Powering An Old Mill - 1.5 Kw Lake District Overshot Waterwheel Project Part 2

Hi Kris, regarding the water splashing over the wheel, years ago when I was working at a small gold mine, we would attach a heavy rubberized tarp (maybe 8mm thick) to the top of the trough which draped over the top of the sluice to prevent splashing, essentially creating a cowling. The tarp was the same width as the sluice (or wheel in this case) and maybe a meter long and rode on top of the flow of water. It created a really smooth delivery.

The best 47:10 I'll spend all day. What a wonderful project with beautiful workmanship. This turned out even better than I imagined it would. Congratulations, Kris.

Met a man who was a retired attorney from New York city. He bought an old ( 1800's ) mill and 30 acre millpond with a high flow rate in a rural part of Connecticut, USA. The property included a dozen or so workers cabins. He restored all the cabins to rentals and converted the mill into his private residence. He converted the site of the old rotted out wheel to a down draught 6 foot diameter vertical shaft turbine with about a 20 foot head column over top of the turbine. The 2400 volt 3 phase 250KW alternator was mounted in a generator house over top of the turbine. Power went to an electric distribution building and transformed to 120/240 for the residences and another transformer for 120/208 3 phase for his shop building. Excess power feeds into the grid. Hydro electric power rocks!

In a world where fewer and fewer of us are in work that does anything very useful, it is great to see someone doing something so inventive and clever.

Your quality and workmanship absolutely amazes me!! Found you just a couple days ago with the “1.5kw” build, and started “binge watching”. Just finished the water wheel part 1, and was bummed I had to wait for part 2….but obviously you just needed a couple minutes , because here I am! Thanks for documenting all of this, man!

WOW ! These people truly went all in for their water wheel. As others have said; absolutely love your content PLUS watching you go from building your first power system and house to THIS, outstanding sir. What a beautiful life you have created. Be Safe Out there

Hello Kris, great project :) I built a water wheel with an electrical output of 13.5kW. Runs 24/7 since 2012 at up to 40,000kWh/year. What I notice about your water wheel is that the water falls too far into the wheel and you haven't provided any ventilation. The water jet hits the blade at almost a 90 degree angle. It is recommended to make the wheel slightly wider than the channel so that air can flow away to the sides. The kink in the channel creates a wave that swirls the water as it flows into the wheel, this should be fixed. The water should flow into the wheel just before the upper apex at as shallow an angle as possible to avoid this impact effect. You can make the side rim a little wider than the effective diameter of the wheel, which acts as a side splash guard. You should keep the bearings well covered as they rust fairly quickly. Use a fat that does not combine with water, otherwise an emulsion will quickly form. Many greetings from the upper mill HUBI :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5GHMzIQGA0&t=47s

Hard to believe the amount of power in such a small amount of flowing water. First rate job of capturing and harnessing what Nature provides. It will be interesting to see how well the tuning process goes. Water wheels like this one are what powered the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s using belts and pulleys to transfer the power to where it was needed. Your creation proves that good ideas are timeless and never get old.

Ahhhhhhhh so excited to see this, but I'm AT WORK and can't watch it right now! I'll let it run and just listen so you get more play time out of it. Kris, you really are living the dream. Out of all the YouTubers I follow, you are my absolute favorite, and building a life that's closest to my own definition of utopia. Thank you for all that you do, thank you for sharing it with us and taking us along for the ride. Really looking forward to making a cup of tea, relaxing after work, and watching this properly.

Kris. What can I say. I love these engineering videos. Highlight of my YouTube week. Thanks so much for the balance between doing and the reasons why. It’s spot on

Great job on the installation of the waterwheel! The attention to detail in the galvanizing and painting process is commendable.

Damn, that's pretty impressive for a fairly small wheel! I did the numbers, the average domestic rooftop solar array here in NZ is around 3kW, at a cost of ~£‎4,000 and obviously isn't super consistent. So this one wheel is running half of that on its own, with no need for consistent sun, no downtime at night and all the rest is amazing - and easily enough to run my house by itself

Great episode, I think because the video editing was so good. I´m sure the gradual process of problem identification and resolution was a lot more stressful than you made it appear, but the consistent progress made this very satisfying (and exciting!) to watch. What a great accomplishment - like all your projects, well researched, planned and executed. Well done!

Has anyone told you that you are brilliant. I have been watching you since just after the start of the first layer of earth bags, you are very inventive. I hope your mum and dad are proud of you.

A couple vanes in the sluiceway will solve the spillage issue and get a more even flow of water entering the wheel. Vanes will increase the likelihood of clogging though. To help alleviate this, make the leading edge of the vane taper up like a ramp. The water flow will help push the debris up out of the way. Thank you for the fantastic video!

Really nice work and I can't wait to see the follow up. For me, coming back to a big project after a bit of time has always added some clarity that helped the current project as well as future ventures.

That's what i'd call a good job Kris. A keeper plate is good practice to retain the driveshaft key,I've seen them work themselves out and it damages everything, a belt and braces approach and you'll not have to go back to it,do the same with the belt pulleys. Cracking job, want to watch the next installment now...

Absolutely marvellous piece of work there, and there was me thinking there aren't any engineers out there anymore. I don't think there's anything more thrilling than to watch a waterwheel come to life and supply all that much needed power. Congratulations that man.

Proper job, love hearing you work through and understand the problems.

That is a beauty! Thanks for sharing and inspiring others. Congrats to you and all the skilled men involved.