If you have purchased a turbine form us in the past, and require yearly maintenance, we’re here to provide:

• Head-loss checks and pipe inspection, evaluation of pigging necessity (Pigging available upon request at additional charge).
• Head level check and water lever ‘hunting’.
• Controller configuration.
• Full visual spear-valve inspection and part replacement (at additional cost unless under warranty).
• Checking of all bolt tightness against torque charts.
• Visual inspection of all gaskets (replacements where necessary, at additional cost unless under warranty).
•  Checking turbine synchronization speed settings and re-calibration (if required).
• High voltage cable checks including temperature, visual inspections and corrosion.
• All wire terminals checked for tightness and all cables visually inspected.
• Restricted checks of SCS controller and capacitors. Any major issues brought to our attention must be carried out by SCS.
• Full visual inspection of generator, including Acoustic checks in DB, Vibratory checks and bearing wear.
• A full visual inspection of turbine case and runner, including bolts and all safety implements.
• Visual inspection of Intake screens, HoF and a report on any wear and tear that may need action. (quote for any required works  outside of warranty can be
  arranged).

As project managers we can offer a full build for your scheme, including all site construction elements.

Having designed and built many of our own schemes and those of our clients we are uniquely suited to undertake all building requirements, knowing exactly what is required to maximize your schemes potential whilst minimizing build costs.

We can provide simple effective weir intakes built out of cast concrete or, should the site require it, our own stainless steel intake boxes, fabricated to suite your design flow. These can be cheaper and much easier to install on schemes with limited water or river access.

We can plan and dig your pipe route, ensuring that it follows a precise and logical path, to eliminate low spots in your pipe and remove the worry of air getting trapped.

We can weld and lay your pipe, construct your turbine house and should your build require any specialist trades we endeavor to locally source any sub-contracted labor, helping your local economy,  to keep the cost of your project to a minimum and cut down on traffic and unnecessary emissions.

Spear valves:
Our Spear Valves are a valve and a nozzle in one fitting that gives a continuous control over the flow of water. We build and provide a motorized spear valve which can be controlled by a logic circuits to maintain constant water level in your intake and maximize energy production even on very low part load, below 5% of design flow on a multi jet machine.

Fabricated from 304 SS, TiG welded in South Wales, we currently produce 3″, 4″, 5″, 6″ and 8″ spear valve Assembly. All our spear valves come motorized with a 12v DC actuator operating 6 Nm of force at 25 RPM. Higher capacity motors are available for higher head schemes.

Runners:
Every runner is bespoke to a scheme, the size will have an effect on the speed it rotates. This needs to be matched up with the rated speed of the generator.
Higher power turbines require larger, therefore stronger runners, which will rotate at a slower rpm, the speed will then be dictated by the amount of spoons in the runner.

Pig Launcher:
In certain circumstances there isn’t a maintenance port at the intake. This will be problematic when it comes to pig the pipe in the future. A pig launcher will allow pigging access without health and safety risk, often overseen in early developments.

Hand rails:
When it comes to sites that have public right of way, it is normally a planning requirement to have hand rails to provide a safety barrier between the public and anything that could be a danger.

Tailrace grid:
Normal planning requirements state that the tail-race must be inaccessible to fish and other animals. We can fabricate a suitable solution.

A Key aspect of any good hydro-electric project is a well designed cost efficient intake. Poorly designed intakes will create head loss, poorly constructed ones will allow debris down the pipe, damage your turbine or simply wash away.

At Hydrover we design build and install a variety of different intakes to suit all sizes of river and scheme. By looking at the design flow, terrain, bedrock level and accessibility we can come up with a unique solution for your scheme.

We currently offer a feasibility study to assess what may be required for your hydro-electric project. After assessment we may send our builders up to construct an efficient poured concrete weir whilst our fabrication team build a bespoke stainless wedge wire intake screen to be fitted on completion. Alternatively, you may benefit form a stainless steel intake box, complete with wedge wire screen. This would fit on to a precast wing wall and could sit on a cast concrete slap or even sit on legs supported on bedrock, for those really tricky locations. 

Maybe you have started a project and have a contractor who has already designed and constructed and intake, or perhaps someone has already told you you need a steel intake box. Simply send us the dimensions of what you require and we can build stainless wedge wire screens and steel intake boxes to your existing plans.

All our wire designs and intake boxes are designed for easy pigging access.

Pigging in this context refers to the practice of a foam bung known as “pigs” being inserted at the intake via a ‘pig launcher’ or other form of access to perform various maintenance operations such as clearing the pipeline of stones and debris (usually after construction but before turbine operation) or removing peat buildup inside the pipe.

The advantage of pigging a pipe using this method is that this maintenance is done without stopping the flow of the water in the pipeline. The pressure-driven flow of the water in the pipeline is used to push the pig along down the pipe until it reaches the receiving trap — the “pig catcher” or in most cases the turbine manifold. The pig scrapes off any peat build up on the inside of the pipe and will force any stones or debris down in-front of it, leaving a clean full bore pipe behind it.

The frequency in which a pipe may require pigging is entirely dependent on each individual scheme and how much peaty is present in the water. If you feel that your scheme may require pigging, you may wish to contact us so that we may come and access your pipe. Or perhaps you require maintenance on your turbine itself.

At Hydrover we don’t just design and manufacture our own turbines, we will do the full electrical and mechanical installation, commissioning, future servicing and maintenance.

We also design, manufacture and install a lot of the steel fabricated parts used in a hydro scheme ourselves, this includes intake boxes and wedge-wire or perforated sheet screens. This ensures that what we supply works effectively. We use our own experienced staff when installing and commissioning a site, to ensure everything is installed methodically and efficiently.

All setting-up and commissioning is carried out by our own experienced staff, and we work closely with the control manufactures who take care of the G59 testing.

We will train the appointed person(s) how to safely operate the system, and can visit or provide support to the site within the first few months of operation to make minor adjustments to increase efficiency, we happily provide on-going support and maintenance services required by our clients.