What's going on in California?

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

Darin,
<font color=blue>would you happen to have any of your pics of that dam with water wheel.</font color=blue>

Darin I am not a picture guy, but I would like to borrow Harv for a week. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gifI gave it my best shot this year with Santa but she had a deaf ear. I noticed in your profile <font color=blue>Power Plant Operator </font color=blue> /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Is this by any chance a Hydro?

All my ideas came from the web on searches for Mill House and Water Wheel and Waterwheel. I attempted to replicate what I saw. Mine has no usefull function intended.

Water wheels are a poor choice for electricity generators a turbine style Pelton Runner is a better choice. The rotational speed of a generator requires a high gear ratio to get the generator up to speed. If this is your plan I can show you how to make a three phase induction motor run as a single phase generator. Induction motors are really cheap compared to generators.
I have nothing connected to mine at this time, The style is the old mill house with and overflow wheel. The wheel rotates (or would if there were any water) on a 1 1/4 Stainless Steel shaft in pillow blocks.(shaft removed from an ongoing boat project)
The spokes (8) are wood and bolted to a hub made with a round plate which as bolted to the original shaft couplers from the boat. The two sides are held togather with long threaded rods. The supports for the wheel are concrete as is the dam. The overflow from the Dam (if there was any water) runs thru a wehr and an open spillway to the wheel. The wheel is made from 5/4 x 12 Cedar facia board cut in a Octagon. The paddles fit in dado's cut in the facia. The 12 inch Facia limits you to about a 6 ft dia wheel. The Mill House is not built yet, but the foundation is poured.

The best ideas I have for what to do with it (if there is ever any water):

1. Rock tumbler made from a 15 Gallon beer keg that I forgot to return.(my neighbors will like this option)
2. Old Mechanical style wind up Music box that you program with placement of wooden pegs
(my wifes a musican, with a deaf ear)
3. Throw in a small generator for a light in the house.

 

[jfakerj]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

Al

Haven't got the tractor yet. I sign the final papers on the financing tues. and get the money on friday. I'll have to figure out how to get down there to pay for it so I can have it deliverd on sat. If I didn't have to make out two checks(one to the seller and one to JD financing I would just transfer funds into his account since we both bank with Key Bank. I wanted to make sure JD gets paid off, that's why two checks. I hope I can find a way to get down there before sat. mourning cuss I don't think he'll want to deliver on Super bowl Sun. If I can't figure this out I'll have to wait another week. Don't know if I can do that. Every time I close my eyes now all I see is my tractor. Ya know what I mean.

Jerry

 

[DarinRay]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

TWINKLE_TOES,

I am a powerplant operator but a IPP (Independant Power Producer) cogeneration plant---prime mover is a gas turbine coupled to a gen.....HRSG-Heat Recovery Steam Generator (boiler)...Steam Turbine coupled to a gen then sold to our local utility. Our waste heat and extraction steam (taken from 5th stage of steam turbine) is used to Kiln dry lumber. I would actually love to work at a hydro. But enough with work. ha,ha.


Sounds like you know what you want to do and what you want(camera). Now just need to get it. ha,ha. I am really looking for some sorta stream control messure to help with the erosion that I have and since I have no electric across the street where the creek is a gen would be a major bonus. Either that or I bore a hole under the road later on which will probably be what I do. I just hate seeing big trees pines and hardwood fall over and create cliffs where teh water washes everything out but water does what it wants. I thought that if I placed a dam at the end of our creek property that this would slow the flow allowing for less erosion. If anyone else has an other ideas please let me know. Thanks for input

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

Darin'

I had a similar problem, an ever receding hill side due to a high run off flow down a gulley. I laid 60 feet of 18" culvert in the gulley and dug (D7 cat) a pond and dumped the spoils from the pond dig over the pipe. On the pond side I erected a stand pipe. Now the flow is limited to what can get down the stand pipe from a surface flow. I also put in two 18 inch overflow culverts thru the dam at 1 foot and 2 foot elevation above the stand pipe in case of clogs or really severe run off. This worked for me because after the first two feet of black heavy humus muck was almost pure clay.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

Jerry,

When you went by Alder Lake did you spend much time looking around? The old townsite and highway is exposed (to you out of area folks this is lake formed by a dam). I've never seen so much of it bare, was lucky enough to park next to a fellow that went to school in the Lake Bottom! Gave me the whole scoop on where everything was and where the main buildings were moved by the state and power company.

With the snowpack at 50% of normal and the dams being drained down to send to California it should get VERY interesting come March or April, not to mention in the summer when California normally buys power from us for their a/c needs! I did my part, I drive with my headlights off whenever possible! (Don't laugh a fellow I worked with 25 years ago avoided using his headlights during the "gas shortage" to save gas. Well let's see probably went from 12.5mpg to 12.50000000000001 mpg!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Billc]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

Cowboydoc,

I have to disagree with you. You said the environmentalist are buying up leases and doing nothing with the land. This just simply isn't so, their effors are allowing lots of folks to be employed.

Just this past summer I spent about two months in the Wyoming-Montana area. Thanks to the environmentalist I saw bus load upon bus load of people going to work everyday! Heck, because the number of employed swelled so quickly tent cities were erected to house them. Definitly trickle down economics!

What did all these people do? Why they were fire fighters, of course./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Most of the states were on fire. I don't think Bruce Babbitt remembered all of the fires when, the other day, he said he and Clinton were the best things for the environment since the country was founded. (or something very similar to that)

This really isn't meant to bash those of you in California but there is an old saying about the state: Along time ago God lifted up the east coast of America, everything one that wasn't nailed down or screwed in tight rolled into California.

In 1985 I was transferred from Georgia to Huntington Beach, CA. Everyone said how beautiful it was there. It was something to see, but there were so many people and rules and regulations that after 2 months I threated to quit unless my company moved me back to the east coast, which they did. You folks in California can keep it. You may think we are backwards in the South but we know how to build power plants!

Bill Cook

Bill Cook

 

[cowboydoc]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

Bill,
Point very well taken!
Richard

 

[RobertN]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

Well, I can say that we Northern Californians(at least some of us...) tend towards those thoughts too. Seems a lot of the north state water goes to south state. Whose idea was it to overbuild in the desert? We send our water down there, pay taxes and have laws based mostly on s. calif issues.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[RobertN]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

On another thread we found there are a number of motorcyclists here. How about brewers? I have brewed on and off for about 15 years. Do all grain, 10g batches now. Kegging makes bottling easier too.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[jfakerj]

Re: What\'s going on in California?

del

Talking with that fellow about the lake bottom must have been quite a treat. On Riffe Lake one of the old towns is exposed also(Kazmopolis - spelling?). Don't know about the lake above Riffe(can't remember the name), or Mayfield Lake. There's alot of power provided by these man made lakes and the fact that they're this low now puts us in real jepordy, especially with our very low snow pack this year so far. I'm surprised that along with the extreme power rate increases, we haven't seen a surcharge yet. It's only a matter of time.

Jerry