"Made It Myself" Hydro Provides His Electricity

Made It Myself Hydro Provides His Electricity ENERGY Alternative Fuels 33-4-35 Bill Kelsey doesn't believe in doing things the easy way. Commercial hydropower systems are widely available, but he put together his own system with a lot of help from friends. Over the past 20 years the system has been improved to the point where it now provides most of the electricity he needs. "When I started, I had never even seen a hydroelectric system," recalls Kelsey. "I started with a Harris Hydro turbine to be fed by waterlines laid by the side of a creek on my property." Kelsey installed a 275-gal. tank to catch water coming off a homemade dam. He filtered it before it entered the two 2-in. pipes. "After months of working on it, I was disappointed to only get 30 watts at best," admits Kelsey. "I called Don Harris, maker of the turbine, and he explained the requirements of a successful hydroelectric system." Harris explained to Kelsey that he had too much pipe friction and should change to 3-in. pipe. The creek had a total drop of about 30 ft. between its highest point on Kelsey's property and his house. Harris suggested taking full advantage of maximum drop. He also pointed out that the pipe needed to be buried to protect against winter freeze up. Kelsey bought a friend's 20-ton excavator and went to work at the high point of his property. He excavated a small pond and built an earthen dam to hold the water. The old water tank was replaced with the bottom half of a septic tank with a wood cover. Intake pipes inside the tank are surrounded by removable screens for easy cleaning. He also buried 4-in. pipe 15 ft. below the surface of the stream. "That August we had 7 in. of rain in 24 hours, but my dam held," says Kelsey. "After those improvements I was making 100 watts. Not much, but you learn what you can live with." Power was stored in 6-volt golf cart batteries. A panel designed with the help of Steve Schulze of New England Solar Electric and Larry Riley, Kelsey's electrician, managed the power supply and delivered electricity to the home's AC appliances. They also installed a DC panel to supply power to the DC compact fluorescent lights in each room of the house. It also powers a 24-volt DC circulating pump that brings hot water from Kelsey's outside Aqua-Therm wood furnace to his home's in-floor heating coils. The control panel also has a remote start switch for a back-up generator located at a distance from the house. The Onan 5 kW propane fed generator kicks in mainly in the summer when stream flow is at its lowest. "It also kicks in when I need power for my welder and an air compressor in my shop," says Kelsey. "It averages about 75 hours of use each year." When Harris came out with a brushless, permanent magnet alternator, Kelsey upgraded. The old alternators ate up brushes, and Kelsey had kept a spare around so he could change brushes without losing power." "The new hydro setup runs day in and day out, making a continual 150 watts or about 3.6 KWH per day," says Kelsey. Since completing the hydro system, Kelsey decided to increase the size of his home to 1,200 sq. ft. To supplement the hydropower, he installed four BP 75-watt solar panels and four 50-watt panels. "The solar panels produce about 420 watts in full sun," says Kelsey. "When the batteries are full, excess power from the solar and hydro feeds a DC water heating element controlled by a Trace C35 controller. The extra power heats my domestic hot water. I have more than enough electricity to run lights and basic appliances." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bill Kelsey, 5 Weber Rd., Sharon, Conn. 06069 (ph 860 364-0288).

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