I'm currently playing with some way to have a water powered return pump from my sump to my main tank at a rate of 2000gph approx. I know how my water powered sump pump works on my home but I want a system that can use the power of the falling water from my overflow to power the return pump. I'm looking for any ideas from you guys on here I've seen insane builds so if anyones pulled this one off plz let me know. Atm i'm playing with the idea of a water wheel because my PSI coming from my over flow isnt high enough to simply retro fit an off the shelf home water powered sump pump. Any ideas?
Question for the masters about Pumps! Need help!
- Thread starter deepfathom
- Start date
What you are referring to is hydropower. At one point I had collected a nice little file of how to design a system but I lost it. There is a little coupling device that can be installed inline to your pvc drain system and it will generate electricity from your waters movement. From my limited experience/research thus far you will also need to incorporate a battery As space and aestethics will make it difficult to harness enough to power a whole system. But there are ways to definitely cut your operating cost. I will do a little poking around today and share my info within this thread. It is a very cool concept. And a definite goal of mine as well.
Sorry but it isn't going to happen. There is this pesky rule about conservation of energy that kills perpetual motion systems every time...
The kind of water-powered pump you are referring to use a venturi to suck water. They work by creating a low-pressure area in the venturi valve that draws in water. They require much higher pressure than you would get from a 6' drop from tank to sump. Also, a venturi uses more water than it pumps - they are not at all efficient at moving water.
The kind of water-powered pump you are referring to use a venturi to suck water. They work by creating a low-pressure area in the venturi valve that draws in water. They require much higher pressure than you would get from a 6' drop from tank to sump. Also, a venturi uses more water than it pumps - they are not at all efficient at moving water.
In my previous Search I reached the same conclusion. I don't remember the exact name of the device. But it was able to work in conjunction with a battery. It produced like 3 Watts. The furthest I got is that you can run a pump intermittent. Of a battery, and harness energy to partially charge it. It's a step in the right direction.
Ya i was looking into both concepts but i came to the same conclusions. I knew venturi system was a bust since Ive installed one in my home before as a back up sump pump. But what I didnt know is if anyone had found a way to use the energy of falling water to power some kind of pumping system. Its a grand pipe dream but thus far I keep coming to the same place you to have listed. The only uses able energy source is solar and a battery system. Which is to bulky for just running a tank and if I were to go that route I would invest in a home system to power the house and just skip out on the middle man of just worrying about the tank. Well if anyone else has any ideas I'm all ears. I kinda knew this was going to be a long shot when i started playing with the idea. Thanks for all the input!
I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel. We have enough resources at our disposal to take steps in that direction. Innovation comes from exploration.
I agree with dan to a point, the laws of physics (conservation of energy) dictate that it is physically impossible to completly power a pump to pump the same amount of falling water thats powering it. So totally powering your return pump is impossible unless one finds a way to cancel the law of conservation of energy in which case your return pump will be the least of your concerns because you will likely become one of the richest people in the world and be one of the brightest minds in history.
That being said, it is possible that you could PARTIALLY power your return pump with falling water from your overflow. Whether the cost of doing so would in anyway be offset by the small amount of power you would save i couldnt really say without doing alot of research on it, but i kinda doubt it but it might, i dont know the costs involved. It would be a cool expirement though, so i wouldnt gie up on it totally
That being said, it is possible that you could PARTIALLY power your return pump with falling water from your overflow. Whether the cost of doing so would in anyway be offset by the small amount of power you would save i couldnt really say without doing alot of research on it, but i kinda doubt it but it might, i dont know the costs involved. It would be a cool expirement though, so i wouldnt gie up on it totally
I think a huge variable is the output side of the pump. With the proper pipe diameter, one should be able to create some energy whether it be through constriction or amount of flow I'm not sure. Just something to think about.
@aquaponicpaw
@aquaponicpaw
If you want to save energy on your return pump the best way (the only really practical way?) is to raise the the level of the sump to near tank level, thus removing the wasted energy at the source. Any method involving generating energy (electrical or mechanical) from the falling water is going to be costly and will at create a tiny fraction of the energy used to power the return pump. You would be much better off just to spend the money on reconfiguring your sump or buying a more efficient pump (they can vary a lot in how much electricity they use to move a given amount of water at a given head height).
I don't mean to be a naysayer, as I love a good experiment. However, in respect to actually saving money it just isn't going to work. The smallest micro-hydro-power system I've seen requires a minimum of 10 PSI (23' head) to produce any electricity and costs $645+...
I don't mean to be a naysayer, as I love a good experiment. However, in respect to actually saving money it just isn't going to work. The smallest micro-hydro-power system I've seen requires a minimum of 10 PSI (23' head) to produce any electricity and costs $645+...
Well, progress can only be made if the topic is explored, and not immediately termed impossible. here is a link to the generators that I mentioned earlier. they are pretty cheap also.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-1-75-MPa...or-Dynamo-Save-Power-/250943734155#vi-content
a manifold of plumbing can be created at the output side of the pump with 1 of these on each port. it can then be ran with a battery and charger/car alternator/solar panel or any combination of the mentioned.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-1-75-MPa...or-Dynamo-Save-Power-/250943734155#vi-content
a manifold of plumbing can be created at the output side of the pump with 1 of these on each port. it can then be ran with a battery and charger/car alternator/solar panel or any combination of the mentioned.