Mini steam electric generator for a NYC apartment

Hi Pawel

The cost to build such a device and make it safe would cost more than years of electricity especially if you are only talking about enough to charge a phone or run a small light. You might be better off looking at a solar cell and battery if your apartment has access to sun light. The side effects of a boiler on the stove would be excess humidity in your apartment from the burning gas, (when gas burns it produces water),and from the exhaust steam of the steam engine. There would also be excess heat in your apartment, and danger from the pressure inside the boiler.Strictly from a monetary standpoint I would use the electricity provided and be conservative by using efficient light bulbs and unplugging appliances and chargers when not in use. I am not from the Ben Heck show so they may still weigh in on your question.

John

Hi John,

I'm totally aware that such a device doesn't make sense from the economic point of view. I'd like to get it built because "it can be built", it may work, it solves the problem of free electricity in a ridiculous way (free water and gas in this case).

I was also thinking about a different type of electric generator which would be powered by a running water from a faucet. Imagine this, it's dark in your bathroom and to turn a light on you have open a faucet with a generator connected with some LEDs.

I think those ideas fit well the concept of the show.

Pawel

OK Sounds good.

John

Many people in the UK have un-metered water supplies too (this is changing) however I don't know of anyone who would waste a tap water resource to generate electricity.

If anything we should be asking the water corporations worldwide what they're doing to fix the typical 30% of water they are wasting every day due to leaking pipes. An alternative idea would be a water leak detector for the show. The good designs are non-trivial so would be interesting to see.

as said its not money wise because someone is paying for water and heat and they will notice they are being charged for a excessive amount of water and natural gas and I would wager that very soon that when people's leases come up for renewal the water and heat will not be paid for buy the landlord  but by the renters. Think how unhappy your neighbors will be when that happenes. Plus on the green side you will be wasting more water and natural gas.  Total cost for this build is around 160 dollars with zero emissions S.P.R.E.E. (Solar Photovoltaic Renewable Electron Encapsulator), a Compact, Durable, and Portable Solar Energy Generator

Agreed.

There is nothing like wasting one resource for some dubious purpose.

In NZ we did it with our natural gas and turned it into Petrol, with huge inefficiency.

Good quality drinking water is a precious resource, and in most cities the infrastructure to support this is enormous.

It seems that New York supplies 1.2 billion gallons per day, and might not be that keen to have someone develop a hydro system based on their water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_water_supply_system

While I applaud your interest in reducing the power bill, you might want to investigate what is using the power and work on that.

Lighting (or poor lighting) choices can make a large difference, and LED's or even more focused task lighting can reduce the consumption dramatically while improving the light level.

The choice of colour scheme can also have a dramatic effect on the light levels.

A choice of solar with storage and maybe a small bicycle powered generator that charges a storage battery may cover much of your daily needs.

With any alternative system there is an upfront cost, the running cost and the on-going maintenance that need to be factored into the equation.

In most cases it works out more than the supplier cost, especially in a large city.

Mark

I updated the first post with the description because I notice that some of you didn't get the idea right. You keep telling me the obvious things that this idea is a waste of resources. Yes, I know it but it is not about saving resources or saving money on an electric bill, it's about building something cool. I should have been more clear from the beginning. Sorry. I added an alternative use case for the steam electric generator. Is that any better?

Hi Pawel,

I loved your story. It does add a new dimension to the discussion. I am not an expert on steam engines but I did have a small one when I was younger. It had a boiler powered by solid fuel pellets and ran a small piston engine and a flywheel. The amount of pressure generated by a household pressure cooker would suffice to make it go and it could perhaps turn a small electric generator so as to produce a couple of watts of electricity. You could in fact recharge a cell phone with this over several hours. If I were to want more power than this in the wilderness I would have to bring my wife to help me carry the heavier boiler and larger steam engine and generator, though I doubt that I could get her to chop the wood. As long as you aren't talking practical sources of energy you can have a lot of fun playing with these ideas. I do believe that a proper generator a fixed to a faucet would also light an LED. Just some side information many dentists are now using drills that have a small internal turbine or magneto that produces enough electricity to power an LED headlight on the drill so they can better see what they are drilling in your mouth. Pretty cool!

John

this is still dangerous, you need to keep water in the boiler or BOOM!!!!. see why its very impractical and dangerous? That's why we are so against the idea.

Hi Pawel,

william_hoffer

Is 100% correct and I should not have made light of the danger involved. There is a lot of energy in any boiler under pressure. When the pressure containment is lost the temperature of the water immediately turns it to steam which can cause extreme burns. It is best to probably keep this type of build in the thought experiment realm. Even if you can do it safely perhaps some other person who follows you may not be so lucky.

John