General > General Technical Chat
Why don't we make [more] use of water wheels?
coppice:
--- Quote from: soldar on April 27, 2024, 07:43:36 am ---I have spent the last few weeks roaming about in France and in Provence I saw many waterwheels but none in use. Originally they elevated water or provided motive power for mills or factories. None are in practical use any more. They are kept only as tourist attractions. Since the wheels and water canals are already there you could think they could be easily adapted to generating electrical power but it looks like it just isn't worth it.
--- End quote ---
I think you'll find plenty of water wheels preserved as museum pieces all over Europe. There are certainly many in the UK. They can't really be both museum pieces and effective modern power generation platforms. As they stand, their high cost of maintenance is justified as a running cost of the museum. If they have to stand on their own merit, maintenance costs could only be justified if the place is far from the madding crowd, and does not have economic access to grid power.
soldar:
Rebuilding a waterwheel:
This guy has several videos on how he built, installed and repaired a waterwheel
https://www.youtube.com/@KrisHarbour/videos
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page
Go to full version