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Home-Built Water Wheel Generates Electric Power
Ed Hanson's water wheel is a decorative addition to his farm. But it also generates electric power. Equipped with a 100-watt generator, it preheats water at his son's nearby house.
"The generator is off a small windmill," says Hanson. "It could generate more power if we had a larger water wheel and a stronger wat
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Home-Built Water Wheel Generates Electric Power ENERGY Miscellaneous 34-4-34 Ed Hanson's water wheel is a decorative addition to his farm. But it also generates electric power. Equipped with a 100-watt generator, it preheats water at his son's nearby house.
"The generator is off a small windmill," says Hanson. "It could generate more power if we had a larger water wheel and a stronger water source."
Right now, the water is funneled through a trough from a nearby spring-fed pond Hanson and his son dug. Flow varies depending on the time of year.
The 7-ft. water wheel is fitted with 16 buckets. However, Hanson says they are too deep and plans to double the number and make them shallower.
The wheel itself is white pine with ash spokes. The axle shaft and wheels used on the water wheel came from two old hay rakes. The jackshaft on the generator was reclaimed from a manure spreader, complete with pillow block bearings to hold it in place.
Hanson cut blocks of wood to fill in the rim of one wheel so he could turn it into a drive wheel on the water wheel. A weatherproof, manufactured drive belt runs from the drive wheel to a small pulley on the jackshaft for a ratio of about 7:1. At the other end of the jackshaft, which is mounted to two pieces of I-beam, is a 16-in. pulley that belt drives a 6-in. pulley on the generator.
The water wheel is attached to a large horseshoe-shaped frame. The frame was part of a large architectural camera that was scrapped out at the company where Hanson previously worked. Originally there were only two bearings attached to the heavy steel frame.
"I came down one day, and the water wheel was laying in the streambed with the axle snapped clean," says Hanson. "The vibration had been too much for the old shaft. With four pillow-block bearings, we haven't had any problems."
Hanson intends to add a second pond above the first. With a drain near the bottom of it, they will be able to better control water flow to the generator.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Edward C. Hanson Sr., 2119 Willard St. Ext., Jamestown, N.Y. 14701 (ph 716 665-5593).
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