Question on auto heating a greenhouse ?

bees kness@kk adrian

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Jul 23, 2001, 2:21:33 PM7/23/01

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Hi

I would like to build a small system whereby a water wheel will power a an
old washing machine motor - generating some electricity and hopefully
charging a car battery. Which will in turn power a small heater in a
greenhouse.

Does anyone have any idea how much electricity I might be able to produce
this way ?
And where i could get a 12v heater from - I would like to have temperaturte
switch on it as well so that the heater could come on below a certain
temperature.

Any ideas wellcome.

Adrian

Brian Craft

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Jul 23, 2001, 3:33:05 PM7/23/01

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In article <3b5c7...@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com>, "adrian" <the
bees kness@kk> wrote:

> Does anyone have any idea how much electricity I might be able to
> produce this way ?

Very, very little. Unless you have a really good water source, there's
probably not much power there to begin with, and the generator and battery
charger are both going to lose significant portions of that. Then you want
to run a heater: a very high demand appliance.

In general you want to avoid trying to heat things with electricity
whenever possible, because it's very inefficient.

If it's a greenhouse, why isn't solar heating keeping it warm enough? Is
it not insulated well enough?

You should definately start with insulation (always the cheapest solution)
and passive solar collectors (like jugs of water painted black) before
trying anything more fancy. If you need more solar area to get enough
heat, there are a variety of home-brew designs you can use, using water
panels, or furnace filters (painted black they make good solar collectors
for air heating).

You're likely to get better info from alt.energy.homepower and
alt.solar.thermal. Also, your local library probably has books on
greenhouse design.

John Galvin

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Jul 24, 2001, 2:26:33 AM7/24/01

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adrian > wrote in message <3b5c7...@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com>...

>Hi
>
>I would like to build a small system whereby a water wheel will power a an
>old washing machine motor - generating some electricity and hopefully
>charging a car battery. Which will in turn power a small heater in a
>greenhouse.
>
>Does anyone have any idea how much electricity I might be able to produce
>this way ?

I don't believe that the typical washing machine uses a permanent magnet
motor, so the answer is zero watts. You need a permanent magnet motor, or a
motor with some sort of DC field, if you wish to use it as a generator. I
can't say that I've ever seen a washing machine with such a motor.

J.G.

Bruce

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Jul 28, 2001, 6:41:13 PM7/28/01

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The better generator is a car alternator (these have built in rectifiers so
output is DC). Power to a battery. Then run stuff off the battery. My
grandpa used to do this up on his farm in North Dakota.

The heater is too much of a load. Try upgrading your solar. It should be
possible to do some thermal storage of the heat for overnight in water or
bricks.

Question, How big is this water wheel? If you have a stream or river then
you might be able to do much more then just charge a battery. Good luck

"adrian" <the bees kness@kk> wrote in message
news:3b5c7...@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com...

papame...@gmail.com

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Jan 12, 2013, 11:25:36 AM1/12/13

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Washing machine motors are not suitable for generating electricity.

Bob F

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Jan 12, 2013, 2:02:04 PM1/12/13

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> Washing machine motors are not suitable for generating electricity.\

It sure was nice of you to respond so promptly. I am sure this was great help to
the OP.