A friend of mine visited relatives in upper N.Y. state this past weekend and was shocked to see a bunch of these near his mothers house that weren't there a year or two ago. Anyone have any experience with them?
frazoo
[cool]
Cost?
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He has brochures coming, I'll let you know.
frazoo
First I have seen of them although their theory looks sound, but looks big and ugly and can't be put high enough to get to the good wind.
Tree and building turbulence goes to about 30 feet above obstacle tops. The good wind is above that. Wind at 100 feet is about 3 times that on the ground or more,
I see that they have a better system of vacuum assist via the housing but keeping it at 20 to 30 feet probably defeats more than the gained benefit.
I haven't worked numbers on it but it looks like they want better wind than many places get on the ground for good production.
5 meters per second = 11 mph I assume this is an average (but since they don't define the test it is probably just an extrapolation of the turbine output at 11 MPH)
http://www.windtamerturbines.com/windtamer-turbines/request-a-quote/windtamer4-5gt/
so 960 Kw-Hr per 12 month equals ~ 60 Kw-Hr per month not much more than the dead simple and cheap Southwest windpower
AirX at 30 Kw-Hr per month in an average 10 mph site
not sure about this one -- the basic design has been tried before with not too good results -- high wind failures were common IIRC
couldn't find the pricing....
The 12" tower and gigantic base has to be expensive.
Lots of drag with that design to make the low pressure area behind the fan, so lots of wind resistance, causing the stresses that make them keep it low to the ground on the massive base.
Here is a guy who does not think a lot of the value of the Windtamer but presents a lot of info that is not in favor of investing in wind either.
Not well written -from a forum- but the information looks sound.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=53076352
Not pretty as I mentioned
(https://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy62/the_troglodyte/ENLARGE_01windturbine.jpg)
QuoteWilson is getting his WindTamer turbine installed Tuesday. He says he paid $25,000 for his model, but he expects it to pay for itself in the next seven to ten years.
http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/493368/horse-farmer-first-to-buy-windtamer-turbine/
Some (what I think) is good reading for anyone considering wind power:
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.shtml
http://www.otherpower.com/bottom_line.shtml (the "buyer beware" section at the bottom of the page might apply here).
http://otherpower.com/users_manual.shtml
I was hot on doing wind power and maybe getting off the grid when I bought my place a few years ago. The otherpower.com website, while being pro windpower, seems to have more science than hype and after reading some of their stuff soon realized it wouldn't be as cheap and easy as I thought. Same as with everything in life, what seems simple on the surface is actually very complicated once you get into it.
I know little about wind technology and nothing about Windtamer products but when I looked at their site little red flags started popping up everywhere. I think the Windtamer website covers pretty much every "beware of" indicator listed in the second link above. Do your homework.
Alan
I agree with you, Alan. I have a Bergey XL1 but was aware of the limitations when I bought it.
It is considered a #1 wind generator, but I only view it as extra power to assist during storms and morning/afternoon heat cycles or night winds. It Is a 1 kw wind generator 85 feet up. Tower and generator should be around $5000 now with probably a similar or less install cost. I built my own tower and did my own install.
Many people make the mistake of thinking they put it up and plug in. Much of the time it only puts out a few hundred watts or less and does not have ideal wind.
Oh well, sounds like more hype than good science. Thanks for the input guys. I'm not a science kinda guy so I appreciate the objective input received here. Be nice when science/technology catches up with our needs.
frazoo
Dam that things fugly
comercial wind turbines look nothing like that.............something to do with efficiency !
Wind power is a happy addon to a standard solar system when its cloudy - its usually windy.....a bit of an either or situation, most remote telemetry stations use both simply to sustain the system longer under bad weather conditions.
boats comonly have both.....same reason
extra power is always good.....neither method offers 365/24 hr operation at the makers stated power rating