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dieselspanner:
Hi All,

After only 4 years of looking I've found an ancient stone barn, off grid, in my (meager!) price range with a head of water, a decent view, 5 hecares (14 acres) of extremely sloping  land, backing on to a HUGE wood and far enough away from the neighbours so they won't moan about the Lister!

See Google map link for details

https://www.google.fr/maps/@42.9500311,0.2214051,88m/data=!3m1!1e3

I haven't signed anything yet, but we 'spat and shook', up here that's pretty binding, It should be mine in 2/3 months, anything over a hectare has to be offered to the local farming community for two months, at the agreed price first, generally not a problem.

It's bigger than I wanted, so I think I'll end up with a decent integral workshop.

So, the first of many questions, there's a stream above the property I'd like to use as a supply for a small hydro scheme.

It would involve a 200m long 25mm id mdpe pipe and have a vertical drop of 35 meters - 120 feet. I've had a scout around on the WWW and can't come up with a definitive answer, so, could anyone here point towards a useful site or tell me how much power I'd get allowing for the friction loss in the pipe?

Cheers Stef

BruceM:
Congratulations Stef, that's a gorgeous property nestled into the edge of the forest!

This link has a calculator that shows your power and flow:
http://www.nooutage.com/hydroele.htm#How%20much%20power

A 1 inch pipe will only give you 50 watts of power and 6 gpm flow. A 2 inch pipe would give you about 260 watts  and 30 gpm.

A good article on design ;
https://www.homepower.com/articles/microhydro-power/design-installation/pipeline-hydro-electric-penstock-design

Here's a power and pipe size calculator:
http://www.rockyhydro.com/Free_Micro-Hydro_Calculator.php

Even a modest microhydro source would be a fabulous power asset.

dieselspanner:
Thanks for that, Glort, yes it is me with the stone barn, it's less than 4 k away from the one in the Google map link. It's a bit small, only 8m x 3.5m, and right alongside the road. When I refurbished it I did it in such a way that it could be turned into a small dwelling with minimal alterations, once again  we have SWMBO factor, I'd like a summer residence akin to a backwoods log cabin, Carolyn has space for the klds and grand kids in mind.........

I also wanted an 'off grid' project, last year I sold my little Dutch Barge, it was too far away, mountains and canals aren't usually synonymous,  the result won't go more than 25% of the way to the Big Barn project, I'll scrounge the rest up as we go along!

Bruce,

Three great links, with calculators that I can understand (albeit that I have convert from 'footric' to metric!), thanks a bunch.

As you can imagine the whole project is on a very light gauge shoe string, luckily, after 7 years up here, I have a huge amount of goodwill backed up and am prepared to call it all in shamelessly......

Anyone who's passing and has a desire to indulge in concrete mixing or roofing and slating in an area of outstanding natural beauty for 3 squares hot and a cot, PM me soonest!

As for the techie stuff I'll be abusing the forum in my usual fashion, safe in the knowledge that if it interests me then at least 75% of the blokes on here on my wavelength whether it's diesel powered or not!

Cheers

Stef 

LowGear:
Shazam!

You're in France.

What's a fellow do with 14 acres besides grow a Lister program and hydro-power?  Looks like it might get chilly.

mikenash:
Congrats Stef

That's a lot what I bought recently in lots of ways:

Off grid . . .

An acre of flat with an old barn on it and 11 acres of hill with a spring up the top

 . . . just on the other side of the world lol

Well done

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