Anyone producing power via waterwheel?

[sbishop]

Just thought i'd ask if anyone has a water wheel producing power? i'm thinking of building a floating waterwheel to produce power at my camp? The river is less then 50ft away and with a good strong current.

Sbishop

[SPIKER]

you might want to do a search on "Hydro-Power" to see several posts about this lots of concerns regarding EPA/DNR issues as well as other things to consider...

also look at TBN http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/ as they have had similar posts/questions. in last few years

[James P.]

not to may streams around me, tax ditches with a little flow but I am sure any diversion of water might be illegal for me. so I am producing water from power. ( electric water pump ) good luck i think if you have the resource its a great idea.

[sbishop]

My idea is to build a floating water wheel, not too big...that way i'm not interfering with the river. but there is a few people come down in canoe's in the summer, so i will have to move it out of the way when i'm not there.

I guess i'm thinking that others have floating docks, why can't i have a floating water wheel dock? 

Sbishop

[WH_Conley]

Camouflage the wheel under the dock.

[James P.]

I have always liked water wheel power. I lived in Wilmington De when I was young and use to ride down to the brandywine river. There were several mills there at one time or another. I know that alot of those types of mills were washed away as well. I think a floating wheel sounds like a good tactic . It would be interesting to know what kind of KW you could get out of it or do you plan on just producing HP for some other type of equipment.

[Jeff]

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,15929.msg227550.html#msg227550

[SwampDonkey]

Ah, Jeff found the thread I was trying to find. 

[bandmiller2]

Put it in the river with a sign  Bishop University green project with a  EPA number on it.Frank C.

[moonhill]

I like the floating raft idea, gang them up or down the river or in a tide rip in which case it could be fixed so as to turn with the tide but still be anchored.

Tim

[John Mc]

I'd imagine one of the problems with generating electrical power with a water wheel (as opposed to a turbine) is that the RPM of the wheel is so slow. You'd need to gear it up a bit - which would cause some efficency losses from the gear box.  An undershot wheel as the OP seems to be considering will turn rather slowly. An overshot wheel as shown in Jeff's post would help. Gravity accelerates the water as it falls, turning the wheel faster. On the other hand, if I had the kind of drop for an overshot wheel, I'd probably be looking for a small scale hydro turbine instead.

[ErikC]

  Use of a low rpm permanent magnet generator like what is used on modern windturbines aids that problem greatly. They are only a couple hundred dollars, I know one guy using it in this application and have read several other accounts of it.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Gearing up causes loss of efficiency, is really a lame excuse, these days.

  Just build things a little OVER sized, and get on with the program. 

[John Mc]

  Use of a low rpm permanent magnet generator like what is used on modern windturbines aids that problem greatly. They are only a couple hundred dollars, I know one guy using it in this application and have read several other accounts of it.

Sounds interesting. If you run across any good links, please pass them along.

[JSNH]

These are the people who wrote the book on low rpm generators.

http://www.fieldlines.com/