Off Grid Micro Hydro - Building a 6kW Off Grid EMPIRE

Check out this Off Grid Micro Hydro System in Service for over 15 years: https://youtu.be/XyWQ3o6plY8?si=KB30ROoqHLfH4Snq

One thing I noticed is that a 440 foot pipe with 5” ID on a 24 foot head is not big enough to deliver the amount of water required for 850 Watts. At 316 gpm you will lose 7 feet of head due to friction losses. So 316 times 17 feet (dynamic) head, times gravity, times turbine efficiency - say 55% at best - would give you a maximum output of about 640 Watts. Low head systems are always very sensitive to losses so all in all I think you did well to get 495 Watts. Great video.

My dad is the OG of this set up He built it back in the 80s before any of these small scale hydro techniques were written about. We lived in the mountains of Washington state 5mi from the nearest neighbor and powered the house just like any house in the city….. just don’t let the intake clog or the pipes freeze in the cold

At 18 minutes, when you are reading the output, that is a MPT control unit, so if the batteries are charged, then the controller will reduce the power being put into the batteries. To correctly test the system, you need to test it as a stand-alone generator on flat batteries. Or if you can prevent over running and the high voltage that goes with it, try an open circuit test.

People that understand electricity are wizards.

The inlet valve coulr be causing cavitation befor the generator if you move the valve back 30 diameters to allow the water to reattach to the pipe you should get better flow over the impellor. Worth a try. Great video best of luck 😊

Over in Idaho in the Frank Church Wilderness Area on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, we have a pelton wheel with a max out put of 45kw. We have a 1120ft head starting at 12" shallow wall PVC when decreases to 10" then goes into a thick wall 8", down to a six. From 4" diameter and smaller the pipe is metal 20ft from the powerhouse, it drops to 4" metal, 10ft later it drops to 3". At the pipe enters the power house it decreases to 2", 2ft from the turbine it drops to 1" then the two nozzles are 1/2"-3/4" depending upon time of year and water volume. At the turbine we have a static pressure of 260psi with a water volume of 250-300 gallons per minute with a maxium out put of 45kw with a governed turbine speed of 1800rpm with a pelton diameter of 28". One thing over looked by many is the transition point from m one diameter to the next. With metal, it's easier to shape a cone, permitting a smooth transition to each smaller size where a lot of people just drop from one size to the next, creating a lot of turbulence at each size reduction. Reducing your gpm because of friction in the pipe at each reduction.

Maybe checking the bearings on the generator would be a good idea. The waterwheel didn't seem like it was spinning freely when you moved it by hand. Also, the water output/exhaust at the end might not be exiting freely causing flow problems in the waterwheel chamber. I remember someone creating a Venturi effect with some simple piping after the generator to increase throughput. Just a thought. Cheers!

On both systems you need to build a "pond" at least 3 feet deep....with the excess flow able to pour over the dam wall and flow on downstream. Use an intake pipe twice the size of your penstock as the receiver of the water in that pond. The double size pipe (capped on the upstream end) needs to have very many small holes drilled in it...say 1/4 inch holes all over it.....then wrap fabric shade cloth or fabric wind break cloth around the pipe as a filter... Now suspend the drilled wrapped receptor pipe half way between the floor of the pond and the top of the water...the cleanest water zone as the silt drops to the bottom of the pond and the leaves etc. float over the top of the dam..... The small holes do not allow a vortex to occur...the number of small holes allow full flow of "solid" unaerated water to fill the penstock. Now you have also eliminated those small stones, leaves, sticks.... and the bubbles.... See Marty T channel (he is in New Zealand) for a washing machine motor based turbine putting out 885 watts continuous from a 229ft head 4 inch penstock....going 18 years on the original system.....

The "more bubbles" outlet looked like the perfect setup for a trompe. Depending on the changes made it could be a way to harvest more power easily.

I used a Scott/Harris reactive for 3 years before giving up... mostly issues with the 3 phase alternators. I had 3 of them come apart before extending the penstock and going to a Turgo. If you really want use the Scott, I do have few suggestions... A tall collection box at the headworks, with a coanda screen works great. Do what you can to increase the head pressure. Install a pressure guage in the pipe, just above the lower shutoff valve. It will tell you a lot about your water system and help you diagnose problems. Don't overgrease the bearings. It can cut your rotor speed in half. I saw that you had a pretty good suction screen, but remove the valve from your Scott, so that you can see into the narrowing throat, to make sure that there are no sticks or rocks stuck in there. I have a few other suggestions. Let me know if you want to hear them.

Thank you Gridlessness you make my Sundays a lot better 💫your enthusiasm is infectious and inspiring I love seeing you and your beautiful family work so well together 😊

I'm always so happy watching your videos. Thank you.

When I was young, I lived on a farm that my parents owned we had our own power. It was a generator run by a Pelton wheel produced 220, Volts, DC couldn’t turn lights off, but the Pilton wheel we could take the generator off, put a belt onto the saw bench and cut our firewood, the pipe coming into the system was 18 inches by memory, the jet at the end hitting the pedals in the Pilton wheel was about a inch. The drop was about 70 feet. The pipe was 500 m. There was plenty of water in the creek very permanent and being in New Zealand. We didn’t get too much ice in the creek, so went 24 seven at the head of the system was a small dam with permanent gauze and then we put bird netting across the top of that so we could remove to remove leaves which was the biggest problem in keeping it going, especially in the autumn

Always learning something interesting from your video's , you all ROCK !

I don’t have a working system but the little that I have messed around I had to start with a larger pipe and step diameter down the further I went. The long run of pipe I believed I had cavitation in the pipe as it accelerated creating an air lock. The old gold miners that washed hills away to retrieve gold used to do this. It helped me.

Beautiful and harmonious family, I always watch your videos

Had me hooked from the very beginning. I absolutely love your production style! Also, that area looks beautiful

Im grid-tieable, but choose to go it alone (off grid) as much as possible. To that end, I use several small solar PV panels, each driving a small dc motor, through a belt transmission (all homemade) coupled to tiny air compressors. I store the compressed air, then use it (sparringly) to produce electricity AS NEEDED. My point in telling you all this is, when you decide to go off grid, that action alone REQUIRES "intentional" living. Basically, you learn to do more with less. As counter-intuitive as that may sound, I'm here to tell you it works! At least, it's worked for me for the past 13 years. I'm 75 and autistic, so if "I" can make it happen, for any "normal"(?) person, it should be a 👞 in. (Shoe) 😊

This is what dreams are made of. Always really like the idea of hydro systems. As long as you have a good flow of water endless power.