Just could not get it together to post yesterday as the day was a bit of a rush and by the time I’d packed my last sausage it was time for bed 
The sausage in question being one of 260, at least that’s what it said on the invoice but it felt like double that 
The day started, as most ‘rest week’ days do with feeding everyone, after which I took my boy to school before catching the 9:55 ferry. Three little pigs were due to be delivered to the ferry terminal at Sconser, the same three little ‘spotties’ that I took to http://www.munrodingwall.co.uk/ our local abattoir a week last Monday. They came back in seven boxes and not the six that I was expecting, usually one butchered pig comes back rolled, boned and bagged in two heavy cardboard boxes bound up with strapping tape. Today however there was an extra one and that one said ‘sausages’, I’d asked them to turn the belly pork into sausages as I’d sampled some that Munro’s had done for ‘Crofter Jonny’ at http://www.skyecrofttours.co.uk/. What I was expecting was the sausages from each pig to be in its relevant box, what I got was
a huge box that needed splitting up and bagging
Still it was well worth the effort and only added £6 for labour and a few quid for casings and spices onto the bill, half an hour to make 260 links it said on the invoice! Wish I could turn them out so quickly
Anyway by the time I’d distributed what had been ordered and frozen what was ours I was in little mood for plonking away on here and went to my bed early.
Friday
Actually it’s Saturday now for I did start writing this last night but fell asleep at the wheel so to speak It had been a long and strenuous day so I picked my head up off the keyboard and went to bed at 20:30
The new hydro turbine had arrived from Canada, actually my ‘Stream Engine’ http://www.microhydropower.com/ had arrived from Hugh at http://scoraigwind.com/ over a week ago but I’d been too busy to unpack it properly and get a good look at it.
Like my current Navitron 200w turbine it is a ‘Turgo runner’ turbine,
unlike the XJ14-0.2CT4-Z from China though it has a beautifully cast bronze runner and not one made from old spoons and welded together
It also has 4 nozzles with an assortment of different sized jets that can be chosen to suit different flows whereas the Navitron turbine just comes with one very crude steel jet of 19mm bore and you have to alter it yourself. However the wee Chinese number ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’ and is a tenth of the price of the Stream engine, having said that the Canadian effort is capable of producing 5 times the power and comes with it’s own 230v AC to 48v DC transformer for battery charging.
Spurred on by the arrival of my new turbine I got on with some work on the ‘pennstock’ pipes that would supply it but not before a marathon session of cutting rushes with the brush cutter for bedding for the pigs and then cleaning them out. The recent dry weather and the disappearance of the snow meant that the rushes would be dry enough to use as bedding instead of straw from the barn. Not that the straw is particularly expensive, it’s just such a hassle to get it here and cutting the rushes helps keep them under control. Pigs are fantastic at clearing ground of bracken and weeds but the seem to just root around the clumps of rushes rather than lifting them.
After a few hours of that I went to clean out the header tank that feeds my current turbine (that’s an old pic)
diverting the flow into it with another pipe, draining it then giving the washing machine drum inside it ( filter) a good scrubbing with a wire brush.
Once that was done I set about connecting up the 90mm sections of my largest pennstock
using the only two proper fittings that I had
as usual I had help
The two proper fittings joined the 15 or so home made ones that I’d done a few weeks ago and gave me a good 90m length of the 270m I required which was all connected.
I then plugged the end with an old tumbler ( I know the picture is rubbish but I only have a quarter of a screen on my camera ) and left it filling to test the joints.
Unfortunately by the time it had filled it was dark and I could not see properly but it did look like all the joints were good apart from a slight weep from the bottom one (which would be under the greatest pressure)
Anyway I’m sorry it’s a bit light on content but I have to dash so I’ll just leave you with yesterdays weather
and today’s
It only takes a glance to understand why the Canadian offering is so superior to that of China. And no more needs be said about build quality. Having had experience with your neighbours Harris unit why did you go for the Stream Engine?
Deductions from the pictures; 3 phase high voltage generation transformed down, rectified via a 3 phase block for 48 volts straight to the battery bank. I guess the second block in the transformer box is a meter shunt and the three test points are volts and current test points.
I will look forward to the installation. Bags of photo’s for the arm chair anoraks please, as I guess you will have little time for text.
Cheers Mike.
Comment by Mike "Belthorn" — February 6, 2010 @ 9:19 am
Hi There Mike,
spot on with the observations, the only reason I did not go for the Harris turbine is that their high voltage version is still at the development stage whereas the Stream Engine has a ‘track record’ There is another company http://www.hipowerhydro.com/ that were putting high voltage generators on Harris bases but there efficiency was quite poor at the lower flows. I did get quotes from all three and in the end went for the Stream engine despite it being the most expensive.
Cheers, Paul
Comment by lifeattheendoftheroad — February 7, 2010 @ 9:14 pm