Oil usage and micro hydro content

[Ed Davies]

2 hours ago, Lesgrandepotato said:

we ordered 500l as we were at 50% on the gauge. It’s a 1200 l tank and it’s now 9/10ths full.

 

Ah, that makes sense. I'd assumed filling the tank. I always do to get the price breaks, e.g., I think the supplier here has one at 750 or 800 litres so it's not worth messing around with a 1000 litre tank, just fill it.

 

Still, if you want to do measurements that'd be an additional argument for filling up to get to a better defined level.

[ProDave]

I can never understand why oil users fill up "little and often"

 

At our last house we fitted a 2500L oil tank that would do the heating for more than a year. It means for a start you get a better price per L (you get penalised for small loads) and you can pick the cheapest time of year to fill up, with most years was about August, before most people feel the need to turn the heating on and the price starts rising again.

 

And doing that you know exactly how many litres and the exact cost of a years heating.

 

I avoided oil this time because it must rank as one of the most volatile fuel prices going.

 

So back the the OP have you calculated how much power you might actually generate from the stream to see if it is actually worthwhile?  i.e what flow rate can you sensibly extract from the stream, and what head have you got available?

[Lesgrandepotato]

4 hours ago, ProDave said:

I can never understand why oil users fill up "little and often"

 

At our last house we fitted a 2500L oil tank that would do the heating for more than a year. It means for a start you get a better price per L (you get penalised for small loads) and you can pick the cheapest time of year to fill up, with most years was about August, before most people feel the need to turn the heating on and the price starts rising again.

 

And doing that you know exactly how many litres and the exact cost of a years heating.

 

I avoided oil this time because it must rank as one of the most volatile fuel prices going.

 

So back the the OP have you calculated how much power you might actually generate from the stream to see if it is actually worthwhile?  i.e what flow rate can you sensibly extract from the stream, and what head have you got available?

 

We do little and often (half a tank) with the oil club when the rate looks ok. We have a 1200l capacity which will pretty much run all year depending how much you trust the watchman gauge. 

In terms of flow that’s a bit variable, but we have decent head. There is the ruin of a 17th century mill in the back garden and we have an easy 40-60ft drop available. The flow isn’t huge, but come winter there’s no way your going to stand up in it even though it’s only a foot deep or so and three feet wide. 

Attached picture shows the cotton/corn mill pre ruination in the 1900’s 

i don’t know how much power it takes to run a cotton mill but I’d hazard its a couple of hundred watts minimum ? 

[ProDave]

If you have a 40ft drop you need to catch the water at the top and pipe it down to a turbine at the bottom, and I suspect it will do rather well.

[Lesgrandepotato]

1 minute ago, ProDave said:

If you have a 40ft drop you need to catch the water at the top and pipe it down to a turbine at the bottom, and I suspect it will do rather well.

That’s the plan. Couple of peltons on 75mm flexible mdpe and see how she goes. Feels a worthwhile endeavour and could! half our energy use for space and hot water. It’s not energy neutral but it won’t ruin the location and it seems an easy install. 

[joe90]

I would give my right arm for the water potential you have!, I have always wanted to generate lecky from a water source. I remember Dick Strawbridge years ago building a water wheel, gearbox and alternator.

[Lesgrandepotato]

So this is slowly moving towards fruition - more calcs this week 🙂

[Lesgrandepotato]

1 hour ago, Lesgrandepotato said:

So this is slowly moving towards fruition - more calcs this week 🙂

So we are looking at this, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203826484109?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gTu9OIukRj2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=LqJxcZC1QQu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Seems to have a fairly linear power generation. 
 

We have 3 immersions on the tank, 2*1kw, and a single 3kw. Looking at a line voltage of 48v DC. So from some highly fag packet based maths about 5kw of immersion should get me the resistive load I need.