are paying almost all your costs up front for all future power with very little parts or maintenance costs once installed. The more power you produce and put to good use the better amortization of the costs. Still to date, I've saved a great deal being off grid vs. running power in(w/1994 dollars). I can't imagine what they would charge me now to run 7 miles of service, probably double the 1994 figure. So, I feel fortunate and happy to see the meter spinning madly in my favor. Of course if I was grid connected I could be selling the excess power, but it is fully off grid. Please subscribe and share the series with friends that might have interest as that helps the KZbin channel get better promotion and more people will see it. 1.1 million views so far, I can hardly believe it. Hope this helps, best of luck with achieving your goals. Thanks for your interest!

[@kerryburke3864]

Really interesting project. I am curious to know if the installation cost would be offset by the power production. Bit different in Australia as we simply don't have the water available to do that not on the coast where we live anyway. Seriously interesting project though.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Kerry Burke. Many people ask this sort of thing. It's hard to give an isolated answer. Offset is in value not hard dollars. When the original installation was made the quote to bring utility lines to the property was 7 miles @ $20k/mile = $140k. That was 1995. We invested $25k at that time on the original system which still provides pressurized domestic spring water from about a mile away as well and waters to a trout pond also. The more recent redesign to date has added about $53k but we are now generating 175kwh/day which heats the house at 8600ft elevation in winter as well. None of this was cheap as we paid for all future power at the beginning. As ivestments to the overall property it was a small cost in the big picture. So far since 95 we've generated over 183,000 kWh with no utility bills and the system just keeps humming. There is no sale of power to the grid as there are no lines. Truly off grid. Hope this helps. Thanks for watching and please subscribe for more videos to come.

[@kerryburke3864]

The cost of bringing mains in was about what I thought. It is a similar problem here in Australia. Exorbitant cost to bring it in. You have answered my query though as overall it was definitely worth the effort. I would imagine the usage cost on top of the connection cost would be significant. Many thanks for the response and information. Looking forward to any updates on the system and its usability. Cheers

[@thedave7760]

Solar, wind and lithium batteries.

[@prestonmolloy808]

After some research you will come to the conclusion that nothing is simpler, more cost effective, or reliable as hydro. If you have running water, any other choice is foolhardy.

[@mrhydrohead]

I totally agree. Thx for watching

[@waylonhartwell]

the old hydro pipeline would you consider making a smaller power generator off that to add more power to the house or does that just make everything more complicated run a couple of baseboard heaters off of the old source?

[@mrhydrohead]

+Wayhart The new system will supply plenty of power(200-215KWH/day) once we prove the winter water flow. It does get complicated trying to synchronize two systems. Way beyond my skill or understanding. It would require buying another pelton turbine as well. As it is, we have to figure out how to use all the power we can make anyway. Think jacuzzi tub, automobile charging(once I can get an affordable electric), steam shower, ect. The spring pipeline is now dedicated to domestic spring water and active water supply for the fish pond. This has allowed reducing the 212psi pressure to 80-100psi which has always caused problems with regular pipeline breaks in the springtime.

[@TheUserid82]

+MrHydrohead There is always splitting water for hydrogen gas that you then compress to run in your standard gas car with a simple hydrogen injector at the air intake on the engine. You dont touch the gas side of the system other then reprogramming the computer to stop the flow when burning hydrogen. Standard engines run fine on hydrogen/methane/natural gas if you have the time and energy to convert them. storage tank ether in the trunk or roof mounted, fuel lines and the injector plate are the only real hardware needed and the other part is the change to the computer. Roof mounting a tank is the best option as it can be hidden inside a luggage rack and filled with foam to help insulate them. Any leaks float up so they dont fill the car with explosive gas. If you want something like Propane you want the tank lower as propane is heavy so sinks in air.

[@jeepxj]

+MrHydrohead www.basler.com/Products/Synchronizing/Sync-Check-Devices/BE1-25-Sync-Check-Relay3/

[@mrhydrohead]

+jeepxj Interesting. Thanks for the share

[@brycecook4787]

you should always draw water off of the water supply to a man made holding location that then supplies the power plant while excess water can be returned to the supply.... this circumvents rising and falling of runoff wherever u draw water from will erode away and every season require replacing supply lines .... there are ways to avoid that but that takes extensive construction

[@countryboyhunter100]

Where did you get your generator and water turbines from ?

[@mrhydrohead]

Generator came from Marathon Electric in Wausau WI. The turbine was supplied by Canyon Hydro out of Deming WA. Both were originally purchased in 1996 and prices were much lower then. I believe the engineer that helped me with the original design got me a deal.

[@gavinfaync]

you remind me of my science teacher all solar power

[@krisraps]

+gavin goproactionvideos This is not a solar

[@birdwing98]

The sun carries the water into the sky. Water falls from sky onto the mountain, and into creek. Solar power!

[@mrhydrohead]

+Ivan Bremer Takes many millions of years to occur too.

[@krisraps]

birdwing98 i know all that

[@jeffreyadkins9043]

Hey man I like watching ur vides and I'm glad to hear from u keep up the good work

[@pramodsapkota6833]

will you please help me how much height should we gain inorder to make an output of 20-25kw

[@VroomvroomNY]

What do I have to do to get a hold of some of these components

[@mrhydrohead]

I would recommend watching the whole series, as the measurements of how much power is available from head and flow is critical. That will dictate what sort of equipment best suits the site. Every site is unique. There are lots of suppliers of different gear to harness power. My components cost far less in 1996 than they would today. There are now lots of other components available out there that weren't back then. My own equipment came from the following sources: The Turbine was manufactured by Canyon Hydro in Deming WA, purchased long ago in 1996. A pro grade component. www.canyonhydro.com. Generator was Made by Lima in Ohio, again purchased in 1996. They have been bought out by Marathon years ago. www.marathongenerators.com/generators/index.jsp The load controller was made by Thomson and Howe in British Columbia, again 1996. These are the three most critical components and were installed on the first system which ran spring water. (see parts 1-5 of series) The other parts were sourced from various suppliers on the basis of best price. The 480 transformer came from a Craigslist listing, the pipes and valves from a local supplier, wire sourced on the internet and Home Depot. Hope this helps, thx for watching

[@nisarkhanupardir147]

thank's sir The total cost came to head it?

[@phunkmeister]

Great video! Thanks!

[@jasonbice1103]

First of all the whole project is awesome , and i commend you on your efforts. Do you have enough extra to sell back to the grid, looks like the amount of water capture could be increased just a bit if necessary. And secondly would it be feasible to try and catch the spring thaw and sell that back to recoup some of you investment, keep up the good work.

[@mrhydrohead]

Unfortunately no sell back to grid is possible being 7 miles from the grid. However I've saved a bundle over bringing grid power in since I put in system in the 90's. They quoted me $20k/mile to wire in power =$140k and then I would have had monthly bills on top of that. So I'm truly off grid.

[@Ferrari458Turbo]

great work!

[@MrCeall]

awesome stuff

[@larryliegerot4121]

very good job!

[@mrhydrohead]

Thanks for your interest!

[@mog5858]

keep up the good work. nice job

[@armyreconm60]

Well done

[@mrhydrohead]

Thanks for watching.

[@jacksonms212]

good on ya mate ... very well done ! I would like to see the numbers for the winter and spring another year from now 11-03-18 if it's not to much trouble and you have the power to run the calculator ;)

[@mrhydrohead]

I'm assuming you want to see proceeding kWh produced?

[@mrhydrohead]

Power currently @ about 260,500 kWh on the meter and it's not being full winter yet we've been making about 4500w continuously since mid April 2018. Will be ramping up in the next week or two for the winter to 7500-8000w. Hope this answers your question. If not let me know

[@stevewytas]

Where can you find one of those intake screen collection units?

[@mrhydrohead]

This video is specifically about our Coanda screen box with a link in the comments m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYfVpWalgpqkjdE Thx for watching

[@stevewytas]

@@mrhydrohead Thank you for your videos and ideas!! I'm going to be building a micro hydro system this spring!!!

[@mrhydrohead]

Cool!! Best of luck with the build

[@Ajwatters]

Looking to do this type of hydro and wanted to know if it’s possible to be paid by the utility companies for excess not used on the homestead?

[@mrhydrohead]

It is different in each state in the US. The lobbying by utilities regionally impact how the rules are set up. Some states are very restrictive others very accommodating. First you need access to the grid and if you have that then your design should take that particular utility's policy into consideration. We ourselves are 7 miles from the grid and it wasn't practical to spend $140k in 1995 or now $250-300k today to bring power lines in. But it is possible. I suggest speaking with the local utility and asking them what rules exist and what they would pay for your Excess power. There are all sorts of factors they might apply relating to peak load, time of day, and quantity of power. And the rules could possibly change in the future. There are states where the utilities feel their monopolistic interests are threatened by the growth of solar and that may impact the rules they have lobbied to create to protect their interests. If it is a realistic option, then it is possible to use the grid as a load controller and save on costs in that respect. I'm not an engineer but I remember that it is possible to use an inductive motor instead of an alternator to generate the power if connected to the grid. That could possibly save money in the design. All of this warrants research on your part. What are the rules, how much power can you generate, how much of it will you use, is your ability to generate year round 24/7, what would you be paid per KWH, what are the regulations regarding water use and permits required, and other factors relating to how big a system to can afford to install. Lots of research to do before spending your money. Finding a local hydro engineer may also be useful to help answer many of the various questions. I don't want to make it sound too complicated but all this should be considered/investigated to get the most cost effective use of your money. Hope this helps.

[@Ajwatters]

MrHydrohead how do you control your excess generation. And thank you for your quick response

[@mrhydrohead]

Part 14 of the series shows our electronic load controller ELC kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5Sbcoyqa6hlhpY it mainly gets shunted off to heat

[@Ajwatters]

MrHydrohead after I sent message I came across vid in series. Hope all is good with you and the system. All the best for the future

[@mrhydrohead]

System runs just great. It provides enough heat to keep us cozy at 8600 ft in winter

[@TheTroutDoc]

Watched your adventure in its entirety. Great Video and a masterful project. What was the approximate final cost of the improvement, If you would care to share that information?

[@mrhydrohead]

Reposting a previous answer to a similar question: "It's a good question, but very difficult to answer. First, one would have to amortize the cost of laying in grid power in 1994. At the time of the switchover the system had produced 145,000 kWh for a basic cost of $25,000 versus $140,000 for laying powerlines. Add $52,000 of current development costs and you are paying for all the future power generation in the systems lifetime. You would also need need to subtract the cost of line power over the last 19 years to determine the cost per kilowatt hour over the first system's history. ....... I got lucky and found myself able to pursue this undertaking nearly 25 years ago and am fortunate enough to share my experience via the Internet which has developed in the interim. Hopefully people somewhere in the world will find the information useful." I'm glad you enjoyed the series. Its rewarding to see others get something out of it. In terms of burial of our pipe, it was certainly necessary due to the deep winter cold and the potential for animals or falling trees to damage the pipeline. It was very rocky ground and made the burial more difficult and the bridge added a great deal to it as well. Labor and machinery cost was the highest portion of the overall cost. Not sure on the first system which was installed 1994 or 1995, but on the second pipeline it was roughly 56% or 29K of the 52K. The pipeline and parts were about $7800 and diversion pipe about $650, Bridge ran about $1600, Weir under $300, powerhouse $3600, wire & electrics $4800, legal and consulting $2100. That labor and equipment rental was for all the work including laying electric wire, building powerhouse, weir, and bridge, and burying the pipe. Sorry I can't really break out the labor for the pipeline separately, but those are the numbers I have, roughly totaled. As you can see the lion's share of costs were labor and equipment rental and of course I already owned the hydro machinery from the first installation. Also my time isn't calculated into any of this which was a substantial effort to accomplish. I attempted to save money wherever I could by finding things salvage or on ebay whenever possible and neighbors helped with some labor, parts, and expertise as well. The reality with Hydro is that you are paying almost all your costs up front for all future power with very little parts or maintenance costs once installed. The more power you produce and put to good use the better amortization of the costs. Still to date, I've saved a great deal being off grid vs. running power in(w/1994 dollars). I can't imagine what they would charge me now to run 7 miles of service, probably double the 1994 figure. So, I feel fortunate and happy to see the meter spinning madly in my favor. Of course if I was grid connected I could be selling the excess power, but it is fully off grid. Please subscribe and share the series with friends that might have interest as that helps the KZbin channel get better promotion and more people will see it. 1.1 million views so far, I can hardly believe it. Hope this helps, best of luck with achieving your goals. Thanks for your interest!

[@thebradmanofmuskoka]

I have a business idea! I could pay you for excess power running computers and the by product is heat!. Contact me at [e-mail]

[@galsherp6173]

Funny how you secretly hide big foot in your video... i really loled

[@RonanRaver]

Great video series keep up the great work. Any plans to add solar panels to the project? Solar a lot cheaper now than previous years so may work out cheaper considering the spend on engineering/ contractors. Once again well done. greetings from Ireland!!

[@mrhydrohead]

Its unlikely that I would add Solar. We already are capturing about 7500w continuous AC or 180kwh per day. Its enough to heat the entire house in sub zero temps. Also, never wanted to maintain the batteries. I'm glad to see the price has come way down on solar since I started, but we're pretty well set. More vids to come so please subscribe. Thanks for watching.

[@kay486]

Could you please show us how the water gets from the powerplant back to the stream?

[@mrhydrohead]

There is some footage of that in part 13 between 2:30-3:50 in the video series. The water just follows an existing swale and after 150 ft. rejoins the creek. Only the beginning of it is shown, but the water cuts its own natural course.

[@kay486]

+MrHydrohead Wow that was a fast reply! Yea I saw that, but that shows the medow right after the water was let in there. It would be nice and interesting to see how it eroded its path over the year its been flowing there.

[@mrhydrohead]

I'll inspect it in the spring after the snows receed. If it looks of interest I'll include something like that it a future video. It's very slow moving so I don't expect a great deal of erosion. We shall see...

[@kay486]

Thatd be great! Either way, cant wait for another update!

[@hydrojedi]

Great system & video! I always look forward to your videos. Where did you buy the thermostatic fan switch for your shed?

[@mrhydrohead]

+hydrojedi Nice handle hydrojedi. Best price I found: www.amazon.com/dp/B0009SPZ5S

[@hydrojedi]

+MrHydrohead Very cool! That is a good price...thanks for sharing!

[@jakobrebeki]

its good to hear from you after what seems like ages. glad to see things seem to be going ok even after the pipe washed away. how long do you reckon before all the work will be completed?

[@mrhydrohead]

+Jakob Rebeki Yeah, it takes a while to get these things done as it it not my only pursuit. We want to measure the water and see how the flow holds up in the depth of winter. That is when the most power is needed anyway. Through the fall, 4800watts was too much power and it just ended up heating up the basement where the excess power gets dumped as heat. If we can prove that there is enough water flow in the depth of winter and we don't have freezing issues, then it makes sense to spend the money to capture all that excess power and use it to fully heat the house via the in floor glycol, jacuzzi outdoors, ect. But it seems prudent to prove the water flow first. Like I always say, patience and persistence required. I would love to be done and move on to documenting other micro hydro system, but it all takes time and money. Sorry I can't do it faster. Keep watching, more to eventually come.

[@jakobrebeki]

+MrHydrohead i will very much look forward to that, thanks....

[@danclarkau]

Hi there, thanks for another excellent, well produced video. Can't wait for the next one ;) I've been using Mango Automation on a few control/automation projects, you might be interested in it for you stuff, Joel there is very helpful. How many data points do you think you might monitor across your system? Cheers Dan

[@kenbergee]

Bravo!!!

[@mrhydrohead]

Thanks, I appreciate the comment.

[@MrkStphn91]

is the state/goverment gonna pay you for the extra electricity you provide

[@shouttokurt6824]

are yoy still alive dude hope your ok. keep up the work and stay safe, love the series

[@mrhydrohead]

+kurt dingeldein Thanks! Working on editing another video now. Spent a great deal of time in 2016 selling our original home in LA and permanently relocating here. Huge process. Stay tuned, another vid in a few weeks to come...

[@studdgage]

How much did all of this setup cost?

[@mrhydrohead]

+Harrison Gage Reposting a previous answer to a similar question: "It's a good question, but very difficult to answer. First, one would have to amortize the cost of laying in grid power in 1994. At the time of the switchover the system had produced 145,000 kWh for a basic cost of $25,000 versus $140,000 for laying powerlines. Add $52,000 of current development costs and you are paying for all the future power generation in the systems lifetime. You would also need need to subtract the cost of line power over the last 19 years to determine the cost per kilowatt hour over the first system's history. The other reality is that the present level of power production is maybe 1/5 of what we eventually hope to accomplish. Ultimately because it is AC you have to use whatever power you are generating at the time you're generating it. Living off grid with hydropower means that you use more power than you usually would, you run appliances more frequently, have access to using large electric tools, you always have hot water available at no cost, can defray the cost of heating your home in winter, and you are paying for all future power at the beginning. So, it becomes a lifestyle choice. Are you willing to pay for all of your future power upfront and have no environmental impact and thereby increase the asset value of your property, or are you buying into the centralized system with power production which at this point is based about 50% down to 42% on coal for power generation over the life of the current system. Changing one's approach/reliance on the polluting centralized system requires planning, commitment, and patience. It is not something most people are willing to undertake, or have the financial wherewithal to complete. I got lucky and found myself able to pursue this undertaking nearly 25 years ago and am fortunate enough to share my experience via the Internet which has developed in the interim. Hopefully people somewhere in the world will find the information useful."

[@normbograham]

kool. While some people likely have most of the smarts, some of the things are not common.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Norman Graham True, but not many videos out there on how to micro hydro. Thanks for watching

[@arebacollins]

What was the overall head between intake and power house?

[@mrhydrohead]

Static pressure at powerhouse = ~98psi, so 2.31 * 98 = ~226ft. of head. This assumes my pressure gauge is accurate, but it pretty closely matches what I got through physical and barometric measures, and topographic guesses. See part 6 or 7 for more info.

[@arebacollins]

+MrHydrohead awesome, I have about half of that and twice the problem. :-)

[@mrhydrohead]

Sorry to hear. But any hydro is good hydro. What part of the world?

[@arebacollins]

+MrHydrohead Kenya. have a 54 meter fall with nothing at the top but space to dig a pond. want to use that as pumped storage (half the problem) and wind, solar and tides to pump water up onto the reservoir, then use a setup like yours for power generation. cheaper than buying and maintaining batteries.

[@wevikings1790]

So cool thanks man

[@krisraps]

How Much Wats Do You Make? 3000 ?

[@mrhydrohead]

The system could top out around 12,000 watts if I wanted to put a second jet in the system and wanted to go 3 phase. It would also require that I had a good use for the power, which I currently don't. However with a single jet the plan is to increase the output before winter to roughly 8500 watts.

[@TGW18]

Part 17 never came?

[@mrhydrohead]

No work has been done on the system since October. Many feet of snow this winter. The power just keeps running. The next segment will be about control systems and there is a neighbor/friend that has been designing a board with software for that. Sorry the process is slow, but it is what it is. Years in the total time and effort. The series is now approaching a total of 1 million views which is amazing to consider.

[@TGW18]

+MrHydrohead oh:-) thank you :-)

[@mrhydrohead]

Very welcome. Thanks for your interest.

[@FelixAkk]

+MrHydrohead I'd love to be involved in such a project and write the software for something like a monitoring system or control panel. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching this series, not to mention the beautiful location and landscape. Very inspiring to see such initiatives in sustainability, and hope one day I’ll be able to implement such a sustainable energy source as well. Series like these will serve as invaluable learning resources, so thanks for taking the effort to document this and making it open to the world :) Greetings from the Netherlands!

[@mrhydrohead]

+Felix Akkermans Thanks for your comment Felix. The intention has definitely been to attempt to explain the process. My small contribution to the knowledge sphere as a way of giving back for all the blessings in my life. I have a neighbor that has been working on a simple Python based monitor we can run on a small network of Pi's. If we hit a snag I'll keep your info as a backup. Glad you like the series.

[@idrizcuni1802]

shume e pa kupyushme

[@machineshop2029]

Great. The USA dream

[@perstaffanlundgren]

Why dont install a steppingmotor or simm. regulator for neddle control. Then you dont have too run balast /breaking capacity i you dont need them for the house. For ex. In summer (heating) Your system is "of the grid" right? The magnet realese jet breaker Is a good "fail safe" over speed control. However. in combine with auto adiustment of flow in turbine it can be better. You still have your Jet breaker as fall back in case of malfunction.

[@mrhydrohead]

+Staffan Lundgren Mechanical controls have been around much longer than ELC(electronic load control) however they can't respond as quickly to load changes. We have a steam shower (6500w) that will come on and off during its occasional use. Imagine the amount of water flow change that would need to occur to feed the load of something like that. It's a huge amount of water difference and changes in a mechanical system can't occur that fast by design. If they were you could risk a water ram that might damage the penstock. I know it's an extreme example, but it holds true to a lesser degree for toasters, hair dryers, large motors, tools, or other such high load devices. There will eventually be a way to remotely adjust a seasonal range of flow which will prevent needing to walk to the powerhouse and a stepper motor will be used. For short term load changes ELC is our best choice and provides a steady stream of either hot domestic water or even a heated jacuzzi. Lots of ways to use the dump load, but thanks for the suggestion.

[@perstaffanlundgren]

+MrHydrohead if you loock att larger scale hydro electric instalatations with "tube feed". there are often raiser tower to handle water ram situations. i guess that becuse your system lacks raiser tower of larger type. that risk is larger with fast electrical valvecontrol. (you have the pipes for air relese . they are to small in diameter compered to your tube dia. to be effektive maybe?) have a rasier tower ever been option for you .or is that to expensive or impractical to build. mayby too high "waterpillar" /s

[@mrhydrohead]

+Staffan Lundgren Well, it is a Micro hydro system after all. Never really considered a ram system as you describe. I think given the weather extremes, it would be a tenuous choice to attempt it and more complicated than valuable. The ELC was the recommendation of the engineer that helped me put the first system together in 1996. The redesign choices were based on continued use of the existing components. KISS keep it simple & stupid has been the guiding principle. It is interesting just the same to have an understanding of how the big boys do it. Ultimately, while massive centralized dams and large scale hydro can provide massive amounts of power and revenue streams, the environmental costs and displacement of people by the dam lake seem to me to be a product of the centralized capitalistic system. We are entering a new era where off grid or decentralization of renewable power will empower those with interest to be less dependent on the big centralized systems of the past.

[@frozenplayz5178]

115 kWh in Germany means 30€ of energy are now free

[@WayneJohnsonZastil]

Have you thought about mining bitcoins with excess power?

[@mrhydrohead]

+Wayne Johnson Yes, we have the cold spring water in the old power house for cooling as well. A future project if I can figure it out.