| By :
Roger Brown
If you are in the market for wind kits for your home you have to take the time to first understand your power needs. The question is how much electricity and where you have the potential to install it. The first thing to do is outline your objectives for electricity production. There are many things that can be done with the power you harvest from your property: * Charge a battery * Run a pump * Electrify your hold house * Export to the grid Charging a battery may be the easiest and best way to get going in the wind generation business. If you want to install the system and power your whole house or export energy to the grid, these scenarios are a lot more complicated because you have to involve an electrician experienced at tieing-in to existing electrical systems. After that, get a feel for the wind you have available. By that I mean, understand the wind patterns at different places and altitudes. Without question, the best place to install a wind turbine is above the level of ground obstacles. If the highest tree and the top of your house are at 60 feet, then the strongest and most consistent wind will be about 30 feet over that, or at 90 feet. The obstructions close to the ground diffuse wind and make it difficult to consistently drive a turbine. Obviously, a windmill on a tower is not always an option, especially if you live in a city. Nonetheless, you will likely be able to find at least a few spots on your property that can be used for a wind generator. Your goal will be to identify those few places and select a windmill best designed to take advantage of the wind found there. All of this research will drive you to what type of wind turbine to buy. There are 2 places that are often overlooked for installation: 1. Peak of your roof 2. Top of your chimney You can take advantage of "Roof Effect" by putting your turbine at the apex of the ridge line of your roof. Roof Effect is what happens when air hits the slanted surfaces and accelerates. A place that many wind turbine buyers overlook for placing their turbine is on their chimney. Placing it there gives you a better shot at unobstructed wind. The problem of course is you may have to take it down entirely if you have a fire going. The best way to validate exactly where your turbine should go is to use an anemometer. An anemometer is a small hand-held device that measures and records wind speed and direction. You can mount it at different spots where your wind turbine might be placed and leave it to collect data for a week. That way you can find out if there is enough wind at the roof's apex or chimney to drive the turbine. Summarizing - getting the most out of home wind kits requires some homework but there are usually at least a couple places to install one on most any property. Chimneys and peaks of roofs - validated by real-time anemometer data - are great locations that are often overlooked.
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