Hanford Mills Museum Water Wheel

Video tour of the Hanford Mills Museum water wheel, in the hamlet of East Meredith, NY.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• water wheel
• Catskills
• destinations
• vacation

[SteffenReichel]

As stated before: the wheel can handle by construction about 800 liters per second, which are 12680 gallons per minute... Maybe on a good turn the wheel can handle 12800 gallons per minute... but consider all above as wasted water, because the wheel isn't constructed to handle so much water.

Guess, he doesn't know waht he's talking - technical details are tricky ;o)

[SteffenReichel]

68000 gal of water to get it started? 68000 gal of water the minute? is this correct?

Why mess this water if the wheel can only handle 800 Liters per Second? this means, the spend the wheel 4 cubicmeters of water the second, to get it turn... This MUST be wrong! There is no need for more water, the weight of the water alone turns the wheel. 3000 gal of water the minute is 0,18 cubimeters per second - much more realistic, I guess he wanted to say 6800 gal ;o) Because this the wheel can handle

[SteffenReichel]

Not many turbines will deliver the same power with the given amount of water and drop height, those who do, will quickly suffer, if there is less water or the water contains fallen autumn leaf liter and other dirt... this wheel handles it and will run the mill, even if there is less water... the only problem is the huge size... but if you have no trouble with room or space - not any reason to think about a turbine.

[SteffenReichel]

So for the pure water power we can get:

800 liters, which are 0,8 cubicmeters per second, 3 meters height = 0,8 x 3 x 9,81 = power in KiloWatt = 23,54 kW

So, this is maximum to achive with the given water and given height. To get more power, you'll need more water or more height.

A Fritz overshoot wheel can be determined at efficiency of over 80%, so a good design can go up to 90% efficiency. With the bad 80% as a role of thumb, the wheel will generate nearly 19 kW, which is approx. 25,25 hp

[SteffenReichel]

Is this correct: 12 ft width and 10 ft diameter?

Than it would have 4 Meters width and ~3 Meters diameter.

So the drop height is 3 Meters and the consumption of the wheel can be determined at 200 Liters per Second per Meter in width. So we have 4 meters, 4 x 200 Liters makes 800 Liters per Second the water wheel is able to handle.

The formula to get the power is: Drop height (meters) x water amount (cubicmeters per second) x g (9,81 meter per squaresecond)

[SteffenReichel]

A water wheel isn't less efficient than a water turbine. This is a myth. Water generates a special force, as a product of drop height and water amount (weight). Thus: A water wheel is very efficient, especially on low volumes or and low heights, also are very tolerant to changes in flow and volume.

Turbines need less space and work much better with higher volumes and more height, but: They also deal with the same water, so efficiency is compareable and there is no difference !!!