hydro-powered turbine

Posted by Ken Hall on March 10, 2007, 08:00:05 PM

Steve:

If you are interested in generating electricity, I recommend that you buy a complete turbine and generator. With a unit that the MFG has matched, there are very few problems. If you are piecing together this wheel, with that set of nozzles, with that generator, there are 1000 headaches that you can run into.

If you go to the Alt-E store section, take a look at the stream engine and download the manual. It has a lot of general hydro info for measuring flow and head, along with the specific unit instructions. Good reference material, no matter what you end up buying.

If you are after something other than electricity, give us an idea of what it is, or power requirement. If you have some estimates of flow and head, that would help. Hate to send you off towards a $1,500 wheel when a less expensive one would work, or recommend the inexpensive one when the job requires something significantly more substantial.

Ken

Posted by Steve Bird on March 10, 2007, 09:10:46 PM

Re: hydro-powered turbine (Reply #16)

HI Ken,
Thanks for the info. I have been running a homemade microhydro for a few years now and have built no less than a dozen turbine wheels...my first one was a torque converter from a GMC pickup that I sawed in half, to half of a Mack turbocharger then a Nissan 300 ZX turbo to my latest build which has copied a Pelton ...fabricated it in about an hour from a skilsaw blade and some garage junk, the best one so far. I don't mind purchasing a plastic Pelton or Turgo just to see what the results are compared to a $11.00 homemade turbine wheel.
PS...like I said, I am a tinkerer !!!
thanks;
Steve

Posted by Ken Hall on March 11, 2007, 01:48:55 AM

Re: hydro-powered turbine (Reply #17)

Steve:

The Alt-E store used to carry a plastic Pelton, but apparently doesn’t any more.
The sustainable village still advertises it at $140.
http://www.sustainablevillage.com/servlet/display/products/byCat/4/40/all/

For plastic Turgo wheels or spoons, try Hartvigsen-Hydro
http://h-hydro.com/

Ken

« Last Edit: March 11, 2007, 01:54:52 AM by ken hall »

Posted by Steve Bird on March 11, 2007, 07:48:27 AM

Re: hydro-powered turbine (Reply #18)

Thanks Ken, just spent a few hours of time flipping through a dozen or so sites tied to the 2 links you sent me. Hartvigsen has a very good selection of spoons and components on their website. Will contact them Monday.
From looking closely at many different sites, most spoons seem to be of the same basic design for angled jetting, I guess I am about 100 years late with my homemade wheels!
Thanks again Ken
Steve

Posted by James Cormican on March 11, 2007, 07:50:44 PM

Re: hydro-powered turbine (Reply #19)

we still carry turbine parts. we received sooooo many calls from folks thinking that the plastic pelton wheel was the whole hydor setup that we took them off the site and replaced them with this blurb on the turbines page.

We carry a wide variety of replacement parts such as new generators, pelton or turgo wheels, nozzles, bearing kits, etc... Basically, if you need it, we've got it! Please call our technical sales staff at 877-878-4060 for more information.

although I dont really feel confident with the "if you need it, we've got it" part, we do still carry parts and pelton and turgo wheels for sale. If you know what you are after, and its from ES&D we can probably get it.

sorry about the confusion, good luck with the project

- james Alt-E staff

AltE
"Making Renewable Do-able"
http://www.altEstore.com/

Tel: 877.878.4060 x107 or +1.978.562.5858 x107
Fax: 877.242.6718 or +1.978.562.5854

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hydro-powered turbine

Posted by Ken Hall on March 10, 2007, 08:00:05 PM

Posted by Steve Bird on March 10, 2007, 09:10:46 PM

Posted by Ken Hall on March 11, 2007, 01:48:55 AM

Posted by Steve Bird on March 11, 2007, 07:48:27 AM

Posted by James Cormican on March 11, 2007, 07:50:44 PM

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