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Forum Index : Windmills : My windmill exploded.
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5124 |
Well, its was one of my best so far, the windmill, and the explosion. I build this one about a year ago. It used a ebike motor driven by a 2:1 bike chain, GOE222 blades, had a diameter of 2.8 meters. There was a pull cable to furl the tail. It performed great, good low wind amps and peaked at 800 watts.  Yesterday I was taking a pee when there was a sudden gust of strong wind, rattled the house. After that I head a very loud rattle from the turbine, so quickly went out to have a look and shut it down. First thing I did was short it out ( big mistake ). It was still blowing a gale at the time, the sudden load caused the chain to pop off the sprocket, and now then turbine was unloaded, so started spinning up. I ran over to pull the cable to furl the tail, but it was to late. The blades were spinning so fast the gyroscopic forces stopped the windmill from turning out of the wind. It started to roar, nothing I could do but run away. Next I heard a bang behind me like a car crash, and the nacelle landed on the ground a couple meters from where I was, about 15 meters from the tower. The level of destruction is impressive. First, the nacelle is secured over the top of the tower by a couple 8mm bolts, the pull cable, and electrical cables, all sheared off. Bits of this are spread all over the place. All 3 blades exited the hub, I've found 2 embedded into the ground, one is still missing, and I've walked the paddock in every direction for 200 meters looking for it. Even one of the guy wires for the tower was torn off, but a backup cable kept the tower up.    The alternator seams OK, I can probably fix the brush assembly and the nacelle itself, but the hub, blades, tail, etc are all write offs. I dont have many of the GOE222 blades left, sad to see 3 destroyed. I dont know what the original loud rattle was, maybe the chain got out of alignment, that would explain why it popped off when I a put a load on it. Once the chain was gone the turbine was quiet, until it started to roar. I suspect the free wheeling turbine lost a blade, after that the vibration would have done the rest. The two blades I found show no sign of hitting the tower, only damage from embedding themselves into the ground. I'll probably rebuild it, it was a good turbine. But I'll put on a chain guide so it cant come off, and maybe a brake cable and disc brake instead of a tail furling to keep it under control. In hindsight, If I had pulled the furling cable first, then shorted the windmill once it had slowed down, it would still be up there today. Glenn Edited 2025-08-11 15:17 by Gizmo The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Godoh Guru  Joined: 26/09/2020 Location: AustraliaPosts: 544 |
Wow Gizmo, that looks a mess. Sorry to hear that, it looks like you have a fair bit of work to do to get it all running again. The wind is pretty powerful isn't it. We have thought about a wind generator here but too many trees and some incredibly strong winds, especially in winter. We get winds up to 100klm/hr in winter here and they swirl around a lot. So we just keep adding more solar to the system. good luck with the repairs Pete |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6289 |
One of my neighbours was an agent for some vertical turbines. His demo unit fell apart within a couple of years and the same fate for at least one other in the district. I don't think he sold many (fortunately). They blamed the poor engineering of the blades but I don't think the Chinese manufactures ever sorted it out. I still see the expensive post in his paddock. Jim VK7JH MMedit |
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Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1504 |
I have had 2 blade failures over the life of my shed wind genny and just had to go several pages on to find when the present set of blades were made, July 2019 Now my F&P is still going with the same setup and after a windy night when I walk in my shed quite often I will see the 20 amp gauge for the wind genny stuck on 16 amps and quick tap will zero it again. When it is going I can hear a click click click so it does look like a bearing replacement is on the cards as better to replace a bearing before it fails than repair the aftermath after it failed. Cheers Bryan |
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| MaryB_MN Newbie  Joined: 03/08/2024 Location: United StatesPosts: 10 |
Yikes! That is one of the worst failures I have seen!Third blade may be laying on or embedded in a roof? They can go a LONG distance! |
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