Domestic Wind Turbine

Kamyk8450

Hello,
I wonder if anyone has positive experience with using small wind turbine for domestic purposes. My home has got flat roof above the garage located in the way that I can feel the wind is blowing there almost constantly. I also got batteries installed to collect energy from my solar panels. Wind turbine which will generate even small amount energy would be great addition to it, I done some research on the web and I can see most of times the Tesup company is showing up in search results, however their reviews ae just horrendous. So I though I will ask here for some advice?
Thank you

QrizB

As it happens, we've just had a short thread looking at small-scale wind turbines over on the "Green and Ethical" subforum:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6496010/is-a-wind-turbine-suitable-for-my-needs

Hopefully that thread will answer some of your questions.

(Yes, we all agreed that Tesup's reviews are well-deserved.)

Veteransaver

General consensus seems to be small wind turbines are a waste of time. You see them on yachts charging up batteries but they don't output a vast amount of power.
Something mounted on a roof will very low power.
They can work if you have a decent amount of land in an exposed area and can put up a big Eg 7kW+ turbine. Can be cost effective though solar is generally considered a far more effective solution now.

Kamyk8450

Thanks for both replies. That completely cleared my doubts, now will possibly consider more solar panels.

mmistroni

HI 
 i am wondering if i can revive this thread. I live in an area where the average wind speed is 20mph, and in the past 5 years wind has been so powerful that it has brought down 2-3 fences.(plus even moved my trampoline).
Am planning to leverage this by installing a home wind turbines.. but i havent seen anything in the market suitable for homes.. especially because i live in a terraced house and cant really put a pole in my garden - i do have artificial grass too..
Has anyone had any experiences on home wind turbines, mounted on the roof?
Kind regards

matelodave

They are pretty noisy and anything mounted on the roof or on the house will transmit the noise and vibration through the fabric of the house. They are also quite large and you'll need something substantial to mount onto the building to avoid pulling the wall down.

A 2kw unit is around 10 ft (3m) in diameter and would need a fair amount of clearance between the rotor tips and the house roof. and They need a sustained wind speed of at least 20-25mph (force 5 or around 10m/s) to get anywhere close to 2kw ( rather than the odd gust that pushes down fences and move trampolines.

Try putting your location into this site to see what your average might be - https://goodcalculators.com/wind-speed-converter/?wsp=6&wspunit=4

heres an example - https://www.orionairsales.co.uk/le-2000-2kw-wind-turbine-24v48v240v-2925-p.asp look at the specifications

Even where I live out in the flat fens of Cambridgeshire where it feels like its always windy, the average speed seldom gets much higher than around 12mph and we live in a detached bungalow with the nearest house some 50 meters away and we are surrounded by fields.

There is a wind turbine about a mile away from us across the fields on a lattice tower about 35 feet high with blades about 25 feet in diameter. Its notable for the amount of time its not rotating.

FreeBear

Also bear in mind that you may need planning permission.

lohr500

matelodave said:

Try putting your location into this site to see what your average might be - https://goodcalculators.com/wind-speed-converter/?wsp=6&wspunit=4

Hi @matelodave is that the correct link? It looks like a conversion calculator. I can't see whare you enter your location. Thanks

matelodave

sorry try this - https://www.rensmart.com/RenSMARTWindReport

lohr500

matelodave said:

sorry try this - https://www.rensmart.com/RenSMARTWindReport

Thanks. That link works. Based on the results, I don't think Ill be rushing to buy a wind turbine!!

FreeBear

lohr500 said:

matelodave said:

sorry try this - https://www.rensmart.com/RenSMARTWindReport

Thanks. That link works. Based on the results, I don't think Ill be rushing to buy a wind turbine!!

Using the rensmart link, I get between 4m/s and 5.9m/s wind speeds. This web site -> https://www.greenspec.co.uk/building-design/small-wind-turbines/ suggests I might get just 58W out of a 1.75m dia turbine if I'm lucky. Barely enough to run the lighting here.