!: Is it Possible to Build Homemade Windmills?

Some people have made a lot of homemade windmills in their backyard that do not even look like the traditional ones that you have probably seen, though the concept is the same and it does a more efficient job. Building one and installing it in your home can really save you a lot in power costs. You may also opt to use solar panels. They have no movable parts, but they take longer to store power and may not work that efficiently during cloudy days.

First, let us discuss the concept of a windmill. Windmills are mechanical machines which catch the wind force through blades to generate power directly or store it in a battery. A smaller system can be used to pump water, having a direct drive shaft which is connected together by sets of gears. From the blades, the gears increase the number of times the pump moves so that it will take little turns for more pumping of water. This can be stored in a water tank. If you have no need of water, all you must do is free wheel the blades from the gears through a lever. This will detach the connection between the blades and the pump. Or there are some systems where they collapse the blades so they do not catch the wind. This is useful when there are storms with strong winds.

The speed of such a mechanical device is determinant on its height, length, and pitch of the blades. The height will allow you to catch a range of winds. You may not need that big a machine. You just need to elevate it through the use of a tower. The length, the number, and the angle of the blades are computed based on the speed of the winds that you expect.

Larger ones can be used to power some electrical appliances in your home. These work by generating current then storing it into a series of car or truck batteries. You can either use a battery inverter for you to be able to convert these to 110V or your appliances have to be in 12V or 24V so you can plug it directly to the battery.

Try searching the Internet for designs of your windmill. There is even a design that looks like a coiled egg, and it works more efficiently than most modern blade type designs. There are also some vendors for these and some may not be that expensive. If you do not have any idea about the installation, do not try it on your own. There are computations and factors for making cheap and efficient homemade windmills.