I remember reading about some small scale hydro generators being manufactured that can produce electricity from the smallest amount of flowing water.

Can anyone help me find out more info about this product?

-- Geri Poisson (g_poisson@hotmail.com), October 29, 1999

Answers

Check out Homepower Magazine. Several manufacturers. A few articles. URL WWW.Homepower.com Good Luck John

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), October 29, 1999.

I just checked the url for home power mag and I think I might have goofed. It's www.homepower.com No cap on home. There are several backissues and the complete current issue available online. Hope this helps. John

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), October 29, 1999.

Be aware that there are companies making claims of "efficient" hydroplants, which may not be capable of delivering as much power as they claim.

Here is a formula, which tells you the "theoretical" power available from any hydro system. This is for a 100% efficient system, which is of course impossible, but it's a useful formula:

power (kilowatts)= Q (cfs) x head (feet) divided by 11.8

A kilowatt will deliver one kilowatt hour of electic power every hour (worth between 2 1/2 and 15 cents, depending on where you live)

Q (cfs) is the rate of water flow you have available. A cfs (cubic foot per second) is equal to about 440 gallons per minute.

Head (ft) is the CHANGE in elevation between the water source and the generator. The USABLE (dynamic) head is always slightly lower than the ACTUAL (static) head, due to friction in the delivery pipe. The larger the pipe diameter, the lower the friction loss for a given amount of flow. The longer the LENGHT of pipe, the more friction for a given amount of flow.

So if someone tells you (as a salesman once told my friend) that his little gizmo which sits in a creek will give you enough power to provide you with all your power needs, tell him to take a hike. The numbers in the above formula are not debatable. They are governed by physics. The only way they can be changed is if you try to do a hydroelectric site on another planet, or perhaps the moon, where the pull of gravity (and therefore the weight of water) is different.

If anyone has a potential hydro site, I'll be glad to advise them on size of pipe, potential power available, etc. Offer limited to how many requests I get.

I do not sell hydro systems. Although I certainly enourage their use, as they will often give you a many, many times the power that a comparably priced solar electric system will.

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), January 24, 2000.