Getting Off of the Grid

Very interesting thread.
We were on the Snake River a while back on one of the jet boat trips and one of the captains had a place up the canyon and was using a water turbine to run 15kw with a 6"head pipe, The flow of the little creek wasn't much but he had enough drop to get his head pressure thru the 6" pipe. Very neat install and didn't look at all complicated.
Ahyhoo ever since then I have been giving a lot of thought to a system. Nothing in the plans yet though.
I think I will be looking for that book also.



Edit: Doing a quick search.....Barnes and Noble has a 3rd edtion for like $17 and Amazon shows a 2nd edition for $32. There were more.
 
Oh, I was doing some reading last night, if I remember right, I believe that the fall needs to be about 18 feet for best results.. I thought about a turbine.. But my first thoughts were a water wheel.
 
From what I understand, for your battery dump, either marine or L-88 batteries are best for holding the charge.

Doc
 
jocat54 said:
Very interesting thread.
We were on the Snake River a while back on one of the jet boat trips and one of the captains had a place up the canyon and was using a water turbine to run 15kw with a 6"head pipe, The flow of the little creek wasn't much but he had enough drop to get his head pressure thru the 6" pipe. Very neat install and didn't look at all complicated.
Ahyhoo ever since then I have been giving a lot of thought to a system. Nothing in the plans yet though.
I think I will be looking for that book also.
Click to expand...
15 kw, thats pretty darn plenty to do just about anything you'd want to do, even run a 250 amp mig welder. How much more could you possibly need. :dunno::dunno:
 
OakRidgeGuy said:
From what I understand, for your battery dump, either marine or L-88 batteries are best for holding the charge.

Doc
Click to expand...
Or build a holding pond at the top of the stream, cheaper and easier. Low tech storage.
 
xalky said:
15 kw, thats pretty darn plenty to do just about anything you'd want to do, even run a 250 amp mig welder. How much more could you possibly need. :dunno::dunno:
Click to expand...


Not much you couldn't do with it:))
His set up was top notch.
 
That does appear to be the same book, although I have I believe the first edition. I will check in the morning for the ISBN number.

This is the cover on mine:

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Editors-Readers-Digest/dp/0895770865

It makes for great reading if nothing else. Home canning? Sure. How to choose and lay out your farm? Sure. Basic blacksmithing? Sure. Tons of old tech. Not medieval or dark ages, but let's say early Americana 19th century through early 20th......with much plenty still useful.
 
Got it bookmarked.. thanks for that..

What got me to thinking about all of this is the fact of looking at all of these model engines that I see these guys making.. so, I am thinking, why wouldn't that be good enough to spin the alternator to generate the off grid electricity.. Hydro is then where I was led off into. So yes, I will find a plot of land out in the country here in east Tenn.. that has the right lay of land with a stream or creek on it.. and will go from there. Where I live at here, I am right smack between two TVA steam generating plants. I have a shooting friend that helped do some of designing of the Bull Run TVA plant. So I do hope that he will give me some insight the next time I see him..

Doc
 
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