Starting a new life in Wales

[adam2]

Did you see this:
https://youtu.be/PvgeSJKlNUs?si=sKASqeGUeqPzglPY

That's Part 2, Parts 1 & 3 also available.

Very imppresive ! And even more worthwhile at current fuel prices. A modern water turbine would be far more compact, and keeping a complete spare might be viable. If a vehicle type alternator is used, then these maight only last a year or so and a spare is prudent.

[UndercoverElephant]

Did you see this:
https://youtu.be/PvgeSJKlNUs?si=sKASqeGUeqPzglPY

That's Part 2, Parts 1 & 3 also available.

It seems like a lot of work! Anything we do is obviously not going to be on that scale. I do wonder what size the waterwheel here was, but there's just not enough of the surrounding structure left to get much idea, and no surviving memory that it existed at all. There were three more within a mile or so from here, all of them on the Afon Soden, of which our stream is a tributary.

[kenneal - lagger]

If there is only a 5 ft head I suspect the water wheel might have been an undershot wheel of about 10 ft diameter.

A good supply of water in the winter would provide power when PV is scarce so the systems would dovetail well.

[UndercoverElephant]

If there is only a 5 ft head I suspect the water wheel might have been an undershot wheel of about 10 ft diameter.

A good supply of water in the winter would provide power when PV is scarce so the systems would dovetail well.

The drop could have been more than that. There is currently a 5ft drop at our present boundary, but I don't know either exact location of the wheel or how the ground on the other side of the boundary has been altered. We would have to site a turbine somewhere else, and there could b considerably more than a 5ft drop available. It would just need a pipe running from the current outflow of the pond to somewhere more sensible to put the turbine.

Likely to have been something like this one: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... 491933.jpg

[kenneal - lagger]

That's the type of installation that I was thinking of UE.

[UndercoverElephant]

That's the type of installation that I was thinking of UE.

That wheel is breast-shot. I went to have a look at it yesterday -- off a very quiet lane a couple of miles from Cardigan.

[Catweazle]

UE, if you are planning on experimenting with a DIY solution I have a few different sized used 3 phase permanent magnet servo motors here, up to about 3kw, genuine watts, not Chinese motor watts. You're welcome to try some.

[UndercoverElephant]

UE, if you are planning on experimenting with a DIY solution I have a few different sized used 3 phase permanent magnet servo motors here, up to about 3kw, genuine watts, not Chinese motor watts. You're welcome to try some.

Thanks for the offer, but we aren't going to be in a position to invest in something like this any time soon! The reason I restarted this thread was because I have belatedly realised there was once a waterwheel here, having already said that generating power wasn't a realistic option. I was just correcting myself, really.

[mr brightside]

Gayle Mill might be worth a visit. They had a generator that powered the whole village way back when, and off not a lot of head of water, but lots of volume. I think theirs is a pelton wheel.

https://www.gaylemill.org/

[adam2]

Do be aware that "powering a whole village" probably only meant lighting, and limited to about 100 watts per home, still useful and these days 100 watts would give a lot more light than back in the day.

A 60 watt carbon filament lamp
Or a 25 watt tungsten lamp
or a 6 watt CFL
Or a modern 2 watt LED would all give about the same light, so a hundred years has reduced the load from 60 watts to 2 watts for about the same light.