Hydro power on a damn small scale!

dbBrad takes a day off and has a damn (pun intended) good time at Lake Ohau Lodge's sustainable resort.



dbBrad demonstrating the Coanda effect (water being drawn up my fingers) as well as showing the amount of water that flows over this ingenuous little intake for a small hydro electric system.

Just a kilometer or so north of the Te Araroa Trail, where it heads south into the mountains leaving Lake Ohau is the Ohau lodge. An amazing place with spectacular views and wonderful food. At breakfast the following morning I had the pleasure of meeting the owners, Louise and Mike. They told me a storm was coming which would deliver up to 16cm of water, about 7 inches. That is a lot of water! Concerned about my trip into the mountains they offered me accommodation for another night despite the fact that the entire facility was booked for a wedding.

330' above the mechanical room is the intake for the hydro electric system.  A small concrete wall directs water over the ingenious grill (top left) and into the 10" steel pipe which has the grating to the old 'storm drain' style intake welded on top for access. 

In talking with Mike further, I found out that the entire lodge is powered by renewable energy--a mini hydro-electric system. My interest was now at a peak. Mike offered me a key for the machine room and showed me the direction to travel up the hill so I could see more. 

dbBrad looking at the new hydro-electric turbine and electric generator in the old diesel generator bunker.

I headed up the hill following a stream to the intake for the mini hydro generator (97 meters vertical rise) which followed a 10" pipe 330' long running from the stream down to the turbine/generator. One of the problems with intakes can be flooding which washes debris, rocks and silt down the stream and can clog the intake stopping the flow of water. Besides reducing water flow and thus power generation debris, low water flow, and dirty silty water can all damage the turbine.

Old diesel generator room which easily houses the small hydro-electric system which powers the Ohau Lodge.

This simple intake works on the Coanda principle, a phenomena similar to the Venturi effect. It is ingenious in it's simplicity and fascinating in the amount of water that can be drawn into the small grill. At the top of the intake, the water is over an inch thick and in less that 30" all the water is literally sucked into the intake providing clean water and simultaneously allowing debris to be washed over and down into the creek rather than be piled up against a grill as in the 'storm drain effect' where sticks and plants restrict the flow of water.

One of the more attractive large damns but still very questionable environmentally.

All in all, the system has minimal impact, diverts less than half the stream water (at lowest flow) involved no digger(NZ technical term for excavator) in the stream and just a little bit of concrete for a diverter. The water returns to the stream virtually unchanged (temperature, saturated oxygen content, cleanliness) some 300 feet later and it's mostly an invisible system. Great way to go in my mind since I come from the Pacific Northwest which has hundreds of large damns that are silting up, have literally destroyed Salmon runs, covered millions of acres of habitat and will someday need to be replaced. Although occasionally beautiful in their magnificence, the big dams of the world are environmental blunders.

China's 3 gorges dam with no questions about it's environmental impacts. Just one big ugly mess though it does produce over 3 times the power of Washington State's largest dam, Grand Coulee.

For more on Hydro Electric issues, go to Mr. Greenguy

http://mistergreenguy.com/hydroelectic-power-damn-interesting-facts/

The water runs

The very first water from the solar pump ran the other day and Tommie was there to see it. It's a very satisfying system because you can hear the energy of the sun as the pump has more or less power and you can "see" the sun by the volume of water in the stream, though much delayed.

Tommie watching the very first water flow
through the new solar pump system

It was very cute. She immediately called up her brother (who took an interest in the project early on) and held the phone inside the pump house so he could hear the pump wind up with the sun (more power) and down with the clouds (less power)! The solar panels were cranking out 39.6 volts on a mostly clear November day, moving about 800-1000 gallons per hour.

The solar pavilion on the far side of the main retention pond.

It will pump almost twice this volume during the summer months. But there's no battery, so when there's no sun, there's no stream. Unless it's raining, in which case there's still quite a flow!

Here's a little video of the first water running down the creek.

Within a few days of getting the system finished, it rained. And hard. It's easy to forget that this project isn't about making a "water feature". It was about controlling the water because this property was flooding. Last year there was standing water all around the buildings and water running across the driveway. With the work we've done there are no longer an water issues. All excess water after being collected, running the stream, and filling the large 'variable edge' lined retention pond where it can over flow into a restored wetland with a modified outflow (we created a small dam with the glacial till we excavated from the main pond) allowing the wetland to fill up with almost 3' feet of water.  Several hundred thousand gallons.

After the first big rain of 2010, the wetland had about 6" of 
water and the rest of the property had none. Perfect!

Eckert Lyon restoration, pond, stream, wet land, solar pavilion, solar pump, restoration.

Pump House

PASSIVE SOLAR PUMP HOUSE

RECYCLED MATERIALS

A little add on to the solar pavilion was an enclosure for the pump. In all the design work dbBrad and Whidbey Sun and Wind did to get a maintenance/trouble free solar pump and structure, it never occurred to us that with a pump of this type needing to be primed, we would have a freezing issue.

Insulating inside the permanent forms. This insulation's buried about 12" below the top of slab.

It wasn't until we hooked the system for a trial run that I realized water stayed in the pump housing as well as the feeder line. Obviously it was going to need to be protected from freezing. Because I wanted a user friendly (no user required) system, turning valves, draining, priming, flipping switches, etc., wasn't an option.

I used corrugated metal as the inner perma-form (non removable form). It's dark rust color will be better for insulation, absorption of the suns energy which will be stored in the 5" thick concrete walls and slab.

So I did what I do. I gathered a bunch of recycled materials and built a pump house. We designed it to be earth bermed with passive solar heating using lots of insulated thermal mass with long overhangs to prevent over heating in the summer. The old metal window provides access.

Matt finishing up the forms and getting ready to pour concrete.

Materials:

1. 2x8 scraps left over from FrEdLey -- too nice to throw away but not nice enough for milling;
2. A bunch of nice T & G 2x6 pine left over from the Mason remodel;
3. Corrugated steel scraps;
4. Salvaged flashing;
5. Rusty re-bar;
6. An old window;
7. Damaged insulation contributed by Hansons Building Supply; and
8. The only purchased item, 24 bags of concrete.

The result is one stout little structure.

The pump house and the solar pavilion

Thermal mass was the objective. We needed to provide enough heat storage to keep the pump from freezing during cold spells. Here on Whidbey Island in Washington state, the weather is pretty mild. We do get snow occasionally but typically when it gets really cold, it's clear. Clear and Sun go together well in a passive solar scenario.

The lower retention pond can be seen beyond with the hybrid steel-wood support for the solar arbor in the foreground and the pump house in the middle.

The pump and the motor are separate pieces mounted together on a plate, all supplied by Sun Pumps. The wiring, plugs, and mechanics of the system were all provided by Whidbey Sun and Wind and went together great. The pond/stream design was by Fran Abel Landscape design and installed by DEW and the Pavilion and Passive solar pump house were designed and built by dbBrad.

Solar Pavilion

The how and the why of a solar pavilion!

Matt and Brad carry the second solar panel towards the creek and pavilion. The first panel can be seen already mounted on the transparent membrane creating a covered outdoor space over by the creek.

My project referrals keep unfolding leading to new projects, with Greenbelt Consulting connected me with these clients -- two wonderful people who have entrusted me to help them make their land right.

The main pond was completed just this summer. When more funds are available we hope to finish planting with the help of Fran Abel Landscape Design. The plants shown were salvaged from areas where we excavated.

On a piece of property at the bottom of a long slope from the Greenbank plateau down towards the west side of Whidbey Island, my clients had built a house and it had a serious water problem. Water flooded their land all last winter.

The stream, looking good, not far after completion.

Phase I was to regrade the topography so water could flow. Phase II was to collect the water and put it in a lined pond with an overflow area and get it operational as soon as possible. We are now in phase III, though the solar pavilion is a bit of an add on!

The upper pond early on. Surface water and water from the residence are collected here.

Collecting the water from the roofs and French drains, we created a lined collection pond, a lined stream, a lined retention pond and an over flow wetland. And though we are just beginning rainy season here in the Northwest, we've had enough over the last 8 months to see that it's working very well. There has been no flooding since we completed Phase I and II

15,000 gallons of water we pumped into the wetland this summer. Absorption was better than 1" per hour.

except when we pumped the main pond this summer to patch a small hole in the liner! We dumped 15,000 gallons of water into the wetland and I was encouraged to see it able to absorb all of this water in less than 24 hours.

Salvaged 5x5 treated fir posts with angle iron corners and pinned connection at top. Large retention pond and solar arbor site visible beyond hoops and perlins.

Of coarse, during the winter it won't be able to absorb so much, so the wetland will get wetter -- way wetter -- and deeper! It's capacity is several hundred thousand gallons which I anticipate it will occasionally need. Most of this water will come via the stream that should actively flow most of the winter.

One of the reasons I love salvaged lumber. To those that recognize it, it's old growth, clear, vertical grained fir. For those that don't, it's what I'd like to call a 'honey' or a 'BAPOW' (Bad Ass Piece of Wood)

During the summer the stream is nice for other reasons as well. It's refreshing and tranquil with the trickle of water, the shimmer of light, the flutter of birds, the croaking of frogs and the buzz of a healthy mix of insects. But, when there's no rain, to have a stream you have to pump the water and that takes energy.

The solar pavilion taking shape. A true wood and steel hybrid structure.

In an effort to make this project 100% green, the clients committed to a solar pump. I immediately suggested we create a solar pavilion to highlight the solar panels and pump rather than use traditional and less attractive pole mounting hardware. Of coarse the structure wanted to be sustainable too.

Looking under the solar panels. The aluminum brackets are mounted to the wood mullions which are sealed with glazing tape to the crystalite and then screwed from below. No fasteners visible on top, save for four holes for the solar feet.

Local steel work, local solar consulting, local wood from my salvage pile, low impact construction with sturdy steel and wood design I'll guarantee remains standing for longer than the life of the solar panels, makes this as sustainable as it can get!

Another sustainable project designed and constructed by dbBrad

Solar pavilion nearing completion. Still waiting on the clamping system for locking the angle into position.

Solar components and system design by Whidbey Sun and Wind.

Solar pavilion from below, creating an attractive usable space under the solar panels.

Steel work by Irish Welding.

Eckert/Lyon, Solar pavilion, Solar pump by Sun Pumps, pond, stream, wetland, low impact, DEW dbBrad

Lois's Pond

Water Lily in Bloom. "Even when a project isn't finished, there is beauty in the process if one just takes the time to notice it."--dbBrad

Lois is one of the many artists who participated in the Whidbey Island Arts Council, Open Studio Tour (Sept 25th and 26th). She presented beautiful photos with an impressionistic twist printed on canvas in steel frames, made by dbBrad.

Lois's pond, crystal clear before yesterday's work

Some of the canvas was sealed and hung outside on the metal screens. Her art and the rusty corrugated screens are quite a wonderful combination.

We also put some 'trim' on the yard. The landscaping was never supposed to be part of the house remodel we did last year but, due to groundwater, a landscape plan by Fran Abel, and improvements to how the house relates to the land, we added it to our scope of work.

Stream with liner to catch surface run off and roof water installed over french drain

The pond still needs a little work around the edges. We'll use rocks, plants and wood to shape the stream and hide the liner. 50-100 tour visitors are expected to stop by most studios which will be great exposure for all the artists, and for dbBrad.

Edge work happening along the stream which is also a filter for the Koi Pond

Here's how it all started. 
When we installed a French drain to mitigate a small stream which ran inside the perimeter of her crawl space all winter. Part of this was from surface water, but most of the water is from her own roof. When we tore off the old poison asphalt torch down roof and insulated a new, installed metal roof, we decided we could no longer dump this water onto the street (day light tight line is Island County standard water control) where it would just run down to the sound.

View from Deck off Lois's bedroom.

We also saw just how much water was generated from the roof so decided to make a pond. It was never intended to be a Koi pond but habitat for wildlife was our second objective to retention. Because of the minimal grade and the surface water we also made a collector stream that receives downspout water and yard water along the entire edge of the house.

Lois installed some color for the Studio Tour

Lois' pond has continued to evolve, but slowly. With very limited funds we've nursed the project along with an hour here and a few rocks there.

But a lot of liner was still showing so we spent a lovely half day in the warm rain of early fall rearranging rocks and plants we had on hand to 'pretty up' for the art tour. We didn't finish and don't have nearly enough plants or rock, but it will look looks much better for the art show and most of the liner is hidden/protected.

Raccoons

Raccoons are the largest of the procyonid family, nocturnal and omnivorous. Because of their ability to eat almost anything, they have adapted well to urban locations. They are very territorial with males as large as 60lbs and territories of 20 square miles.

Cute little fur bearing critters that are smart, persistent, patient and more agile than most people think. Smart enough to out wit a rain bird's spray pattern and superb climbers-- not even most tall wire fences will keep them out.

Two raccoons, one albino, hanging out on top of a fence, alive and well.

While it is illegal to feed or have raccoons as pets, perhaps given their territoriality the best way to solve the problem is with the problem. Consider a large male raccoon with a collar and an invisible fence. No razor wire, chain link, electrified lines or gates. Just a 50lb territorial male raccoon patrolling the perimeter of your pond. Perhaps a dog may be the better alternative to this idea.

In Washington, it is illegal to relocate wild animals. Trapping and relocating doesn't work any way because animals will either be killed over territory disputes or killed attempting to travel back home.

Killing them requires a permit during open season but is legal if they are damaging persons or property. These rules mostly pertain to farmers and crops. While this is an option, it certainly is not my preference.

The best design I've found on the web suggests a two or three tiered electric fence about 18" tall. The first wire should be withing 2" of the ground helping to prevent smaller animals such as otters from getting under and no more than 6" apart. The one in the sketch is probably 16" tall with wires about 8" apart and not much more than a deterrent.

The designs I really like step back as they step up, meaning that after first wire, second wire is inbound 6" and 6" taller. This requires longer stakes at 45 degree angles prone to falling over or multiple stakes and a lot more work or custom standoffs.

I've come up with a system 100% design and with not a shred of actual evidence that I believe to be the best fence yet.

This sketch shows a simple little fence, good for all small rodents because of the buried loop of chicken wire. By running the wire through nylon insulators, snug in drilled holes, it provides a clean taunt look that is unobtrusive visually.

With the electrified component, the chances are that in trying to climb they will touch one of the lower wires and if not, in crossing, they will certainly touch the top wire.

A non electrified version of a rodent fence.

And finally, like with all my projects, providing for the necessities of life without increasing consumption of energy has led me to solar fence research and at $166 and capable of electrifying 25 miles of fence against hogs and horses, this little 6 volt system capable of functioning with periods of up to 21 days of darkness is a winner.

Parmak solar pak 6

Sand Cube

The 'cube' is exactly that, a 12"x12"x12" inside dimension container, made from left over plywood from the job.

The cube, out in the elements in front of the Element!

The purpose is to get a control for the heat sink on the fredley job. Initially it allowed me to see how much settled between initial loose fill and packed. Then it sat outside with water and time and settled even more (almost 1/2" from packed)

I weighed the box, multiple times with multiple people for accuracy, and have used the same bathroom scale for subsequent measurements.

The fill was a mixture of existing site sand, silt, and some extra imported sand. It had mixed size particles and even a little clay and silt which have different shapes than sand, which means more material can pack in the same space for higher density which ultimately means higher heat storage capacity.

Think of a box of balls and how much space is left over. Now add smaller balls, foot balls and super balls and you can get many more balls in the same box.



The gist is that the fill I used in the heat sink is 120lbs/cubic foot. It's aver 130 when wet, as when it was installed, but many details were executed to ensure no water is ever in the heat sink. If it is, it will run through and take the heat with it. It's interesting that 10lbs of water, over a gallon, can still fit between all the particles.

When I did all my calculations, i used 120 #/sf, so I was right on. I also used .18-.20 as a range for the specific heat, the materials ability to hold heat. Units are based on water, btu's per pound per degree Fahrenheit.

To check this, I intend to insulate the box with 6" of rigid insulation, r-5/inch. I will then heat the box in an oven to 150 degrees, place it in a cellar at 50degrees, and measure the drop in temperature with time. By knowing the value of insulation and the area and the Delta T (change in temperature) I should be able to generate values as to the materials actual specific heat.

This is an indirect way to solve this problem, but works well with the tools I have. What I really want to know is how much energy it will take to heat up. That will tell me how much heat I can store.

The heat sink early on, before the guest house, pex, insulation or concrete.

Knowing when to protect the forest and when to celebrate the sun...

Living in the NW can be a challenge of protecting our forests -- celebrating our trees -- on the one hand and having enough sun around our homes to protect against dreary, depressing dark sunless days. It's also a challenge to love the rain yet provide spaces to be out of the rain. To create transitions between indoors and outdoors that can be enjoyed year around is all too often ignored in the NW home.

This hole-in-the-ground photo (below) is preparing the way for the support of a small roof at a double glass door, with small deck, on the south side of Lois' home. On sunny days, as well as overcast days, this spot, with a glass roof porch, will always be full of light. Because this door and deck are off Lois' studio, it will also be a spot to recapture creative juices when they're running low.

Although it isn't "solar energy" as we've come to think of it, it's using the sun for warmth and light. A "hot" spot, created by the glass roof, providing light even on a cool winter's day.

Data Collection

When I first decided collecting data would help defend against scrutiny, I had no idea it would be so complicated.

The idea of what I now call thermal ballast isn't new but like so many good ideas, without science it's guess work. Common Americans are hesitant to spend money on guesses. I believe in sustainable and the need to revise our collective way of thinking/living, so bring in the science!

Brad Hankins aka dbBrad and Ben lay 3 more sensors in the top layer of sand. Two sets directly under these and one more set above in the slab. 12 total here in the heat sink.

I'd had enough of an electrical background to have an idea what a thermocouple was. So brilliant and simple, anyone could use it. Just get the right two materials, the right kind of wire, eliminate interference, static, signal drop and deterioration, do not have any solders in line and keep all your runs the same length was just some of the advice I found. Not so easy really.


Design Build means when you can't do it, you find someone who can. On a blind call from the phone book I was pleased to find Don Colvin of Mukilteo. He found some off the shelf sensors with stainless steel casings and was able to re-solder them maintaining direct burial specifications to better, tougher CAT V line, test and record an offset (a primitive accuracy improvement based on a constant temperature oil bath). This would have been a good time to calibrate the sensors too, but with a full crew and a big tractor on site, the sensors needed to go into the ground.

Interested in the notion of an Annualized solar storage system, Don Colvin even delivered the sensors.

The sensors have been buried for a while now and all that is left is to automate the process of collecting data and interpreting it. I'm surprised at how complicated it is everytime I go through the logistics. It seems overwhelming and when I put it down for a while, it seems so simple again.

As a result, to date, data has only been collected manually, a tedious process of hooking up a gizmo with a 10 microfarad resistor, a nine volt battery, 4 terminals and an ohm meter. Resistance may be futile (Borg) but its also equates to temperatures.

The trick is to automate the system to collect data on a specified frequency. Besides being more accurate (no human error) it also gives us the chance to take extra readings, throw away anomalies and average other readings and store this information. The computing power is minimal so I intend to use an old machine (windows NT). My energy conservation side doesn't want it to run all the time either.

Lab jacks are a component recommended by Don that will manage 8 senors each. More sensors means more lab jacks. We went with 24 sensors and will need three labJacs. We'll also use LabView to manage the labJacs.

Problem include: the old computer only has two usb ports, I'd like the machine to turn on and off but this requires another piece of software and a system more prone to failure, The new versions of LabView may not work with Windows NT, and we can take readings as often as we like. But as an example, 24 sensors, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year over say a reasonable 10 year study is 2,102,400 numbers to look at and cross reference.

At this point there is far more data than sense. We need a data/sense converter in the form of an algorithm, a way to process the data and hopefully represent it in a graphical manner relative to the sensors, insulation, weather, heated space, etc, to try and understand where the heat is moving and how much heat is making it into the dwelling during the heating season.

I suspect I may be looking at stacks of printouts looking for highs, lows and numbers that don't make sense. Maybe the great idea and data will spark interest from a clever graduate student with access to a big computer!

Photo compliments of Google Image Search

In the mean time, I can measure probes of curiosity when I want to with the gizmo. One thing this has let me see is that the sandy soil here changes temperature quickly, responding to the temperature of the sky and the rain that falls out of it. Cold rains can cool the soil instantly several feet down. It's not uncommon for a 44 degree F. value to be 5' underground. This summer, sand 4' down was at 65 degree's F.

Fredley Home Published

The Fredley home, built by Brad Hankins of Design Build Brad (dbbrad) was published recently by the Seattle Times, and can be found in the Pacific Northwest Magazine, November 22, 2009 (click here). The Seattle Times article was photographed by Benjamin Benschneider but unfortunately those photographs could not be published on this blog. To enable you to see other photos of the home and the work of Lois Mason, see above. To see the excellent photographs by Benjamin Benschneider, go to the site referenced above.

On Whidbey, a unified home from multiple recycled parts

By Valerie Easton

FRAN ABEL and Ed Anderson's new home is three separate little buildings that look as if they might have started out fitting snugly together into a single home. You can imagine some force of nature causing the sharp angles and winged rooflines to burst apart, then settle back down into a cluster within the hollows of the landscape. If the parts could be fit back together, their shapes might interlock as seamlessly as a 3D jigsaw puzzle.

This Whidbey Island home embodies the idea that green doesn't mean dull, and innovative design can be as practical as it is cool. It doesn't hurt that Abel is a garden designer experienced in water catchment and native plantings. Her son, Brad Hankins of B.R.A.D. Building Renovation and Architectural Design (This name is incorrect, it should be dbbrad), who designed and built the house, is relentless in researching green technology and searching out materials to repurpose.

"This place started out with a patina and will only get better," says Hankins, pointing out that little maintenance is needed on materials that have already endured wind, rain and time. The windows and the roofing are new, but that's about all this family purchased at a store. "You have a design, and it evolves as you find the materials," he explains. Despite the contemporary flair of his design, the home's siding of worn metal and old barn wood leaves you guessing as to whether it's remodeled or new.

Which is just how Abel and Anderson like it. They wanted their new place to fit into the neighborhood. A major reason they moved into Langley from their view property outside of town was to gain the sense of community that comes from having neighbors nearby and town an easy walk or bike ride away.

Not only did the family put hundred-year-old barn wood, scrap steel and 40-year-old chairs found on Craigslist to good purpose, they even used waste from the job. The greenhouse adjoining Abel's vegetable garden is built of leftover windows, stone and scraps of insulation. Very little needed to be hauled away after the project was completed.

So how much money did the family save by such skillful repurposing? "Zero," says Hankins, who explains that it takes lots of time to transport, store, clean and detail materials with a previous life. "It may not save money," chimes in Abel, "but it feels good to do, and you can't buy wood like this anymore."

The entire project is a scant 860 square feet, spread out over the three buildings. Every space is multipurpose; the kitchen, dining and living rooms share a single space. The bedroom converts to a yoga room when the Murphy bed is folded into the wall, and its hallway is lined with books. The "barn" houses a workshop, guest room/study, laundry and plenty of storage for bikes and boats.

The main building is heated by solar power collected in vacuum tubes on the roof and stored in a heat sink beneath the concrete floor. "This building will take care of itself," says Hankins. The bedroom has a hydronic heater with solar storage tank. Because this high-mass heat-storage system is a bit experimental, Hankins buried 24 sensors to create a data-collection center that will monitor the heat sink to see how it's responding to all the weather factors that influence the system.

"Three separate buildings isn't as efficient," acknowledges Abel, "but you get some privacy." Since Anderson likes rock 'n' roll and Abel prefers classical music, a little division between buildings makes for smoother family dynamics. Each little building has its own relationship to the outdoors, its own deck or terrace.

"Ed and I love coming outside in the morning and experiencing the weather, feeling the wind, hearing the birds," says Abel of their open-air journey between bedroom and main house.

And how about the dynamics of a son designing and building a house for his mother? "Having a client with great taste is such an asset," says Hankins with a grin.