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Chimney Mill
Domestic windmill that retracts into the chimney | |
Most houses built over 20 years ago still have chimneys, although very few people still use open fires. What I propose it making use of these chimneys by housing a power-generating windmill system in the ceiling space, with the windmill itself housed in the chimney. This can be raised and lowered as
required, enabling the household to use solar during the day and at night raise the windmill. The windmill design I envisage is not the blade style, but the revolving column style if you know what I mean.
Like this? but smaller
http://i.treehugger...ev_wind_turbine.jpg
[37PiecesOf Flair, Dec 21 2007]
Ah, yes, chimney cowls
http://www.toast-fi...es.co.uk/cowls.html
[DrCurry, Dec 22 2007]
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Annotation:
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Cute, and I have a chimney, but my gas furnace and gas hot water heater use it. Also the opening inside is only 8x8, so that leaves a pretty thin windmill.
But it does avoid permits, so I bun(+) just for that. |
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It wouldn't be rocket science to make the blades fold out (like a umbrella) after deployment. |
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Could it also employ some fins angled to take advantage of rising smoke currents, like those candle thingies? |
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Methinks Santa's job just got a little bit harder. |
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I have often seen little round-bladed fans whirling away at the top of chimneys, although I've never known what purpose they served (keeping the rain out?). Clearly, those could be repurposed without too much fuss. |
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// little round-bladed fans // |
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Cowls; the rotary ones improve the draught in chimneys that might be prone to smoke under certain wind directions and speeds. |
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If I understand, you want a sort of pop-up
vertical turbine to come up out of the
chimbley? I don't know about yours, but
my chimney stacks would come down with
a good shove, let alone the lateral thrust
of a worthwhile wind turbine. |
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I was originally thinking a savonius, which would be tough to fold out, but if you did a eggbeater type, it should be easy to fold out, even from my tiny chimney. |
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So, it goes up the chimney down, but can't go down the chimney up? |
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