is there a law against...

Not against law I don't think, but regulations yes.

As said above, ring your local council and see what they say.

ags
 
No - it is perfectly OK for you to use it. I know someone that uses his for heating.

As long as you don't pollute it or stop/divert it's flow for your own gains - any part of it that is on your land you can make use of. Just remember though - you have no control of how much comes in or what the consequences are if it dries up.
 
i'm no geologist but it flows fast year-long, and getting 2-3kwh out of it would be realistic
energy prices are only going to increase - so it's worth looking into
having said that - it's my dad's property not mine
 
i once saw a program about an old lock house or whatever it was that has water flowing directly beneath part of the property and the bloke who happened to be an engineer had made his own water powered turbine (he said it would have cost many tens of thousands if he didnt make it himself from scratch)

so its possible

actually it was an old building along side a river that was once a victorian factory powered by water someone had converted into a home, it was on a property program but my google skills are failing because i cant find anything about it
 
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On radio 4 I heard something about electricity companies paying you for generating electricity, not just the stuff you put back in the grid, but the amount you make for yourself.

Might be happening in the future, or I dreamt it..
 
I saw one of them esacpe to the country type shows and it was a converted water mill and they had a river going through the house, it was freaking awesome.

either that or i dreamed it and its a cool idea
 
arknor said:
i once saw a program about an old lock house or whatever it was that has water flowing directly beneath part of the property and the bloke who happened to be an engineer had made his own water powered turbine (he said it would have cost many tens of thousands if he didnt make it himself from scratch)

so its possible

actually it was an old building along side a river that was once a victorian factory powered by water someone had converted into a home, it was on a property program but my google skills are failing because i cant find anything about it
Click to expand...

Sure it wasn't something like Countryfile? Swear I saw something similar as the report was talking about all the old water mills and how they could be converted.
 
BBC2 It's not easy being green, dick strawbridge of Scrapheap challenge fame added a water wheel generating electricity.

Iirc he had to ask the Environmental agency.
 
arknor said:
i once saw a program about an old lock house or whatever it was that has water flowing directly beneath part of the property and the bloke who happened to be an engineer had made his own water powered turbine (he said it would have cost many tens of thousands if he didnt make it himself from scratch)

so its possible

actually it was an old building along side a river that was once a victorian factory powered by water someone had converted into a home, it was on a property program but my google skills are failing because i cant find anything about it
Click to expand...

Dick Strawbridge from It's not easy being green ?

http://www.newhousefarm.tv/
 
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I doubt it, but there is regulations. Something like can't divert the flow or remove x-amount of water.
Phone up enviroment agency http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/default.aspx. They should give you all the stuff you need to know.

Have you thought about heat exchange pumps and heat solar panels?

Problem with generating electricity is storage which is expensive and takes large batteries which deteriorate.
This can be overcome if you can sell it straight to the grid. but that depends on what National grid support you have near you.
 
AcidHell2 said:
Problem with generating electricity is storage which is expensive and takes large batteries which deteriorate.
This can be overcome if you can sell it straight to the grid. but that depends on what National grid support you have near you.
Click to expand...

that's true, any electricity generated would either heat oil or water for immediate use, eg for central heating or hot water for immediate use
 
You need a hell of a lot of power to heat water.
A heat exhcange pump would probably be more efficient at that job. Although no idea on cost for either.
really depends how much power you can generate with in regulations.
Be interested to hear what Environment agency say.
 
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