NEWBIE

[gblanchard81]

New to this forum. Purchased a good amount of land with an off grid cabin and look forward to doing solar, wind and hydro projects as there is a great creek behind the cabin.

 

[BentleyJ]

Welcome, sounds like a great location for a solar project.

 

[HRTKD]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[WYtreasure]

New to this forum. Purchased a good amount of land with an off grid cabin and look forward to doing solar, wind and hydro projects as there is a great creek behind the cabin.

Very nice, welcome to the party.
Does your creek freeze? What about elevation? Hydro likes elevation changes.

There is a Wind forum here, not much activity there though.

 

[DerpsyDoodler]

There is a Wind forum here, not much activity there though.

Someone turned off the fan. ? ?

New to this forum. Purchased a good amount of land with an off grid cabin and look forward to doing solar, wind and hydro projects as there is a great creek behind the cabin.

Welcome! I look forward to seeing your projects progress! I hope you document and post lots of pictures.

 

[gblanchard81]

Very nice, welcome to the party.
Does your creek freeze? What about elevation? Hydro likes elevation changes.

There is a Wind forum here, not much activity there though.

The water stays in motion, but does freeze on top. Does not freeze up completely.

 

[gblanchard81]

Thanks for all the welcomes. Question: Is it safe to put inverter/charger under house in the open air? It will obviously be out off the weather other then wind that blows under the cabin. Also thought of putting skirting around the base...

 

[WYtreasure]

Tough question to answer. Do you have any animals that will want to chew on wires or poop into your equipment. A skirt would certainly help with rain and snow. Where I am, snow & sometimes rain goes everywhere, including under a post & beam house. We get big wind and thunderstorms.
It wouldn't take much moisture to ruin your day. In a perfect world, your equipment would be enclosed in a fireproof room.

 

[Don B. Cilly]

Wind, it depends on
a) do you get decent amounts of it at night (we get good amounts during the day, it tends to die out at night).
b) equipment quality. A good marine-grade turbine (or more than one) can keep your batteries decently charged during the night - Providing the (a) conditions are met.

Now, hydro. The "holy grail" of renewable. Capable of providing power 24/7 with reasonable maintenance.
If you have a creek, it doesn't really matter (so much) how much water runs through it, rather,

Hydro likes elevation changes.

can you get enough "head" (elevation drop) to run one or more turbines efficiently.
If you can, your solar can be minimal - well, providing you can get an "off grid mentality" and learn to use energy cleverly/efficiently.

[EDIT] Annoyingly enough, creeks tend to run in the shallowest part of a plot. Sad (from an energy point of view) but true.
No reason to despair though. You can create "artificial head" by simply... digging :·)

About the inverter: I keep my (LFP) batteries inside. More easily controlled temperature. I keep the inverter outside. Less annoying noise.
In a protected enclosure, not difficult to build.
.

 

[gblanchard81]

I haven’t quite got that far with head and pressures, etc. There are multiple springs also on the property that I considered tapping into by maybe a dam of some sort and running hydro with pulleys. Lots of ideas.

 

[gblanchard81]

Tough question to answer. Do you have any animals that will want to chew on wires or poop into your equipment. A skirt would certainly help with rain and snow. Where I am, snow & sometimes rain goes everywhere, including under a post & beam house. We get big wind and thunderstorms.
It wouldn't take much moisture to ruin your day. In a perfect world, your equipment would be enclosed in a fireproof room.

…in a perfect world.

 

[WYtreasure]

I haven’t quite got that far with head and pressures, etc. There are multiple springs also on the property that I considered tapping into by maybe a dam of some sort and running hydro with pulleys. Lots of ideas.

I would follow and probably contribute to a thread in this forum if you want to start one:

Hydroelectric

Have a small stream in your backyard and wish to create free power from it? Check out what others have done here!

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