Water turbine

SethandBecca

Does anyone on this forum have experience with water turbines? I am curious what sizes are available and how much of a head is required for a water turbine? Are they efficient or not?

Rance

Here's a link for calculating theoretical available power in flowing water:  https://greenbugenergy.com/get-educated-skills/measuring-power.  Generally though, the lower the head the more water flow you need, and vice-versa for any given power level.    Efficiency is a relative term and depends on the installation and the type of turbine.  Theoretically I should see about 400 watts from my pelton wheel system but in practice I see only about 125, but then at 40 ft of head I'm at the bottom of the efficiency curve for a pelton.  Still, running 24/7, 3 KWH per day is nothing to sneeze at.