How to get the most from water...

[Mopar1973Man]

Some of you know I produce my own power here at my place... Well I'm going to show you how to get the most from you water source... My irrigation system is 1" line at 120 PSI roughly... It's feed from a dam about 1/4 mile back on the mountain. (I'll get pics of this soon).

But I added a debris filter to prevent plugging of sprinklers and the pelton wheel jet...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1020

Normally get about 71-72 PSI after the pelton wheel is running this brings down the water pressure and keeps my garden hose from looking like water wennies...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1019

But this pressure feeds a permanent magnetic train generator and pelton wheel... Yeah I got a few repairs to do to the wheel leaking water is one thing but I also got a bearing get sloppy...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1017

Ok... I know its noise I know I got to replace bearing but what I'm doing in the video is turning off both windings and allowing the pelton wheel to free wheel if you listen you can hear it clearly rev up...

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-9AmvyVr_g

But then the waste water leave the generator building...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1013

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1016

And heads to my new pond I'm building...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1014

The pond is about 5-6 feet deep the tarp is about 29 x 39 foot. It's folded in the middle to aid in slack... But now I've got a perfect water source now for a cool dip in the summer or water for fire protection.

Here is my dam wall which happens to be just wide enough for a ATV or the lawn mower... The pipe is the spill way...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1015

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1021

---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 AM ----------

Ok continuing on... I was in a mood for a ride so I grabbed the camera and headed for the mountain on the ATV. Point of reference from in my yard looking up...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1025

Down from on top of the ridge looking down...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1024

Looking back at the generator shed...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1023

Me... At the dam...

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1022

Then a bit of video...

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU0TNjuCNNw

[thracing]

cool pix sweet piece of property, time to get some fish in the pond

[dorkweed]

Please, no pond pix with caption words like Michael and Speedo in them!!!!!!:lmao2:Love your place!!!!

[Mopar1973Man]

Please, no pond pix with caption words like Michael and Speedo in them!!!!!! Love your place!!!!

Ummm... NO! Maybe a rubber inner tube, a beer, and a pair of cutoffs... Speedo's gawd no...

[flman]

So your self sufficient on electricity, just how much do you get out of that set-up? Are you off the grid?

[Mopar1973Man]

So your self sufficient on electricity, just how much do you get out of that set-up? Are you off the grid?

Well let me give you some parameters... Inverter 4,000 Watt 120 VAC Output With a 24V input 750 Ah battery bank. Hydro-electric roughly produces 200 Watts. Solar produces 400 Watts. 4,000 Watt Gasoline Generator. (rarely used) As for city usage... Max input from the city is 60 Amps But I'm configured only for 30 Amps. If any load exceeds 30 amps the inverter must make up for it from the batteries, solar and/or hydro. I produce rough right now about 3-5 AC amps worth of power. There is a few issues that vary this... I've got one battery failed... The cloudy day tend to produce less... Lot of the large load consumers are gone in the house. Like the 4,000 watt water heater is now 1,000 watt 110 Vac. Still 60 gallons but much smaller elements. We know that you can't run the coffee pot and the electric grill at the same time (Poof! Tripped a breaker).. But when the power does fail which it does typically 2-3 times a year we are the only ones with silent power for miles! Then as for living off the system we actually done it. I flipped off the city breaker and figured out a plan so everything kept working. Refrigeration, freezer, well pump, etc... It just you really got to manage every single volt but you can do it. Big consumer like coffee pot, microwave, electric grills, etc... Must be used wisely or your batteries are dead premature. 400W of solar http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1029 1,000 Pounds of lead acid batteries (6 volt) http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1028 Trace Inverter 4,000 Watt http://forum.mopar1973man.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1027

[dieselautopower]

Very Nice!!!I am jealous of your yard, jealous of your solar/water power and jealous of your genius.What will you do with the water powered turbine when you fill up your pond? (run the whole house/yard on it?)

[Mopar1973Man]

Very Nice!!!

I am jealous of your yard, jealous of your solar/water power and jealous of your genius.

Thank you for the great comments... But as for being a genius I hardly doubt that...

What will you do with the water powered turbine when you fill up your pond? (run the whole house/yard on it?)

This power system been here for about 14 years now... Our summer power bill drops to about $40 bucks a month roughly. We use the power we produce first before the city. Since the load and demands for power have been reduced there is times look at the display when the house loads are so small that the solar and pelton wheel cover it...

After going thorugh the flood of 96/97 here we had a just a generator and managed to keep all refrigeration and freezer going the whole 14 days we were trapped here. So that was the starting point of building the power system and taking advantage of the water, the long bright days, and do a little something for becoming Green!

[guesswho512]

Very Nice!!! I am jealous of your yard, jealous of your solar/water power and jealous of your genius. What will you do with the water powered turbine when you fill up your pond? (run the whole house/yard on it?)

my wife said something similar...it makes that city girl want to move away from it.(She actually said "lets move to idaho". i like your backyard and stone creek

[flman]

Nice job, there Mopar Man.