# Household wind mills



## Gator eye (Jul 1, 2008)

Does any one here make there own electric power for there house with a wind mill?

I would love to flip the electric company that special finger. It was a proud day when I flew that finger for the gas company.

Start up cost seem very high for any unit I ve found on the web, it would take years to pay for itself. I am not sure the wind mill would outlast the cost of buying the unit. 
I haven't give up on wind power yet....I just haven't found the right unit yet....

Anybody familar with wind power???? advise?????? Links????


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## webbie (Jul 1, 2008)

Main thing with windmills is the exact site. You should look carefully at the wind charts and if you are not within a relatively high wind area, it will not be worth your while. The power of wind increases with the square of the speed (or something like that), meaning a 20 MPH wind has 4x the power of a 10MPH wind and a 30MPH wind has over twice the power of a 20.

That is why, in general, a wind "farm" is vastly more efficient than most single residential windmills...they put them at the right place.

The windmill cost the same whether it is sited at an average 10MPH location (bad) or a 15MPH location (good)

here, for instance, are New England wind charts:
http://truewind.teamcamelot.com/ne/


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## Jags (Jul 1, 2008)

Gator, I have been on a windmill quest for quite some time.  I have not found one yet that looks fiscally responsible.  The payback v.s. life expectancy is silly.  Hopefully this will change sometime in the future.

I personally live a few miles from an existing wind farm, with another going in approx. 5 miles to the west of me.  I live in a very windmill friendly place, and still can't pull the trigger on one.  I have not figured out why they are so darned expensive.  I have even thought about taking on the task of building my own.  The control parts are not crazy expensive, its the actual mill that they get ya on.

Any incentives offered by my state are minuscule at best, and doesn't even add up to a carrot on a stick.  So.....I hope you will share any info you may get that makes this a viable alternative.


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## Gator eye (Jul 2, 2008)

Yeap....from the research I ve done I got to agree...AS for now the benfit isn't worth the cost on a wind mill.

 I am still hoping to find the guy out there that has made a wind mill that works and is cost effective.
But for now
I am still looking. If I find the set up I'll let you  know.


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## Jags (Jul 2, 2008)

Gator eye said:
			
		

> Yeap....from the research I ve done I got to agree...AS for now the benfit isn't worth the cost on a wind mill.
> 
> I am still hoping to find the guy out there that has made a wind mill that works and is cost effective.
> But for now
> I am still looking. If I find the set up I'll let you  know.



Maybe check out this link: http://www.otherpower.com/


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## Jags (Jul 2, 2008)

You may also want to review this link: http://www.alphasolar.com/alpha_solar_145.htm


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## lecomte38 (Jul 2, 2008)

I have an old sail boat on which I installed both a wind mill and solar panels.  The $1000 wind mill was extremely disappointing.  The $1000 I spent on solar panels ( 4 - 75watt Shell ) made living aboard a pleasure.  The wind mill was casting a shadow on my panels so I hacked it off and sold it.  At 10 kts there is no output, only noise, at 15kts I was getting 3 or 4 amps (12v) and finally at 20 kts it would put out the advertised 15 amps.  And yes, wind power increases exponentially with speed.  Believe me, 15 kts is a nice calm sail, 30 kts is white knuckle, rail under, terror.


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## Gator eye (Jul 3, 2008)

By looking at the wind charts for where I live, I better take a double look at sun power.

I really like the idea of sitting down in the evenings with a cold one(or two) and watching a wind mill making my power. With solar power all you can do is watch the battery gauges....


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## savageactor7 (Jul 3, 2008)

If I had the bucks I'd go for solar panels on the roof instead of a windmill. Recently a new process for making those photovoltive cells was introduced. Saw it on the science channel...it was made much like a roll of paper and will hopefully bring the cost down. Then again you have to factor in the cost of batteries too. 

Here in NY it's a law that the electric companies are required  to buy any power produced by windmills ...that's why we're seeing a lot more of them. I don't know if that law includes solar generated power though.


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## Gator eye (Jul 3, 2008)

WOW, I think my search to get off the grid will have to wait for another day. 

There is no free lunch when it comes down to power.


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## Telco (Jul 3, 2008)

Gator eye said:
			
		

> WOW, I think my search to get off the grid will have to wait for another day.
> 
> There is no free lunch when it comes down to power.


Well, actually if you hooked an alternator to a battery... no money outlay once those parts are bought...  heh heh...


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## velvetfoot (Jul 9, 2008)

I live close enough to Jimney Peak in W. Mass that I drive past and see their big wind turbine turning majestically.
Not a wind farm, but cool site on top of the mountain.


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## Seyiwmz (Jul 10, 2008)

Hi guys,  sounds like there's interest in homebuilt windmills.  If you google Breezy 5.5 you can read about their 5500 watt turbine they build.  I'm building one also, and the link to some youtube video of it is here. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAo4PDERH48 

It's been a fun project, alot of welding and grinding.  Mine is  gonna be 85 feet in the air.  And we'll see what she puts out.  Hopefully, I can have it up in a month or so.

Later,  Seyiwmz


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## rhetoric (Jul 12, 2008)

Seyiwmz said:
			
		

> Hi guys,  sounds like there's interest in homebuilt windmills.  If you google Breezy 5.5 you can read about their 5500 watt turbine they build.  I'm building one also, and the link to some youtube video of it is here.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAo4PDERH48
> 
> ...



And this is the reason windmills remain popular -- you can DIY.  You can DIY solar water and direct gain solar, but there aren't too many people mining their own silicates to make photovoltaic solar.  Windmills are really just harvesting solar radiation (converted into wind) so when someone makes a cost efficient solar panel (nanosolar?) windmills will be obsolete.  Better to harvest the sun before it becomes wind.


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## flyingcow (Jul 14, 2008)

Just started the process of ordering a windmill from a local dealer. It's a Skystream. We average .20 cents a k/w hour.So it should take about 6 to 7 years to break even. Maybe less. Its got a 5 year warranty with it. Pretty simple set up. Time will tell how this investment works. Got a good location for a windmill. We're slowly changing our shingled roof over to metal, damn wind keeps peeling them off.


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## Telco (Jul 16, 2008)

flyingcow said:
			
		

> Just started the process of ordering a windmill from a local dealer. It's a Skystream. We average .20 cents a k/w hour.So it should take about 6 to 7 years to break even. Maybe less. Its got a 5 year warranty with it. Pretty simple set up. Time will tell how this investment works. Got a good location for a windmill. We're slowly changing our shingled roof over to metal, damn wind keeps peeling them off.



Erk.  Might want to read this page before proceeding with the Skystream.  Very unpopular there due to piss-poor construction, service after the sale, high failure rates, much lower actual production than claimed production, ect.


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## 2.beans (Jul 24, 2008)

Webmaster said:
			
		

> Main thing with windmills is the exact site. You should look carefully at the wind charts and if you are not within a relatively high wind area, it will not be worth your while. The power of wind increases with the square of the speed (or something like that), meaning a 20 MPH wind has 4x the power of a 10MPH wind and a 30MPH wind has over twice the power of a 20.
> 
> That is why, in general, a wind "farm" is vastly more efficient than most single residential windmills...they put them at the right place.
> 
> ...


tried checking wind charts but the page cant be found? is there any other ones? thanks


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## Redox (Jul 24, 2008)

Try this:

http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/maps.html

Actually, you probably want this:

http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/maps/chap3/3-23m.html

Wow, you do have some wind up there...

Chris


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