Awesome Low Head High Flow Grid Tie Micro Hydro 530 watts!

I travel to a summer home in the mountains of Western North Carolina to meet Bill. He has come up with a way to pull a lot of water over a dam and into a permanent magnet alternator. He feeds the power to the house to supplement what is used. Bill is using Langston Alternative Power for his setup and makes around 500 watts.
The interesting thing about this micro hydro setup is the way that the system is started. There is a lot of water that needs to flow over a dam. To get this system going Bill uses a simple shop vac to pull the water over into the 6" pipe.

No batteries or charge controller is needed. Simply a grid tie limiter inverter.

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[Wayne_Robinson]

The tennis ball vortex destroyer is the most unique aspect of this. That's a pretty elegant fix!

[bobbobertson]

I'm glad you are friends with John Locke, he's done a lot on the island

[michaeldavidhenson]

As an electrician, my only issue with this system is the male plug from the inverter plugged into a general outlet underneath the distribution board.
If you trip over that and expose the plug or a child pulls it out, those plug ends are a potential death trap.

[BitKing_Ross]

Lets admire what a gorgeous backyard this guy has, freaking awesome.

[ayeshamerrydeath]

When I seen him bust out the vaccuum I thought.... he should call it Hoover dam.

[MARTINREN]

Not only did they produce electricity, they helped reduce the erosion rate of the dam itself. Now that's productive.

[JCJC]

Could have a float sensor that detects the lake level and controls a 6" valve near the intake. That would prevent the level of the lake dropping too much and loosing the siphon.

[elephantsong]

Ive got no clue why this was in my recommendation but I enjoyed it

[maifeeulasad]

Respect for bill...
Wish him health...
Really nice and happy guy..

[rcketplumber]

The tail tube allows the turbine to be mounted up high where it is easier to work on, and still use the entire drop from the dam to the tailwater. The pressure at the turbine's exit is below atmospheric, elegant!

[gallomimia]

The tennis ball vortex destroyer! Patent Pending... That's so awesome.

[michaellowe]

It needs to have a floating needle and seat in the intake pipe to reduce the flow automatically if the water in the pond drops. That way he can avoid draining the pond and sucking air into the intake.

[caseylandis]

I love the clean organized simplicity in the basic turbine and plumbing set up.

[kletusbobby]

Surprising how many watts he is getting from such a low head. Goes to show the high power potential from a low head hydro.

[fluorescentblack]

Great little setup and looks like a beautiful property. Bill seems like a really genuine guy who is interested in doing it for the right reasons and with the right expectations. Offestting small amounts adds up. Good video

[tannerhadra]

As a power lineman I love the fact that he has protection for us workers in a emergency situation, back feed from generators is our worst enemy

[seppukun]

Great! Now I just need to find a waterfall

[streaky]

Obvious upgrade projects: meter the water level, add an automatic valve in there, make it self-prime - all fairly trivial and then you could just leave it running, then fix your meter.

[tommybronze]

I know that there are limitations on location and practicality, but the turbine would last longer if it was placed down the flow path (low water pressure will cause cavitation on turbine blades and increase wear & tear) but all in all great job for making something green out of household materials !

[TMFXLLC]

Neat, everything is so much easier when nothing freezes annually.