Paging Red Beard

[stomachmonkey]

OK James, hear me out.

In Tulsa moving the boy into his campus apartment.

He pays for electric but not water.

So me being me who never lacks for some stupid idea that’s generally way more trouble than it’s worth thought, well ****, we could build a small hydro electric plant and save big time in the utilities.

His apartment has an outdoor patio with an outdoor storage unit.

We could stack it with batteries to store any energy from running water then use it for stuff like lights, TVs, maybe microwave etc….

Whatya think?

This could be an entire cottage industry selling to college students.

Get your system free, no money down, pay over time at interest rates lower than your college loans.

[Sooner or later]

When the $1000 (whatever) water bill arrives the landlords are not going to be happy.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

When the $1000 (whatever) water bill arrives the landlords are not going to be happy.

It’s University of Tulsa.

With what this school costs me a year they can shove it.

Actually the concept involves storing the generated energy in.batteries so in theory it won’t require more than normal water use.

He is in a 2 person 2 bath apt with full kitchen including dish washer and also in unit laundry.

Just recapture from the water they’d normally use.

[masraum]

LOL!

I think you'd either need a lot of fast moving water, or you'd need a big wheel to generate enough power to make it interesting.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

it’s university of tulsa.

With what this school costs me a year they can shove it.

LOL! I assume that goes for any school in the US these days.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Whatya think?

Just pay the electric bill

[Arizona_928]

Build a water wheel via 3d printing that attaches to the faucet of the sink.

Or just charge your phone and laptop in the library like the rest of the students. If that worried of the 2 cents to charge your phone use a battery bank.

If that concerned. Change lightbulbs to led and don't use high wattage kitchen gadgets.

[Sooner or later]

Kid stays in shape AND generates electricity. Win win!!!

https://energym.io/blogs/news/can-i-buy-an-electricity-generating-bike

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by rcooled

Just pay the electric bill

Clearly you don’t understand the task.

It’s not to save money.

It’s to create an over engineered and complicated solution to a problem that does not exist.

Why?

Because we can.

[David]

Not gonna work. Figure a decent cyclist generates about 150W but only for so long, 1-4 hours. 150 watts doesn't power much.

Now compare the force of maybe 100psi water pressure (more likely 70psi or less) pushing against a water wheel generator. Probably not as much force as that tired cyclist.

[herr_oberst]

Any kids running crypto servers in the dorms? Figure out a way to get the dorm next to them and then just get a few 20amp extension cords. They'll never notice the spike.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by David

Not gonna work. Figure a decent cyclist generates about 150W but only for so long, 1-4 hours. 150 watts doesn't power much.

Now compare the force of maybe 100psi water pressure (more likely 70psi or less) pushing against a water wheel generator. Probably not as much force as that tired cyclist.

Needs a big water wheel with a high flow rate to fill big buckets on the wheel. At least that's my guess. I never took water wheel kinetics in college. I'm just thinking that you want a relatively big wheel so the weight of the water in the buckets is applying more force to the axle. Then you need some gears to get the rpm/torque of the axle to translate to a useful speed/torque for power generation.

You wouldn't know anything about that, would you David?

[red-beard]

Do you really want me to calculate how many GPM you need to make this work. Cause I can. Do you?

[Baz]

[aschen]

have the calculator up let see if I can get a rough estimate in 30 sec or so.

Say they use 1000kwh/per month, and you can "harvest" a pressure drop of 30psi from the faucet at 100% efficency full cycle.

You would need around 110 gpm continuous 24/7/365

About 4.6 million gallons of water per month

did in a hurry so maybe missed something but alot of water will be required.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by aschen

have the calculator up let see if I can get a rough estimate in 30 sec or so.

Say they use 1000kwh/per month, and you can "harvest" a pressure drop of 30psi from the faucet at 100% efficency full cycle.

You would need around 110 gpm continuous 24/7/365

About 4.6 million gallons of water per month

did in a hurry so maybe missed something but alot of water will be required.

So totally doable but the school will probably notice so i shouldn’t risk it?

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

So totally doable but the school will probably notice so i shouldn’t risk it?

No risk. No reward.

We are behind you all the way on this one!

[Arizona_928]

Dorm probably uses less than a 10th of that much kwhr.

If heating and cooling is included..... probably less

Keeps the kids from crypto mining on the uni's dime