Episode 8 - Line Fittings

[@mx96288]

always a joy to watch your clean, methodologic work

[@Magutz]

Thank you for your encouraging comments. I definitely have a lot of room for improvement.

[@robjohnston8632]

Great video. Thanks for posting.

[@Magutz]

Thank you for your encouraging feedback.

[@Ln_NMS]

Indeed it's a great video for me. 🎉 Best wishes from India. 🇮🇳
Eager to buy the whole system for my home. 😆

[@Magutz]

I am glad it was useful to you, thanks for the kind words.

[@cristof48]

I also have a youtube channel that talks about hydroelectric turbines.
The blue and red variable injectors are not effective at low water flow rates, they diffuse the jet rather than concentrating it. I have a 4 to 6 bar setup with max 850W power, a total efficiency of about 50% due to the pressure drop in the pipe (150 meters / 43mm inside).
I start using the variable injector when my water flow is greater than 2 liters per second

[@johngray6462]

Is it better to run as big a penstock as possible I have got 5" pipe 11m 20l

[@Magutz]

That is a decent amount of power, I'll be checking out your channel for sure. Thanks for posting.

[@Magutz]

@@johngray6462 Without a doubt, even with small flows, you should at least use a 3" pipe. That would boost my power by almost 1,000 watts. Thanks for your feedback.

[@adipreli3982]

@@cristof48 let me ask your advice on this, if you can help me figure it out. So, I have 350 meters of 30mm inside line, say 150 meters e elevation. I’m thinking to try feed that into a bigger barrel, to separate some of the silt and water, then feed that to a 5” line, about 100m with 30m drop.
Should I do this, or transition to the 5” line without losing the pressure already built from the first drop? @magutz what do you think?

[@cristof48]

@@adipreli3982 si le gros baril n'est pas 100% étanche, la pression au niveau de la turbine sera celle générée par la chute de 30m.
Si le gros baril est étanche, la pression sera celle des 150m d'élévation (+ les 30m) (c'est beaucoup, environ 18bars (260 psi) vous allez tout exploser.
Si le baril n'est pas étanche, vous n'aurez pas suffisamment de débit dans le tube de 5 pouces car le tube de 350m est en 30mm

[@mx96288]

if your welds on the stainless start to corrode a little, you might have not passivated the stainless enough for it to form that protective oxide layer and/or not removed the heat coloring

[@Magutz]

That is a great point and good advice. No we did not do any cleaning or passivation on these as they are prototypes, we use the Cougartron ProPlus when we take care of this. Thanks for your feedback.

[@adipreli3982]

Glad to see this. I didn’t think the “T” will cause too much loss in power, but it’s nice to see your research on this.
May be because it’s a lot of pressure on the system and it’s not like you open fully at the end to cause too much friction on the fittings.
Knowing that Midnight eats 12watts makes you think what other way around is good, but we already purchased the unit, so may as well improve the overall system.
Do you have air in the system? Looks to me when you turn on the nozzle there’s some bubbles there.
Thanks for your work on this.

[@Magutz]

Yes, that is a good analysis of not having a noticeable power loss through the T.
The air gets into the flexible lines through the adjustable nozzle when I cut the water from the main valve. That air is pushed out easily when I open it back up. This was a concern of mine when I first started testing, if any water went back up the pipe; it would drastically reduce the power. Especially since it would have to travel over a half a mile to exit out of the standpipe.

[@TommyFleseland]

How did you come in contact with Hartvigsen Hydro? I have tried several times to send emails, but no response. I want to buy a Turgo runner from them, but...... 😞

[@Magutz]

It took me 3 tries to get anyone to respond. Try Joe directly. [e-mail]