Best Residential Wind Turbines for Home Use

Residential wind turbines provide an efficient, cost-effective method to produce free electricity from the wind. A homeowner can save significantly on their electric bill by installing a simple wind turbine on their property.

Residential wind turbines can be built by DIY homeowners, or they can be purchased online. With electric bill reductions of 50 to 90 percent being common, residential wind turbines provide a viable option for those desiring to be energy independent.

Editor’s Picks: Top 5 Wind Turbines

Saving Money With Residential Wind Turbine

A residential wind turbine can cut the homeowner’s electrical bill in half. Wind turbine owners can reduce their utility costs to less than $20 for nine months during the year. The cost savings for a home wind product is based on the installation cost, the electric usage of the homeowner, and the amount of wind present at the home site. An average home having all modern electrical appliances uses about 9400 kWh of electricity per year (783 kWh per month). Assuming reasonable wind speeds throughout the year, a wind turbine of 5 kW to 15 kW power output would provide the required electricity. If you create more energy than you use, your power company might pay you to sell them the extra power.

 6 Best Home Wind Turbine Reviews for 2019

1. WINDMILL 1500W 24V 60A Wind Turbine Generator kit

Just when you think the world of technology has done with its advantage and can’t help you avoid that high electricity bill, WINDMILL comes along with this turbine. At first, it looks like an ordinary turbine. But giving a closer look at its top-notch features, you’ll find it worth the price.

This model is marketed as the strongest of all the wind turbines with the minor weight of 33 pounds. And you don’t have to be a turbine expert to appreciate the thought that went into its design. The integrated automatic braking system defends the device against the turbulent gust of wind.

With plain directions for DIY installation, it emerges to be the best solution you can ever have for energy production. Acting in a joint venture with the solar panel, it exhibits unsurpassed quality.

Protecting cover on it to resist the harmful effects of UV rays & other weather conditions is downright incredible. Regarding braking system, you’ll find it outstandingly versatile- both automatic and manual options are incorporated in it. So, overheating due to sudden fall of a few amps won’t burn your turbines out anymore. You can stop this system manually during a gale to lengthen its life. Necessary equipment is included and it carries a 1-year manufacturer’s warranty.

2. Windmill (DB-400) 400W 12V Wind Turbine Generator kit

If you’re looking for durability above all else, Windmill (DB-400) Wind Turbine is your best bet. Polypropylene and Glass Fiber components have made it hardwearing. Other qualities maintained during its production include the weather resistant seal and UV guarding layer.

Like the previous model, this Windmill product also offers both auto and manual braking feature. So, unexpected voltage rise won’t cause any defect to the system. Solar panel accompaniment is also appreciated. User’s manual is included. So, avail yourself of DIY installation with little or no mess at all.

To make it fit for marine use, the manufacturers have kept it immune to salt-water’s decaying effect. The problem of vulnerability to overcharging is solved with the built-in charge controller. Recommended battery capacity is 50A or larger.

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Best of all, the package embodies almost all the accessories- from blades and nose cone to hex key and bolts. The only drawback of this low budget turbine is its inability to start up at low wind speed. On the opposite end of the spectrum, once it starts, it keeps producing energy ceaselessly. However, its affordable price and the included big and tiny constituents have earned a great Thumbs Up from a lot of users.

3. Happybuy Wind turbine Generator 400W DC 12V Business 3 Blade With Controller For Marine RV Homes Industrial Energy 

If you’re hunting for a tiptop, ergonomic wind turbine that won’t sting your wallet, we recommend Mophorn 400W Wind Turbine. Though it comes with a nominal price-tag compared with our most expensive model, its multifaceted use will make your jaw drop. Locate it anywhere you please. Be it your resident, factory or office zone, you’ll be satisfied witnessing its unparalleled service everywhere.

Unlike other wind generators, this sturdy model lags behind in maintenance requirement, thanks to its well-thought-out design. We like Mophorn’s attention to avoid overcharging. The charge controller also ensures that the turbine produces maximum power for you.

You’re spending on the wind turbine for spinning and this should happen at a low wind speed of course. Because if you bring a turbine home and it just keeps staring at you, no doubt all your money (no matter how less it is) has gone to trash. To help you shun such regrettable purchase, the manufacturers have engineered this model with 2.5 m/s start-up wind speed. So, if you’ve a tight-budget and aiming to collect an energy generator that does everything well and most things best, look no further than the Mophorn 400W Wind Turbine.

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4. ECO-WORTHY 24 Volts 600 Watts Wind Solar Power: 12V/24V 400W Wind Turbine

We are more excited about this model belongs to ECO-WORTHY than we are about any other energy generating set up we listed here. Because surprisingly, it comes with two solar panels. Hence, you don’t need to wait for that haughty wind to blow. The solar panels will do the job great.

To your utter dismay, these panels’ own a massive shortcoming. They don’t work after day-time. Big mess up! Actually not, save charges with batteries and gracefully, the controller has auto-detect feature that can select itself from 12v or 24v battery. In case, you join only 1 solar panel, 12v battery should be the thing, and the 24v one is applicable for 2 panels.

Wiring systems are specified clearly. For instance, the red one is for all positive joints, black wire takes care of the battery negative and so on. Now, here’s a list of what you need to purchase separately- connector kit or electric wires, a pole or tower and batteries (available at Amazon as well as your nearest store).

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5. Popsport Wind Generator 400W Hybrid Wind Turbine Generator DC 12V/24V

Popsport has brought good news for those who were craving for a noise free wind turbine till date. Their 400W Hybrid Wind Turbine produces less vibration which limits the noise level if not ensures a fully sound-proof environment.

In performance metrics, it is second to none. Whereas other turbines need almost a strong blow to make them begin rotating, it starts working at only 2.5m per second wind speed.

Designed carefully, this sleek looking model not only gives an overwhelming view to your dwelling but also complements the solar power. Plus, you can think of using it for a variety of locations- both urban and rural areas. In fact, the maker encourages you to use this device for charging batteries on your vessel, cabins, pavilion or recreational vehicle. Small nuts and screws are included with other essential segments.

Its handbook is written keeping the ease-of-understanding in mind so to make the installation and maintenance smoother. This well-crafted model possesses a feathery weight of 17.3 pounds. Yet there’s no chance of doubting its endurance. Because applying the trademarked PMG and the exceptional stator, the Popsport Wind Generator lessens torque resistance and solidifies the gadget.

6. 2000 Watt 11 Blade Missouri General Freedom II Wind Turbine

At the end of the day, when the sun is not burning anymore but your electronic devices are in dire need of energy, a good wind turbine like Missouri Freedom 5 Blade Wind Turbine resembles a god-sent boon. Its first-rate traits cover 1600 w. Freedom PMG, self-adjusting clades, crooked stator etc.

The amount of copper it involves has made the model a famous name in the energy generator market. Bunches of needful hardware such as rectifier, powerful stabilizer, stainless-steel stuffs escort the main product. Its manual braking system is targeted to the conscious, feature-loving users.

The most irritating situation many consumers face after purchasing a costly wind turbine is the need of air-flow. They end up feeling that why they haven’t bought a can of wind with the turbine to see it working. To eliminate such frustrating situation, Missouri Wind and Solar has kept this kit’s cut-in speed in 6 MPH. Carries a 3 YEAR limited warranty.

All these things clearly explain why it consistently stood head and shoulders above the others. So, it won’t be any unwise decision to rely on this apparatus for triggering more energy on your yard for years to come.

T shirt Press Review

Who Should be Buying a Wind Turbine?

Recognizing the serious environmental and health threats from fossil-fueled power plants, and acknowledging the possibility of an apocalyptic disaster at any nuclear power plant, the American public, finally, has begun exploring the feasibility and practicality of drawing electric power from the wind and is now ready to buy a wind turbine.

Rural America has relied on wind power for decades. Even after the government completed rural electrification in 1964, far-flung communities continued generating much of their own power from hybrid diesel/wind systems. And the windmill remains a fixture on most American farms-not because it represents a cute and quaint testimonial to times past, but because it makes perfect economic sense. Many large farms connected to the grid only as a back-up for their own more ambitious wind turbine installations. Most American farmers and small manufacturers recognize the wisdom of buying wind turbines instead of paying for electricity. Soon, owners and operators of large industrial and office complexes ought to see a considerable financial advantage in buying wind turbines, too.

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Cities and suburbs had failed to keep pace with advances in alternative energy because they came of age in the sixties when everyone believed fossil fuel would last until nuclear power satisfied all our electrical needs. Now, as eagerness for the wind and solar power drives engineers and planners, preliminary studies suggest just about every North American community has geographic and weather conditions conducive to hybrid wind and solar power installations. We still can use our fingers to count the number of communities seriously considering investment in wind turbines.

Some wind power statistics deceive: The United States, for example, currently ranks second among modern industrialized nations in wind power generation. Only Germany produces more electricity from wind power. Cause for celebration many Americans may imagine. Except wind farms produce less than 1% of America’s total electricity. Thanks to reasonably successful wind power initiatives in California and throughout New England, commercial wind farms will push that number above 1% by 2010, driving the United States to #1 among the world’s wind energy producers. But 99% of the country will continue relying on old technology, suffering the consequences of greenhouse gases for the sake of considerably lower electric utility costs.

It ‘d be good if each American homeowner could buy and install his own little household power plant, setting himself free from the grid. But the physics of wind power just does not work that way. Geography, topography, climate, and housing density allow well over 90% of American homeowners to buy wind turbines just barely big enough to power their blenders or waffle irons-nothing more. For most American homes, a single small wind generator has approximately the same value as a yard gnome.

Looking at the nation’s twenty-first-century energy needs, America must abjure its love of rugged individualism and embrace community enterprise. No individual homeowner ever ought to buy a wind turbine. Every community should buy fields full of wind turbines.

Only a community cooperative, municipal corporation or public-private partnership should buy a wind turbine. And when a community invests in wind energy, it should buy and build as aggressively and ambitiously as apparently crazy visionaries recommend, because wind power benefits from economies of size and scale. Bigger always is better; more and mightier always work better than just a few little ones.

How Do Home Wind Turbines Work?

When contemplating installing a residential wind turbine on your property, it is important to know how this energy saving resource works. A typical wind power system is made of a wind tower and a turbine with multiple blades. The wind spins the blades, converting the wind energy into electricity. The height of the wind tower varies depending on the location of your house. The wind turbine blades collect the wind energy that is then converted to an electrical current that is compatible with your home. In a typical residential application, electrical power is provided by the wind turbine and the local utility. In essence, you can harness free energy from the wind, and use this energy to supplement the energy you are currently purchasing from other utilities.

Calculating Wind Turbines kW and Other Mysteries

I have spent my entire morning calculating and re-calculating wind turbines’ kW—their capacities and limits for generating electricity and energy in kilowatts per hour.  I consider this morning-long math marathon a mark of my emerging sophistication as a windophile, a crucial step in my apprenticeship as a “windsmith.”  Yes, Paul Gipe, author of the seminal text on wind power, dubbed the experts in all things windy “wind smiths.”  I like it; I want to become one; hence the protracted math homework on wind turbines’ “kW.”

Working with all my formulae and variables for wind turbines’ kW, I inadvertently, fortunately, have begun to sort my “need-to-know” list from my “wish-I-knew” list.  For example, I understand that “kilowatt” is the standard unit of measure for generating and consuming electricity; I do not really need to understand the relationship between watts and volts—at least, not yet anyway.  I must remember, though, that most of my appliances run on twelve-volt alternating current, and I cannot connect my (still imaginary) wind turbine directly to my household power without running it, first, through an inverter or transformer, converting it from direct current to alternating current.  Working-out my (still in the catalogue) wind turbine’s “kW,” I have mastered the difference between “power” and “energy”:  Oh sure, you think the two words represent the same atomic stuff surging through the wires, but “power” tells me what my (I should buy it) wind turbine can crank out in any old split-second.  “Energy,” on the other hand, tells me what my (durable, reliable, but still imaginary) wind turbine will produce over time—that kilowatt-hour deal that means so much.  Yes, I should know my wind turbine’s kW power, but I absolutely must know my wind turbine’s kW energy…first in kilowatt hours, for the sake of comparison, and then in kilowatts per month for the sake of calculating supply and demand.

Honestly, had I known my life as a supermom would involve these sophisticated equations and engineering concepts, I would have changed my Berkeley major from English to Engineering.  The way I see it, calculating my wind turbine’s kW requires the same intellect and imagination as conjuring the manifold meanings in “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”  C’mon, if I can do Wordsworth, surely I can do Watt times 1000.  “Wind turbine kW” will become my favorite metaphor for “dollars saved.”

You see, with aggressive conservation—especially with turning down the wintertime heating to the threshold of hypothermia and turning up the summertime margin of “cool” to the brink of heat exhaustion—we have cut our electric bill by nearly 50%.  Now, if only we could give-up food that requires refrigeration…  Last month we used 500 kilowatts of electricity.  I need to determine whether my (could-become-real) wind turbine’s kW can measure-up against that 500kw standard.

Watch me complete my windsmith’s midterm: The very biggest and best “small” wind turbine has the power to produce 50kw—in a gale.  On average, it runs at 30% of its capacity, so its energy comes in at a respectable 15kw, and “average” is a word which here means approximately the same as “in an hour.”  Okay, so my (I really want to buy it) wind turbine produces 15kw per hour or 360kw in a day.  We consume 0.69kw each day.  I do not even need to finish the problem to see that we could actually make some money on this deal.  If I have done all my calculations correctly, I will produce six times my family’s needs each day.

Before I order that beauty from the catalogue, I will seek advice from a “real” windsmith, because no one ever would rely on an English major’s math.

How Do Residential Wind Turbines Power Your Home?

In a normal residential application, a home is served simultaneously by the wind turbine and a local utility. If the wind speeds are low enough, the turbine will generate no electricity, and all of the electrical power must be purchased from the local utility. As the wind speed increases, the turbine’s output increases, and the homeowner’s electrical bill decreases. When the turbine produces more power than necessary, the extra power can be sold to the utility.

Wind Turbine Maintenance Safety Thoughts

A new commercial or industrial wind turbine ought to require little or no maintenance. Manufacturers construct twenty-first-century wind turbine blades from composite materials so that they will not corrode or require replacement; new blades ought to withstand even torturous conditions with little or no routine care. Similarly, reliable wind turbine builders fashion the latest generation of nacelles from rust proof or rust resistant alloys and powder coat the units for maximum durability; the units seal tightly, protecting the working parts inside. And, as with most major machinery, an ordinary wind turbine user will find no user-serviceable parts inside the nacelle. If the unit fails, it will require professional service. Even with all these features designed and guaranteed to keep your wind turbine running smoothly and reliably, the system still requires routine maintenance.

Tower Safety: paramount in wind turbine maintenance

While you plan and prepare for your wind turbine’s installation, take a course in and practice wind tower safety, because the majority of serious wind turbine injuries result from climbing accidents.

Always, as in always, remember to take your first and most important safety precaution before you strap on your safety harness belt and take your first step up the tower: Shutdown the turbine and furl the blades before you ascend. If you leave the machine running, a sudden shift in the wind’s direction can spin the blades right into you, slicing and dicing you as if you were so much meat and cheese for a chef’s salad.

Invest in good fall protection equipment, especially including a good helmet. Although good safety harness will break your fall and protect most of your body, it will do nothing to keep your skull and brains intact. Rather than shopping for a hardhat, look at helmets for rock climbing or mountaineering, because they will have the design features you need. Put simply; a hard hat will fall off easily as they don’t have chin straps. Getting ready to climb, remember to check your lanyard and harness before you strap-in; and, although it seems outrageously silly, make sure you strap-in correctly.

As you climb, work with a “spotter” who can alert you to dangerous conditions or potential problems. Depending on your tower’s design and construction, you may have to check handholds and footsteps as you climb, repairing or correcting defects with nearly every step. As you climb, focus on your next move; do not look all the way to the tower’s top, and steadfastly resist the urge to look down. Your brain and body can imagine you are on solid ground if you control where you direct your sight. When you reach the tower’s top, stay focused on the maintenance tasks you must perform. Unless you know your capacities and limits, and unless you have lots of climbing experience, you should resist the nearly overwhelming urge to take-in the view from up there. And, as you descend, resist the temptation to slide or rappel down the tower; for most climbers, coming down is tougher than going up.

Take care of yourself up there.

The higher you climb, the more you expose yourself to the elements. Everything that persuaded you to mount your wind turbine way up in the air is everything that poses a safety risk. The wind blows harder and more steadily up there than it does on the ground, so the chill factor intensifies. Even if your routine maintenance requires relatively delicate work with nuts, bolts, caps, and wires, protect your hands from cold…Or heat. In the winter, frostbite can set-in within just a few minutes of removing your gloves. Use gloves with clips if it’s cold so won’t drop them. No matter what season you climb the tower, make sure you stay hydrated because dehydration mimics intoxication. Also, make sure you stay nourished because a sugar lull will affect your concentration, balance, and coordination.

Yes, every wind Smith has more than a little cowboy in him, and the guys in the crew compete fiercely to see who emerges as “the alpha dog.” Know both your body’s limits and the limits of your luck. Sometimes, routine wind turbine maintenance does require calculated risk; it never requires recklessness.

Intuition taught you these fundamental Truths of wind turbine maintenance before you even came on the job. While you perform the work, use what you know.

Summary
Install a residential wind turbine, and use the wind that flows over your property to power your entire home. DIY residential wind turbines are a popular option for homeowners with the skills and tools to build these electrical generators. Residential wind turbines can also be purchased, with a large variety available online.

Last update on 2024-10-09 at 21:20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API Details