Posts Tagged ‘Micro Hydro’
10/08/2020
Our micro hydro intake with the first layer of cement anchoring in place. Notice the newly installed anchor points for the next layer of anchoring material. This intake still has no water passing over the stream bed yet, which makes it easy to work in the stream bed. Otherwise one would have to divert the water while pouring cement. We’ll just have to wait on Mother Nature. This is 60 meters above the the turbine back at our house, and we’re about 600 meters away, so it’s quite a bit of pipe to lay down.We have also use masonry bolts and chain to anchor the cement better into the stream bed. The chain runs through the hardened cement, leading to the bolts which are place on the large rocks in the stream bed. Hopefully that will keep the intake in place for years to come. @purenewzealand #newzealand #wanaka #mountainspirit
Tags:How to, install, Micro Hydro, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, offgrid living, Powerspout, Solar, Wanaka
Posted in Conservation, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand, Off Grid Living, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
05/08/2020
Drilling holes into a perfectly good micro-hydro intake box! Conner, our helper and wonderful person during lockdown helps me add anchor points which will help hold the micro hydro intake to the stream bed. It will take two pours of concrete to hold the intake in place, not to mention some bolts and chains anchored from big rocks in the stream bed, going under the cement. Only a 100 yr flood event will take this out.. if that we hope!
Tags:How to Hydro, Micro Hydro, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, off the grid, offgrid living, Powerspout, Wanaka
Posted in Holistic Living, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand, Off Grid Living, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
05/08/2020
The Powerspout micro-hydro in action last spring during its initial trial run, when we had a running stream. During Lockdown, it was Conner’s and my job to build a more permanent footing and structure for this gizmo, and to secure the intake. More on that later…stay tuned. We’ll show you images and text of this hydro system, called the Powerspout, how we set it up, how the company configured the system to our water flow and drop, (called head) and how it works now that we’ve got water flowing in our stream. It’s the perfect dovetail to our solar. Tons of sun in the summer and tons of water in the stream in the winters.
Tags:Hawea, How to, lockdown, Micro Hydro, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, off the grid, offgrid living, Powerspout, Wanaka
Posted in Conservation, Holistic Living, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand, Off Grid Living, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
30/07/2020
A very long trench through glacial moraine deposits! Arggh. But for a good cause! Our Micro hydro electrical feed to the house.
One of our first projects during lockdown: We were able to pick up an excavator before the restrictions took place, Here is a very long electrical trench from the new micro-hydro unit to the house which now needed to be filled in. With the help of the excavator and our “Woofrs” (Willing Workers on Organic Farms), Jess and Conner, from the states. the backfill went well. Since this picture was taken, we’ve had the hydro system running for 4 weeks now, and it sure is rewarding! It’s the perfect dovetail to our solar panels which crank in the summer months. Since there’s a lack of sun during our winter months, the secure feeling that we’re generating electricity from the stream is a wonderful feeling. It cost a bit to get it running, but as they say, “It can be complicated living simply” Ah, not really, but there is some planning involved. It’s more than just flipping a switch and paying an electrical bill. I don’t miss the latter though! More on the hydro system in later posts.
Tags:Hydro, Lake Hawea, Micro Hydro, Mountain Spirit, Offgrid, Powerspout, Retreats, Solar, sustainable living, Wanaka, Yoga
Posted in Conservation, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand, Off Grid Living, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
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