Harness the water pressure for free (to me) energy?

meanjoe75fan · 12-22-10, 01:20 PM

During the home inspection, it was revealed that my prospective home has 90PSI in the water supply, which is on the high side of acceptable.

What occurs to me is: for many (most?) domestic uses of water, it's unnecessary for water to exit at high pressure...just that it exit the pipe at all. (For example, to fill a tub, it doesn't matter how forceful the water is as it exits the spigot.)

So, couldn't one mount a turbine to the water outlet to capture the energy in the pressurized water...kind of an indoor hydro?

strider3700 · 12-22-10, 04:47 PM

building code compliant I have my doubts but yeah you could do it. Just remember energy will only be generated when you have the water running and then the energy produced will be done at that usually much lower pressure so it won't be much. Do the math on the cost of the generator, and you'll likely never get a pay back before the generator's life expectancy is up. It almost never works out financially for single family homes.

Xringer · 12-22-10, 10:28 PM

Due to power failures during times of basement flooding, I installed a city water powered pump.

The SJ10 SumpJet®Water Powered Back-Up Pump wasn't too hard to install
and it works just fine.

Liberty Pumps : Back Up Sump Pumps

We got it, because my wife and I were both doing water clean up
down in the basement while our sump pump was trying to keep up with the flooding,
when the lights went out!!

And, as Murphy would have it, we have not had a power-fail during
a flood, since that day.. Maybe 6 years ago.?.

12-22-10, 01:20 PM	#1
meanjoe75fan Lurking Renovator Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Harness the water pressure for free (to me) energy? During the home inspection, it was revealed that my prospective home has 90PSI in the water supply, which is on the high side of acceptable. What occurs to me is: for many (most?) domestic uses of water, it's unnecessary for water to exit at high pressure...just that it exit the pipe at all. (For example, to fill a tub, it doesn't matter how forceful the water is as it exits the spigot.) So, couldn't one mount a turbine to the water outlet to capture the energy in the pressurized water...kind of an indoor hydro?

12-22-10, 04:47 PM	#2
strider3700 Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Vancouver Island BC Posts: 745 Thanks: 23 Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts	building code compliant I have my doubts but yeah you could do it. Just remember energy will only be generated when you have the water running and then the energy produced will be done at that usually much lower pressure so it won't be much. Do the math on the cost of the generator, and you'll likely never get a pay back before the generator's life expectancy is up. It almost never works out financially for single family homes.

12-22-10, 10:28 PM	#3
Xringer Lex Parsimoniae Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Woburn, MA Posts: 4,918 Thanks: 114 Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts	Due to power failures during times of basement flooding, I installed a city water powered pump. The SJ10 SumpJet®Water Powered Back-Up Pump wasn't too hard to install and it works just fine. Liberty Pumps : Back Up Sump Pumps We got it, because my wife and I were both doing water clean up down in the basement while our sump pump was trying to keep up with the flooding, when the lights went out!! And, as Murphy would have it, we have not had a power-fail during a flood, since that day.. Maybe 6 years ago.?.