After a couple of years of enjoying/hating my cobbled together hydro, the decision was made, I needed something reliable! Fixing the thing every other day was starting to get to me and, since all I could use for a lubricant was canola oil (not good for much else!), it was time to spend a few bucks and reduce my worry quotient.
One of the blessings of having electricity was the ability to get an internet connection. Hughesnet sucked, but it was way better than nothing! There was no cell service in the area then so we didn’t have much choice. I did a search online and found a fairly local business that specialized in micro-hydro. I sent them an email with a picture of my handywork, and received a reply almost right away. The guy said I was “a man after his own heart” Okayyyy then…
He wanted to see it first hand and asked if he could come up the next day! Of course I said yes.
He arrived the following day and was impressed with my “system”, then he told me he would love to help us get a more reliable setup. He threw a few numbers at me and I almost fainted! It wasn’t going to be cheap, but we’d saved up enough to at least get started. Our new friend was amazing!
It wasn’t long before I was building the new powerhouse, engineering a new route for the penstock and planning for where all of the new goodies were going to go in the house. Like I said before, I had no machinery to do the hard work, just a strong back, a pick and shovel, and determination to get it done.
It was about a month later that our new “Stream Engine” arrived, and our bank account was emptied, but we were thrilled that the end of the old clunker was near!
