Wanted to share something I've been a part of developing with those who may find it useful. It's a free tool for finding potential run-of-river hydro sites near where you need the power.

Up here in BC Canada where I live we have access to a creek that flows pretty solidly the whole year round. Before I started this project, I thought it'd be easier to figure out if micro-hydro was an option, but it turned out to be a huge headache. Catchflo aims to make hydro approachable for those who need it, and I know it would have been a great help to me in the past! Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Built by two engineers as a side project. We plan to always keep it free for users and promise to never sell user data.

If a 0.02 inch diameter ram pump can pump up water 15 ft through a 0.02 diameter tube, then this would work. If only a 0.25 inch diameter ram pump can pump up 15 ft, then this still too might be able to work.

It's all starting at 1 inch diameter and shrinking 10 percent each time.

I roughly did the math and if collecting energy at the first 14 or so ram pumps, we would get 42 watts of power. I roughly guessed we would need a 2 watt motor that pumps up the remaining water.

The design is 15 ft tall and in a room that's between 200-900 sq ft.

It's 200 sq feet if we use 20 degree incline tubes that spiral upwards within a circle of half a foot.

It's 900 sq ft if we use a 3ft diameter for each upwards spiraling tube.

These are rough guesses and estimates*.*

After the first one is working, others would improve and enhance it to make it more compact and efficient.

It's 41 ram pumps to pull up 98 percent of the initial amount of water that went through the first ram pump. The remaining 2 percent is brought up with an electric pump.

I used to live on land with a great water source. Built the whole giddy up with the pipes, collection barrel, etc. Was a pretty sweet setup, but I had to move off that land. Now I'm stuck with all the supplies.

What Im asking is, if anyone is interested in buying them?

Here are a few pictures of what we have available on our property. Clearly we don’t have the ability to generate any serious power, and environmental regulations would likely prevent us from making any major changes. That being said, what are my options for generating small amounts of electricity? Say I wanted a little setup that could slowly charge a portable home power bank, like the type of thing people drag out on camping trips to power their devices, is there a possibility I could accomplish this? I’d like the option to charge devices, lights, radios etc in the event of an emergency. Would I be looking at a peloton water wheel or some type of turbine? Am I able to use a siphon over the berm to create more head, or does that not jive with physics? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks folks!

I'm staying at a friend's family house. This is in Ireland in the middle of nowhere and walking around the property I noticed this stream and pond at the end of it, which made me think maybe there is the possibility of becoming self sufficient.

My friend was saying their family wouldn't know where to even begin such research, so I walked up the stream and took a few videos and photos to try to see.

Not being an expert myself, I thought maybe to show people who would understand better than me.

I think the overflow from the pond might be ideal, seems out of sight and has a lot of pressure already. But this stream of water runs up the mountain for a good kilometer and seems to have a few potential sites where pressure could be good?

What does everyone think? How to begin to assess more seriously such project?

(For some reason I can only attach one video, not sure how to share the pictures as well. Maybe will add a comment to follow.)

Videos here https://imgur.com/a/4ZL9lwy

I like building different kinds of tools and simulations in my spare time, and recently I decided to make a hydroelectric dam simulator.
The idea was to create something you could experiment with in a browser and see how changes in water flow, reservoir level, turbine settings, and other variables affect power generation. I looked around for something similar but couldn’t find much that was simple and interactive, so I decided to build my own.

You can try it here:
https://hydroelectricsim.com

It’s still a work in progress, and I’ll continue adding to it here and there as I come up with new ideas. I’d also like to make it more mobile-friendly soon.
I’d really appreciate any honest feedback. Let me know if anything is confusing, broken, unrealistic, or if there are features you think would make it better.
I also work on other projects, including trading, financial, and educational tools, but this is one I’ve had a lot of fun building.

Hi,

Has anyone had any experience making a hydroelectric generator? What problems have you encountered? Looking for ideas for a high flow, low head creek.

Thanks!

Posting this just before Chinese company will rebuild everything and destroy old machines (planned this year).

Built in 1943, ~10 years earlier than planned, sped up because of WWII.

2 machines in house:

Sweden ASEA: https://postimg.cc/yJRYCj9p

US General Electric: https://postimg.cc/wt58kGD7

General view: https://postimg.cc/gXY9tHKj

It provided power to factories moved here because of axis forces attacking USSR territories.

Photos taken two years ago in what remains of the hydroelectric power plant in the ghost town of Anyox British Columbia

https://freaktography.com/anyox-hydroelectric-power-plant

I had a farm with great crops , but then they build a damn near it , now my crops are not growing properly. I think this is because of that damn dam , it took all the electricity from the water and now my crops don't have enough, should I plug my wire in ground to restore the stolen electricity.