Hey guys, so I have a big dam that holds about 40 megaliters of water and for 6 months of the year it is constantly overflowing, my guess would be 2-3 liters per second. I understand that is not much to work with hydro, but what if at the bottom of where the water overflows, which is about 2 meters, I put a valve and let 3 liters of water run out. With the massive weight of the 40 megaliters behind this valve the water should shoot out with huge force but would it be enough to generate say more than 4kw of electricity consistently? If so I could move my shipping container with batteries there with starlink internet during the winter and in the summer move it back to its home for solar. I cant let more water out than what it currently does because I need it for farming and need the dam to stay full. Any advice is appreciated thank you
I do not have personal knowledge of water driven turbines, but I’ve been fascinated with the technology. They cost between $200-$10,000 depending on the set up. The good thing is, there are plenty of models for sale, that cover many styles. I see one on Ali for $1250 that generates 3Kw/h. One issue is that many models for sale do not tell of the volume of water needed , nor pressure. But I do very often see pipes leading to the generators which leads me to believe they are using piping to build pressure and speed. By simply slopping and necking down a pipe you can increase pressure and speed.
My favorite one (I can’t find pictures of) is made to be built into the dam and mounts on the water surface, then spirals the water into the unit. They claimed that this spiraling the water down increases speed and electric generation to a new ‘top notch’ level. The video I saw claimed that this style would someday be in commercial dam generators. (since I can’t find picture of it, I wonder if they were just fibbing).
IMO do it. Not enough people do this to tell you yaa or naa. But the math surely adds up. And at this point, you have identified a wasted power source. Seems like you Must do it.
Just google Hydro electric generators. Ebay, Amazon and Ali all have models in all price ranges. Some are super simple. they even have a little guy that sits in rivers (current driven) and pulls 50-250 watts.
If you have CNC machines you can create Tesla Turbine. But I am currently designing a model that can get 5 torque and 6k rpm which if the calculations are correct could produce about 21 kw and hour.
But current I have made a small model which can get 2.5 kw and hour.
This is the only reason I can crypto mine because my electric rate is 20 cents a kw, but creating my own electric is free because I recycle the water.
Edit: since the water is recycled into containers I just have to keep the water clean and replace it every few months.
If you have any questions I can help
Thanks for the input guys. I’m interested in how you recycle the water to generate electricity to mine without using additional energy because I’m pretty sure using a pump would be inn efficient in moving the water? Having access to forklifts and tractors I always thought that if I had a 1000 litre shuttle of water on my electric forklift, lifting it up say 10 meters high and running the water out into another shuttle at the bottom would be able to generate more energy then what’s required to lift the shuttle with the forklift. I can’t prove that of course but in my head it makes sense haha. But yes if you could explain how you recycle the water I’d love to hear it thank you
No it would not
@Kadiyania thanks for the input. I think I’ve also seen the spiral unit you are thinking of. There’s so many cool ways to create energy and the responses are making me keen to give it a go
But you could create a Tesla turbine with a slope great enough that the water would be pushed up 70 percent from the top flow line so your production could be a ratio of 12 kw to 1 kw used, which is good. I just need to calculate the rpm and torque to get those exact numbers
Edit: I will finalize those number tomorrow and try design a model/scale
That’s awesome. If you could post photos or videos of your current 2.5kw system I would love to see it I’m sure most people would!
I will upload the pictures as soon as I get back to my house from vacation so I will try to have it uploaded in about one week.
Hey mate just a friendly reminder we are keen to see the turbine when you get a chance 
This is my current setup, though it is only seasonal.
Also I just got rain so it has higher rpm
Currently I am getting 3000 watts an hour when it rains a lot, but on average I get 1800 watts and hour
That’s so good! So when you’re getting 1800 watts, how many litres per minute do you have, and what is the head to your hydro? Thanks legend it’s so interesting!
I think it’s about 3 to 5 a minute
I am also design a new model that can produce 4.6 kw an hour, plus it does not have to use creek water. I will also be able to keep it in my garage to keep it running all year.
Also there will be a small pump to circulate the water and to reuse the same water over and over.
Though this will probably be done in the spring time because I don’t have much free time, also the mistake I make on the way, and some custom part I will have to get. But I will try to post updates and details on while I am making it.
Hey please do like to follow
That’s awesome especially if it’s 5 litres a minute! Any idea on the height the water starts flowing down hill from into your turbine?
I’ve been reading a lot into ram pumps lately, and the best diy I’ve seen seems to be 5000 litres a day with a 1 1/4 inch pipe which I think seems to pump as high as 10 meters. I wonder how effective it would be having 2 1000 litre shuttles, one as high as possible and using ram pumps to pump as much water back up into the top shuttle while having the turbine charge a battery, when eventually the top shuttle goes empty would the battery have stored enough energy to create surplus and power a pump to pump the water back up top and have extra energy in the battery after.
My guess is no because otherwise it would have already been done. But it’s an interesting thought I might have to try, at least with the ram pumps
I get what you are saying but at that point I takes to much power to bring the water up that high.
So what I have figured is to make a Tesla turbine, where the pump sucks in the water from the tank and then pushes in the tube. Which after that water spiraling about 8 times the viscous force would be low and the psi would be high. Therefore bring the water back on top to the tank. Also the pump would use about 400 watts an hour while the system potentially can generate 3500 to 4500 watts.
Awesome when you get around to it we would love to see it.
Ram pumps don’t use energy, they use 2 check valves to push water upward but it loses water in the process. So if I were to minimise water loss (loss would go into the second shuttle) so I want to see how effectively I can minimise spillage and keep the water going through the ram pump enough to generate enough electricity to run the electric pump when the bottom shuttle is full and have spare electricity. I’ll buy the check valves and 3d print the rest and see how I go
For example I can have 3 ram pumps, say first pipe is one inch, second is 1/2 inch and third is 1/4 inch. If I have the over flow of the one inch running into the 1/2 inch, and the over flow of the half inch running back into the 1/4 inch all pumping back into the top shuttle then it might minimise spillage enough to become surplus energy. That’s what I want to find out anyway