Mag-Wind Vertical Axis Turbine for your Home

I drive past the one in Grimsby, Ontario every day. It seems to spin pretty good most days... much better than the smaller one they had before.

Quite a lot of discussion on the claims presented by MagWind. Google yourself, or check out this one: http://blogs.onenw.org/jon/archives/2003/01/27/wind-power-for-urban-buildings/

Seems possible but unlikely. Who's to say until one is actually in use with verified data.

Lets see... wind speed*cost of electricity/Heisenberg constant plus interest rates in Japan... can anyone figure that out to get a price on that thing? Looks nice though. I'm thinking it wouldn't be hard to make a home made one too.

The Japanese have introduced short-sleeve suits for their businesswear, buit I don't think that willt mesh well with western sensibilities. We might better take a queue from the classic British linen suitings, and also from the classic Etonian outfit, which is blazer, tie, and shorts!

Anybody know how much it costs?

LA: I think around 8K for the turbine, 19K installed with batteries and inverter.

As to the price, the article says the ROI would be 3 years or less if your current (no pun intended, ha!) bill is $300 or more per month, so $300 * 12 months * 3 years is $10k. Or am I missing something?

inaudable? im sorry, i fail to see how this would be inaudible. but i am all for alternative energy...

Yeah I'm wondering about the cost as well....I checked out their website but it just says to contact them...wonder if they also have info on different laws in diff. countries and states regarding the power grid.

John
http://www.monomachines.com

Cost,

I'm not sure if I'm reading it right. But if it cost about 3.5cents per kW over 10 years. and produces 1100kwH/month on average. That's 1100kW*12 months*10 years= 132000kWh at 3.5 cents that's 132000kWh*(3.5cents)= $4620. Not sure if my math is right, but that's seems better than the $10,000 turbine that's forsale

So cost $4620 ?

I contacted them on the website but have yet to hear back on cost and more details. Optimistic about the idea but pessimistic about this particular one with such little detail on the website (including no pictures of actual installed turbines).

I'm thinking, in order to avoid the cost of inverter/batteries it would make sense, at least in Canada, to connect the turbine directly to a DC electric furnace or some kind of heating coils which would result in lower heating bills for most of the year. Then you could maybe plug it into a DC air conditioning unit in the summer (the kind they have in cars and boats) so that you'd get a cool house when its windy.

seems to me like an easy way to save 10000$.

re john

the electricity here costs about 5 times as much as it seems to cost for you, so over here it would pay off in less than 10 years. i think on most of europe the electricity price is at least 0.1 USD (3 times over your specified margin), and besides saving money, one could also accidentally save the planet.

Sadly, notice that there's no new information on the site passed December of 2005. I'd be concerned.

You want to "save the planet"? Learn to recognize an obvious scam.

or at least run a Google search

http://www.wind-works.org/articles/Mag-WindPyramidalPower.html

(for those unfamiliar Paul Gipe is a respected author in the 'small wind' industry)

LA: I spoke with the inventor, who says that Paul Gipe got the math wrong, was looking at an early prototype, and does not accept the principle of roof effect, which is well established and accepted by others. He did not want to get into a shouting match with Gipe who is not respected by him, and stands by his product and his numbers. We will follow up with a visit to the factory soon.

It should also be noted that even if this thing breaks the laws of physics and actually does perform as well as they say it does, people do not typically live in places that have an average 13mph wind speed.

It doesn't sound like much, but check what your local weather station says the wind speed is on a day when you think it's unusually windy. Most towns in Western nations manage, what, an average of 5mph, if that?

I have met the inventors, neither have any engineering or science background whatsoever. The numbers they claim for this unit are a practical impossibility at this juncture. The efficiency ratio required does not exist on planet earth for this VAWT or any other for that matter. Caveat emptor baby.

I just got off the phone with a distrubitor and did a little digging. I ilive in Dallas. Our average wind speed is 10.7 MPH. The unit is $15K installed, with batteries and an inverter. I don't give a hoot about batteries, so I am going to look into getting one without them.

In Dallas, we pay about 13 cents per KwH. Assuming a 5% increase in electricity costs per year and that the unit can generate on average 900KwH per month, it would take just shy of 9 years to pay back.

By my calculations, in Texas, this is substantially better than solar.

HI this jagan from india i got an average wind speed of 8 MPH, on my roof. But i had constrain of 36 inch working area.I need to genarate 800 kwpermonth . can u suggest me which type of wind mill is suitable for me and how much USD it will cost for the complete instalations.

I should not have my opion since other institutions (Not rright time to have their names pulic) and I, we are developing and testing other type (100% lift force) vertical turbine configurations.- even we have lab work, wind tunnel models. . .

But as public service I think i should post this link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_6410000/newsid_6419300/6419397.stm

In case you wonder what ours look a like then.'

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wind+wave+turbine&search=Search

I hope ypu enjoy it.

Thanks

Phi

here on the east central coast of florida - winds are pretty constant - and may be best area for efficient return on investment. placing turbine between homes - increases wind (15 mpg constant long term is common) and decreases potential bird kills - since they do not fly between houses (15 feet apart) - question salt and sand problem like everything on ocean side - high maintenance may be biggest obstacle- how is this coated? teflon? chrome? high grade aluminum? high grade stainless steel? all a must. need to support good hybrid dev and encourage improvements for future - rather pay $ to non utility firm and get supplemental energy from non electric source - any word on European residential turbine featured on Discover channel in March 2007?

Hi, I`m from Romania and I`m interested about this mag-Wind1100. Can anyone tell me if it`s any distributor in Europe?
Thanks, and I`m waiting for new subjects.

I dont understand why would this wind turbine be so expensive,
btw have you seen this one
www.windside.com

I live just a couple of miles from their plant in McKinney Texas and have been on their waiting list for over a year. I have been able to see their prototype on a home a few miles east of here and tour the plant where the assembly is to take place. Apparently, they are having some problems on the electrical engineering side. As far as the turbine itself, I have been able to actually see and play with one that was assembled and just sitting there. The concept is better than anything else that I have seen to date. But I still can’t get one on my roof!

SPECIFICATIONS ABOUT THE PRODUCT Mag-Wind Vertical Axis Turbine . TO BE INSTALLED IN IIFORD , LONDON ,U.K . ANY DISTRIBUTORS IN ENGLAND . ALSO DETAILS OF ANY OTHER SUITABLE MODELS

I just got off the phone with Mag-Wind. Apparently the 1100 has had some production issues and will not be available for a while. The salesman couldn't give me a price either.

I love this kind of stuff, has there been much written about running most house utilities off 12V
instead of grid power? From what I've read, it seems fully feasible to set up a combination
solar/wind setup, build a good battery system to
go with it, and keep grid power for the stove/dryer etc....

HI, This is Raja sekhar from Hyderabad.whether The product is avilable or not in india through any authorised dealer and wht is the selling price.wht about gaurenttey.

That turbine is way to small to get 5Kw/h. You would be lucky if it produced 1Kw/h. I wish these people would not make such unsubstanciated claims because it gives the industry a "snake oil" name. If they told the truth, they may actually sell a few...

They list vector systems of Texas as their fabircator. I contacted Ken Smith, a vice president there. Who stated that they no longer have any affliation with that company, (MagWind). And yet they are listed as the fabricator on the web page of MagWind.

There is a lot of controversy about this technology but an article I found in the St. Catherines Standard ( http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=838353&auth=Matthew+Van+Dongen) makes it pretty clear that it is not a good idea to invest any money in one of these devices at present.

well wind is free for now but if we change the fed gov would find away to make us pay for it you can belive that they charge us for airwaves we cant even see so do not assume its free the president turns a fan on there we control the wind now start sending out the bills

Btw at the current time if you click the link for Mag Wind above you will get a page that states a new Mag Wind page is coming soon. No other information is available. One of the changes to the new page, I suspect. Will be that they no longer list Vector Systems as their fabricator. Wonder what their new page will be like and when it will appear.

I bet this thing would be ideal for harnessing
water currents or tidal power

Can any one please tell me how to directly contact the manufacturer or a reputable distributor. Telephone numbers, please, because the company website isn't functional.

Thanks.

BSL

soy de PuertyRico como puedo saber mas de las turbinas verticales

Id love to know if this comes with snakeoil to lubricate the moving parts?

There are so many claims here that just do not jive with physics. First and foremost, I'd love to know the wind swept area of this device, because that is one of the key components in determining the power it can generate. Claims of 5KWh at 28 MPH, that would require a wind swept area of approximately 12 square meters or 130 square feet!!!. (This is assuming the unit is highly efficient and makes use of a minimum of 35% of the power it can actually produce.)

Look at the ad, the guy testing the thing, it's photoshopped. Is there actually one of these things in service somewhere making power to the claims?

Ok, call me skeptical...read here for a no nonsense guide: http://www.otherpower.com/windbasics1.html

how much is the mag wind for email me when someone gets this at hj4lyfe@yahoo.com thanks

I think the idea is fantastic and is the way of alternative electric, solar panels I've always believe was not the way to go. But wind turbine is definitely the true alternative. The main part or puzzle, if you will, has been solve which is the vertical turbine, now the fuel cell can be worked out later which should not be a big deal really, because we have been building battery now for years, we just now need to find ways of containing that energy for longer period of time. I look forward in marketing this product in the near future if given the opportunity to do so.

How much? When is it available in US?

How much? When is it available in US?

If this unit takes approx. 10 years to recapture costs,
has anyone found out what the economic life of this unit is?
If its' total life is 10 years then it wouldn't be worth the cost.

If this unit takes approx. 10 years to recapture costs,
has anyone found out what the economic life of this unit is?
If its' total life is 10 years then it wouldn't be worth the cost.

When figuring ROI, and this is from a person living in the U.S., you have to factor in the Billions of Dollars spent in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the terrible cost and future costs of all of the injured people, the interest on the national debt, the cost to rebuild infrastructure overseas as well as recouping the cost of decaying infrastructure here in the States because the money is going elsewhere...like Haliburton moving their corporate offices to Dubai, and so on, and so on, and so on.

So, what is the cost of residential wind energy? There is no cost. Only profit. Only Profit.

Regarding cost and ROI -

Ubove Odysseus makes the leap that most either are not capable of (or worse) choose to ignore.

But, it is a leap no less that I wish most could come to grips with.

what are the deficiencies of this aparatus with coastal applications. its susceptability to salt? and what is the cost

Wow, i was researching what i thought was my own idea for a vertical home wind energy generator, not knowing that such a thing exsisted. i designed my idea in my head and then decided to look on the internet for parts when i came across your site. i was very taken back to see something so close to what i had came up with

Could someone point me to the website? Pls. shoot me an email at dow@capitalformationltd.com

Before anyone gets too excited over this technology ! About a year ago I read an article in one of the national newspapers in Canada about a person who put up a wind turbine. The municipality where he lived considered it an improvment to his property and jacked up his property taxes more than he was saving on electricty. Never herd a resolution to this so you might want to check with your city/town building department.

No good deed goes unpunished.

I have a coloniial house with a finished attick and basement, which is approcimately 2600 square
feet. The house is totally electric, no other energy source..What type of wind power would we
require, and approximate cost to purchase needed
equipment. If someone would like to see the house
that would be great.

can someone e-mail us, this sounds very exciting. We have a roof that is perfect, with a huge expanse and at least a 10' rise, also being near the coast we get wind! Year round wind.
Does anyone in Mill Valley or Marin County have one of these? We would love to see one.
Who would do the installation?
We have the perfect situation....We would love to see this happen. I could e-mail a picture of our roof.
Congratulations on such a great design.

I live on the St Johns River in NE Florida. The wind here is pretty constant. If 1 turbine is good, would 2 be better? Would I have to put in twice as much electronic control equipment or just stick another turbine on the existing control equipment? Basic reason behind my question, how much power is needed to run the average house per month and how much power would this produce? I was looking into installing solar panels, but it costs so much that I thought I'd look at other options.

is that true that the hiegt of VAWT is 1.2 m (4ft) and the diametre is 1.2 m (4ft) is that aneed

thanks

Oh brother, one thing that gets old in this business is all the misconception of vertical wind turbine designs. The explanation of the roof effect is one of the best points of this article. Other than that, just more hype and misdirection for consumers who are new to wind energy. See my Rooftop Wind Turbines, they enjoy same effects but are proven three bladed design and engineering.

People think that vertical wind turbines are a new idea, but they were patented in the 1930's and there's a reason that you don't see them deployed as commercial utility class designs... They are not as efficient and proven in practice. So, here we go again, cool idea, but simply pound for pound WILL NOT outperform a three bladed residential wind turbine kit like I fabricate and sell at WindEnergy7.com.

I am a designer, developer, and fabricator of small wind energy products that my company sells online. We have a growing dealer network of individuals who use my products. Customers have found the kits to be easy to deploy and understand. Many customers have found it easy to become customer/dealers. Many are playing with the idea of home wind turbines these days, experimenting. If you want a real proven, working turbine for your home, don't put your money on vertical wind turbine designs. I have them on my roof now. My $.02

Oh brother, one thing that gets old in this business is all the misconception of vertical wind turbine designs. The explanation of the roof effect is one of the best points of this article. Other than that, just more hype and misdirection for consumers who are new to wind energy. See my Rooftop Wind Turbines, they enjoy same effects but are proven three bladed design and engineering.

People think that vertical wind turbines are a new idea, but they were patented in the 1930's and there's a reason that you don't see them deployed as commercial utility class designs... They are not as efficient and proven in practice. So, here we go again, cool idea, but simply pound for pound WILL NOT outperform a three bladed residential wind turbine kit like I fabricate and sell at WindEnergy7.com.

I am a designer, developer, and fabricator of small wind energy products that my company sells online. We have a growing dealer network of individuals who use my products. Customers have found the kits to be easy to deploy and understand. Many customers have found it easy to become customer/dealers. Many are playing with the idea of home wind turbines these days, experimenting. If you want a real proven, working turbine for your home, don't put your money on vertical wind turbine designs. I have them on my roof now. My $.02

well hate to burst some bubbles but like they have said in this thread the unit as shown defies normal physics for power output ability.
also a gentleman here a number of years ago ( about 18years ago) built an almost identical unit in size style and shape and was built on some of the highest precision bearings available for support. stainless steel fins with what most call today and axial flux generator around the outside ring.
true to style his output average was aprox 350 to 425 kw per month on a unit 4 feet tall and 46 inches across the diameter at base in winds averaging from 8 to 14 mph depending on time of year. with the newer technology magnets out today yes maybe the output could be a bit higher.
the unit pictured here would be dependent on the coil arrangement, number of coils,total number of magnets, gauss rating of magnets, magnetic pole air gaps and total number of magnets . Not to mention how are the coils rated for gage of wire and how are the coils wired in 3 phase ac star or delta formation or single phase then filtered.there are so many variables to judge without the specs in hand.

overall having worked with electrical power since i was a kid and working with generator systems and renewable energy there is no way this unit show can support its claim of 1100 kw a month in 13mph winds regardless of the wiring and generator set up.

I get sick to my stomach every time I read MagWind on some website with their bogus claims. They are shysters, their claims are bs and can someone can only come close to matching them in perfect controlled conditions. And even then....

http://www.wind-works.org/articles/Mag-WindPyramidalPower.html

In the Northern tip of Southern Michigan where I reside is a class 2 or 3 wind site (and a 4.5 to 5 solar). Wind is very dynamic weekly and cyclical at lower speeds almost daily. In my experiments with wind, usable windspeeds are as fleeting as the wind. In order to capture this effectively 5kw or larger may be feasible but have proven to be expensive. Although the energy is free, the cost of capture is not. A low wind capture would never pay for itself.
We have wind power supplying Mackinaw City (2Mw) but the cost of maintenance, rate payments for supplying the grid and distribution fees seem cost prohibitive. My neighbor installed an Airstream 2kw system on the shore of Lake Huron. The installers placed it at a height shorter than the trees cutting direct wind by 180 degrees. The net-metering is self monitored and the rate of buy back(1.67 cents unless 10kw is produced), meter fees($12), distribution charges(2%) and cost of installation ($11,000) make it a noble venture in name only. The utilities are in business to make money for power, not buy it. A low power system such as this would only be effective for standby power with battery backup.
Personally, I would never drop below 50ft for a turbine height, nothing less than 5kw and configured in an off grid design. This will utilize available power 100% and reduce your carbon footprint through your utility. This is what I am striving for. Rooftop systems like I said seem noble and roof effect may be plausible on a ranch in North Dakota with open prairie but in most applications such as urban sprawl, sites would have to be selective to utilize it and not everyone would share the joy.

Other applications such as pumping water can be accomplished with back to back stepper motors. Since they are asynchronous, the input of one will match the output of the other almost directly and with one stepper to a pump energy is translated to stored water in a tank. Ranches can use this in a low cost fashion for cattle or irrigation. It would hardly be practical in an urban setting where your water is metered.

Can you tell me what is needed to use this equiptment independent of purchased power?
and can this unit supply enough power to operate 4 double pole 20amp circuits supplying 64 ft of cadet liquid filled baseboard heaters?
I prefer a separate system to use this unit.
and give me a ballpark figure on total cost without labor?
Thank You
A Leone

Hello,

You can look at this dual turbine rooftop wind system here at WindEnergy7. WindEnergy7 has dealers now in 10 states and spreading. These are real effective turbines, not hype and fluff. Rooftop wind is spreading across the US. WindEnergy7 is shipping them now and it all works great. I read the comments about experts refuting the "rooftop effect". These are people who have also posted all over the internet about rooftop wind and vibration etc. well, that's why the rooftop method and apparatus that WindEnergy7.com is selling is patent pending. These aren't wobbly wooden bladed junkyard turbines. The design and engineering is new and developed by WindEnergy7 to solve the problems of rooftop pioneers and take a working system to the masses. It's here, you can buy one now. These are quiet and smooth in heavy wind and no fluff or hype to it.

See Rooftop Dual Turbine Install

Wind turbines are of two types; a horizontal wind turbine, which has its rotor shaft placed at the top of its body and must be pointed at the wind, and a vertical wind turbine which has its rotor placed vertically and at a lower point.