Micro Hydro System in Northern California

The generator is putting out about 475 Watts continuous or roughly 10-11 kW per day. The entire system cost about $5,000 to build. The hydro location is about 250 ft from the cabin. With the solar panels, I get about 12.5-13 kW per day in the summer.

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[FreedomForYouAndMe]

Now that you've used it for a winter, how do you keep it from freezing over?

[SiskiyouForest]

@FreedomForYouAndMe Hello. Fortunately, where I'm located i don't have to do anything special to the system to keep it from freezing. The water is coming from a spring and only gets down to about 45 degrees at the coldest. Also, I'm located in zone 7b, so the lowest air temperature I'll see is about 15 degrees. As long as the water is flowing in the pipe, it won't freeze. If freezing was something i had to deal with, the only real option would be to shut down and drain the system.

[Lcush3]

I live over in Etna and would like to adapt a similar system but I am not sure I have enough drop in the stream I live on. How much drop do I need? Larry

[SiskiyouForest]

@Lcush3 Howdy Neighbor! :) So besides the drop in the system, the other factor needed in determining power output is flow. In general, if you multiply the drop (in ft) by the flow (in gpm) and divide that number by 10 or 12 it'll give you an approximate power output in watts. This formula works best for flows above 30 gpm and a drop of at least 50 ft. If you try to cut costs by using smaller pipe or wire than is ideal, your output will be lower than calculated.

[SiskiyouForest]

@Lcush3 Also, there are 2 type of turbines that you could use. If you have high flow but low head (vertical drop) you can use a reaction turbine. Alternatively, if you have high head and low flow (like my system), you use what's called an impulse turbine. So depending on your site parameters, you could produce usable power from a system with head anywhere from 6ft up to 300+ft.

[SiskiyouForest]

@Lcush3 Go to the website for Home Power Magazine and click on the Advanced Search tab. Check the boxes for "Hydro" and "Electricity" and search for articles by Jerry Ostermeier. He's written some very good articles on designing a home scale micro hydro system. He's the owner of the company where i got my generator from up in Grants Pass, Oregon. I hope this info helps. If you have any other questions, just ask

[discoide1451]

generator 24 V site weeb discoide1451

[joel4692]

You've got a small but important error in your description: instantaneous POWER is measured in watts or KiloWatts (0.475 KW in your case) and ENERGY production is measured in KiloWatt-hours (11 KWhr/day in your case, not 11 KW/day...which would be a rate of change in power.)

Also, I would recommend that you bury as many of those pipes as possible; even if there is no danger of freezing, it's a tripping hazard, a tree branch could fall and shatter PVC pipe, and sunlight degrades PVC pipe.

[SiskiyouForest]

@relaxinginreno I didn't spend much time up there this winter, but i would have been able to run it the whole time. Since the water comes from a spring, its at a pretty constant 50 degrees F. It isn't snow melt, just above freezing point. Also, where Im at its zone 7b or 8a, so it only gets down to about 15 degree F at the coldest point in the winter. I've read that flowing water in a pipe can withstand 20 degrees F constant ambient temp or nightly lows down to 0 degrees F without freezing.

[relaxinginreno]

thanks for the video. do you know how it's working during this winter? did you have to drain the system before it snowed or were you able to make power in all conditions?