anyone know of a product that lets me generate electricity from my wood fireplace?

steam engine but uses a lot of water

stirling engine.

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

would a series of turbines up the inside of the flue work?

hmm, if they were light-weight perhaps. too many moving parts though

damn man, a steam engine????


Tegpower.com

or google youtube thermoelectric generator

[link to static.fjcdn.com]

theres reports of some word burning phone chargers in the Hurican Sandy aftermath

[link to www.youtube.com]

this looks promising

Get a hamster and a hamster wheel, tie a bunch of wires and magnets to it and shit, and voila! Free electricity!

Watch out, some government official will probably confiscate it though, citing some bullshit health or fire regulation or some shit.

TEG = Thermal electric generator

Here's a start and if you're a DIYer look for TEG on e-bay

[link to www.tegpower.com]

Late to the party am I

The modules used to be called "Peltier" after the Peltier–Seebeck effect. They are the same type of module that cools solid state portable fridges, water coolers, etc. If you supply power heat is moved from one side to the other, resulting in one side being cold, and the other side being hot (Peltier Effect}.

They also work in reverse (Which is what you want), i.e. when heat is applied to one side, and a heatsink is on the other side it will generate a dc voltage (Seebeck Effect).

I have made a peltier powered fan that blows warm air from the top of a wood heater....it works well.

This wiki has a fair amount of detail: [link to en.wikipedia.org]

There are heaps of pages that show details of making peltier powered fans etc, such as: [link to www.karlander.net]

The large propane powered mosquito traps, like the "Mosquito Magnet" use a peltier module to convert excess heat from the catalyst into DC to power the suction fan...that way you don't need any batteries.

Hope that is some help.

Last Edited by tag067663 on 11/07/2012 11:26 PM

How about a large thermocoupling, similar to the ones found on gas water heaters

Yes...it's called a thermistor. They use the heat difference between two ends of a piece of metal to create electron flow...i.e. electricity. I've used a thermistor array to power a light bulb from the heat of a handful of votive candles before.

its called Biolite campstove:
[link to www.itaci.cz]

Last Edited by Funney on 11/08/2012 01:49 AM

No But you can get a fan that sits on top of the box type and will spin without electricity. Move the warm air around. Circulate it.

You can produce electricity from wood waste if you have thousands of dollars and a huge area. But not for your home. Sorry.

now come on, not everybody is a scientist! cut out the technical talk and explain it in everyday terms that people can understand!!!!

I suggest generating electricity by harnessing wind power with a windmill and storing that electricity on a battery until needed.

You could also generate electricity if you have any running water on your property (hydroelectric approach) like a river or stream and that electricity could also be stored on a battery until needed.

Lastly, it sounds like the amount of electricity you are wanting to use from an alternate source could also be provided through a couple of solar panels with any excess electricity stored on a battery.

Last Edited by Biochemky on 11/08/2012 02:22 AM

That is called a thermopile. They are used on old furnaces and new gas fireplaces. The simple science behind them is that you get electricity when you heat up two dissimilar metals. So, in theory.... (one I've imagined before) You could build an entire stove out of such materials and get your electricity that way.
Would it be cost effective though? Maybe not.
Could you get a bunch of thermopiles and arrange them in your wood stove and hook them up together?
Sure. Could be done.

yeah a nice small petrol generator will fit in there

Won't help when the gas stations run out of gas, all from a bit of wind and rain. Happened here in the US just now with Sandy. I had to deal with it.

Makes you wake up and realize how civilization just barely hangs on by a thread.

Stirling engine or wood gas engine

You can't restrict the smoke or let it cool too much as it won't go up the chimney.

How much electricity do you wish to generate?

What are you going to do in the Summer?

TEG is good... here is a alternative, if you want more power, with a less investment cost.

[link to www.greensteamengine.com]

Really smart and light-weight steam engine. Several HP.