Maintenance of you Wind Turbine

The Turbotricity™ wind turbine is designed to require minimal maintenance. This is important because many turbines require annual maintenance at a cost which eats up as much as half of the value of the electricity they produce.

The turbine owner should call Turbotricity if any new noises come into the system – for example, in the unlikely event of damage to a blade, this may cause extreme vibration. Should any of the MCBs on the controller trip, or the system shut down for any reason, please call. Such events would usually be covered by warranty.

The following maintenance is required:

Annually

Tower mounting bolts:

At the end of the first year, you should check that all nuts at the base of the tower are tight. If any of them have loosened, this procedure should be repeated each year.

Cables within tower:

Downwind turbines seldom rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise more than once or twice in the same direction, and for this reason, we prefer to use a very flexible cable and directly connect the turbine to the cable. This reduces the need for annual maintenance, though the cable should be visually inspected though the inspection cover on the base of the tower to ensure that the cable is not tight and has not twisted.

Every Five Years

Every five years, the turbine should be lowered and the following maintenance carried out:

• Blades visually inspected for signs of wear of damage. Normally the blades will need to be replaced after ten years, but if you are in an area with exceptional erosion (e.g. close to a quarry or area with dust) the blades may need to be replaced earlier.
• All nuts will have been installed with a locking compound, but should be inspected at this stage
• The cable from the turbine to the base of the tower should be un-twisted if necessary
• Yaw bearings on the tower should be inspected and replaced if necessary.

Every Ten Years

Carry out the five year maintenance routine, but replace the blades

Every Twenty Years

Carry out the five and ten year maintenance routines, but replace the generator with a reconditioned one on which the bearings have been replaced.