I was about to suggest REUK... You can find just about anything on self sufficiency power generation on there. Likewise the CAT at Machynlleth.

I have a 300W 12V DC -> 230V 50Hz inverter. Bought it in Maplin's for about £28 a few years ago. It's more than enough to run all my house lights (energy savers) + my boiler & central heating pump when the power goes off. Run it off a spare 12V battery from my diesel car (high amp-hour capacity) - just keep swopping the batteries between car and spare every couple of weeks to keep them healthy...

A 'leisure battery' would be better as they have a better deep cycle capacity.

Works a treat. Just have to remember not to put too many lights on to keep things running for the maximum amount of time before the battery gets drained...

Just depends how much power you want - ok for lights and your boiler / CH pump but if you want to run cookers, kettles and microwaves, use LPG or a multi-fuel stove / AGA type of thing. Since our old house sits high above Mold, close to the Llandegla Moors, power outages have to be catered for hence we cook on LPG, supplementary heating from multi-fuel and have some nice brass oil lamps. Oh, and the aforesaid inverter / battery...

BFN

Clive

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I was about to suggest REUK... You can find just about anything on self sufficiency power generation on there. Likewise the CAT at Machynlleth.

I have a 300W 12V DC -> 230V 50Hz inverter. Bought it in Maplin's for about £28 a few years ago. It's more than enough to run all my house lights (energy savers) + my boiler & central heating pump when the power goes off. Run it off a spare 12V battery from my diesel car (high amp-hour capacity) - just keep swopping the batteries between car and spare every couple of weeks to keep them healthy...

A 'leisure battery' would be better as they have a better deep cycle capacity.

Works a treat. Just have to remember not to put too many lights on to keep things running for the maximum amount of time before the battery gets drained...

Just depends how much power you want - ok for lights and your boiler / CH pump but if you want to run cookers, kettles and microwaves, use LPG or a multi-fuel stove / AGA type of thing. Since our old house sits high above Mold, close to the Llandegla Moors, power outages have to be catered for hence we cook on LPG, supplementary heating from multi-fuel and have some nice brass oil lamps. Oh, and the aforesaid inverter / battery...

BFN

Clive

I'll give a vote for the deep cycle leisure battery, had one at a remote location, very good indeed.

All this is interesting though, take domestic house lighting, not that long ago it was the filament bulb then the waste of space energy bulb, now we can get the same amount of light (or maybe more) out of low voltage LED's so maybe we should rehash our light circuits for low voltage if we have the means to power them, not sure of the power/lumens of LED's compared to energy saving bulbs, but if LED's are lower power per lumen then just drop and rectify the mains, fit LED's and throw away those horrible energy type bulbs (I hate them) and save some more energy.

Lozz.

Moderators!!! this is getting seriously off topic, I want to keep this thread going but feel guilty of diverting it, could one of you prune it and start a dedicated line please?. 😞 😞

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OK, I appreciate the input from everyone, can any of you give some idea of how to measure flow rate?
Bury a 50 gallon drum in the stream bed and use a stop watch? - not practical since the streams run on bedrock!
"v" notch, - involves a certain amount of engineering, I do have a National Park to consider.
Other suggestions?

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I tried the V notch but due to silt removal under the board by the rate of flow on my site I found it difficult, it was a long time ago but if I remember correctly I did average width x average depth x a fixed length then timed a floating object between start of and finish of said length, I think I tried it at several points along the flow and it all seemed to tally up ok.

(Edit: the above method should give you a reasonable idea although it can be subject to various variables such as rocks or other things at the bottom of the stream, I chose points along the flow that had similar terrain properties)

Lozz.

A few methods, Lozz suggestion is Number 2

http://www.appropedia.org/How_to_measure_stream_flow_rate 

From the aged book.

🔗Personal-Album-1695-Image-86009[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1695-Image-86009[/linkphoto][/flink
🔗Personal-Album-1695-Image-86010[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1695-Image-86010[/linkphoto][/link]

Expensive looking bit of kit.

http://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/2269851/ppf-explores-taking-ownership-of-uk-coal-reports 

The Times also reported that last week the government were considering nationalising Daw Mill. "We are looking at whether the ownership of Daw Mill can be transferred back to the Coal Authority," Michael Mallon, the Business Minister, said.

And what will the Coal Authority do with a Colliery that was scheduled to close early next year?

God knows, they never went into much detail. Maybe it's a way of saving jobs or money that's been invested. I never thought I'd see the day when the Tories would consider nationalising a pit!