Solar Well Pump

I remember on another thread, someone mentioned this.
If we lose power currently, we lose water (as the well pump is powered).
Now, I did find a hand pump alternative, and I do plan on getting this too...but, does anyone here currently use a solar well pump, where they can make a recommendation?

It isn't a deep well, and we get constant sunlight. Ideally, I'd love to just remove the well pump from the home power, and just have it be solar. We would have to use batteries though, as most showers would be at night or before sunrise, etc.

reply to post by Gazrok


You have asked for 2 different solutions. A solar well pump is a DC 12 volt pump that usually runs directly off a very small array. It only runs when the sun shines.

The AC standard well pump needs panels, a charge controller, and a small inverter. But it runs all day and all night.

If you clarify what you want, and contact me offline,I can arrange refer you to wholesale suppliers of all of this equipment, but you will have to install it yourself that way. If you are at all handy, it is pretty easy...

Try a DC bilge pump from a boat ,run it off your car in emergency, if you have no solar/wind access.
I have been using the same DC pressure pump on the house for 10 years ,11 litres per minute, 50psi bar ,
Very reliable. Boating products are usually good quality.

reply to post by 12voltz


Are you saying you are using a bilge pump to pump up from a well? I used to build boats and did not realize they had pumps that have enough lift capacity.

How high will your pump lift? Do you have a brand and model number. I love that idea if it really works...

reply to post by Gazrok



Why not use an Archimedes Screw type of pump/lifter. It doesn't require that much of energy. Once you have the water on higher elevation - gravity will take care of the rest.

www.cs.drexel.edu...

reply to post by Melyanna

The AC standard well pump needs panels, a charge controller, and a small inverter. But it runs all day and all night.

That option.

I'll send you a U2U...

reply to post by Gazrok


I must have misunderstood your requirements as the pump i use is from rainwater tank.
however in Australia many people use bore water that is tapped ,maybe similar setup to your well
Here is one such pump
www.energymatters.com.au...
Submersible 24Volt DC Bore Pump

Voltage rated 24 V DC
Max current 4.1A
Max lift 70 m

The solution to your remote water pumping needs. This pump is rugged, durable and built to last. The 9300 delivers a steady 300 LPH at its maximum depth of 70M when supplied with 24 VDC. Its unique water-tight power connector stops water wicking and prevents potential condensation problems.

at 24DC * 4.1 amps ,wattage will be at 98.4 watts ,so not too much drain on your power supply if used only when needed


There is a better chart on that link


24VDC Submersible Pump for potable water wells 1/2" Hose Barb discharge port 50 mesh SS inlet screen
Vertical Lift
Meters Flow Rate
Litres/hour Solar Array
Watts Current
Amps
6 420 58 1.7
12 413 65 2.0
19 398 78 2.3
25 390 89 2.6
31 379 99 2.9
37 360 104 3.2
43 352 115 3.5
49 337 123 3.8
55 329 135 4.0
61 318 141 4.3
70 300 155 4.6

I bought a 12v to 240v inverter
a capacitor for the surge at start up
6 100ah amg deep cycle batteries
solar panels and wind mill for recharge.

well is only 50 ft.

If you have solar power, wouldnt that pump the well

as well?

reply to post by Kituwa


I'm talking solar power only for the well, not for the house....yet.

Right now, if I lose power, the rest is pretty much liveable (though it would suck for all the food in the fridges), but can't be without water.

I will be getting a hand pump I can bolt on to the well top, in a real emergency, but with horse troughs to fill, 4 toilets, and 5 1/2 acres to cover, hauling buckets gets really old.

So, I'd rather put (just the pump) to solar power, and have no more worries about it. (we're constantly having small critters mess with lines or the transformer, and we have a small power outage about once a month). The power company is quick to fix it, within a few hours, but during a storm (hurricane season), we could be out for much longer, then have no water (save for my reserve barrels, which while adequate, have the same bucket hauling issue).

Going solar for the whole house is an eventual dream, but that is some serious money, and will have to be done slowly over time. We have ample sun and roof space for the panels, but the tech is also constantly improving and the prices do drop slightly, so in the pipeline, but not as immediate of a concern.

We can't go with the 12V DC "only during sunshine" option as we work during daylight hours in the city, so we'd be using water during darkness hours.

Since our talk the other day, I've been working on this. I'd like to come up with a set of 'canned' solutions so that when you order it, you get a system tailored to your locale and use rate.

We've been kicking around having the purchaser 'pre-order' a monitor you could clip to the pressure switch leads and log the well usage patterns and power levels for the motor for a week or so, then return it for credit. Use the data to size the batteries and inverter.

We want to make it as painless as possible for the guy. Up to and including it all being in a sort of doghouse so that the guy just has to pour a small pad and run the house wiring in one side and the well wiring out the other.

Maybe an option for a small generator on the pad for a fallback. Haven't really started looking at that part yet. Also, it would be nice to have some sort of wi-fi/GSM monitoring system so that you could dial the well or look at it on your home network and see what was going on.

I know many do just use a diesel generator for a backup, and have it power the well pump, and a few other things. While it's a good emergency option, and I'd like a generator for other purposes, at around $1000, I'd like to see if a solar option for just the well pump would be viable for the same, or less money, and just be a permanent solution all the time. If so, seems the more total solution, especially as I'd like to slowly convert the rest of the home to solar, over a period of years.

reply to post by Gazrok


We're sort of envisioning the generator as a last-ditch power source, for the people who need that sort of thing. If the mains are out for an extended period, AND your solar isn't covering the usage, maybe due to cloud cover in the wake of bad weather that knocked out your mains, then you might want to have a fallback that would kick in and top the batteries up all the way, then coast until you're flat again.

A lot of rain or heavy cloud cover in the winter really draws down solar setups like this, especially since your battery efficiency is low in colder areas and you're getting a seasonal reduction in insolation. A solar well setup for Florida is going to be different than one for Montana, especially if the Montana setup has to run full bore with no line power in -30F with some cloud cover.

reply to post by Bedlam


Gotcha... We don't usually get too cold here, but this has been a cooler winter than most. We always get a lot of sun though, but my understanding is that as long as the battery is charged, then we'd be ok. So, if solar for well wasn't charging it, I could charge the battery from the mains (using a car battery charger) as a backup, no?

I've thought of that myself. My well is almost artesian, being in an underground stream or river and the water comes up past the point it goes into the basement. The well digger had to block the water down in the well so he could weld the adapter on. Problem is that I should have put a shutoff in the basement so I could put in a T. Maybe the checkvalve will stop the water from coming in the house, I'll have to check someday. I can put a tank in the basement and pump it out of there. I can use a much smaller pump that way, lifting the deepwell pump up and allowing the water to come into the basement.

Hopefully the level hasn't dropped over the last twenty years. Even if I have to run in the basement to get the water it won't be bad. I saved an old handpump to use for that but it would be nice to have a pump to fill a tank upstairs so pressure could make life easier.

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by Bedlam

 

I could charge the battery from the mains (using a car battery charger) as a backup, no?

Sure, and in most cases I'd envision you having line power to the setup as a first fall-back. If sized properly, you should never have to resort to line power. But I like water 24/7, and I could see heavy usage/lots o' rain even in Florida (I live in Pensacola when I'm not on the road for the MIC) drawing the thing flat eventually.

Being military/industrial designers for the most part, we tend to overengineer things, but I'd still like at least a mains connection with the option to charge from a vehicle or small genny, just because I can't predict what might happen and water's sort of basic.

Too, if you have a failure in the inverter or batteries, which you'd like to think couldn't occur, you've still got mains power out there while your repair parts are coming in. I could see a big lightning strike near the well doing damage you couldn't avert, necessarily. Having water while the replacement comes would be nice.

eta: I've actually got two wells, a cased 300 footer for the house and a big high flow irrigation well in the orchard at 150 feet. So I've got two setups to test out.

Both have great water, the irrigation well is a bit silty but it's pure except for the slight sandy taste. The house well is too pure, there's no calcium in it, so we have to use a limestone bed to control the acidity.

If you big brains ever figure this out let me know! I'm in a residential area and the whole neighborhood has wells. That coupled with lots of old growth trees equal lots of outages. If the wind gently blows (or a squirrel makes a misstep) we're in the dark for days. Power we can live without for a while, water not so much. At least we have the pool for flushing.

Anyway, I'm paying attention

Spent a couple of days of spare hours perusing the web, pretty much 100% of the solar setups are going for a new, expensive DC pump that has relatively low flow and low lift, pumping to a cistern. If your well has over 100 feet of lift (both mine are over, the house one is 300 feet, which is typical for the area for potable water), you're in for about 6000 bucks in DC pumps, with intermediate lift stages.

If I were buying instead of designing, I'd be looking for something that uses my current setup, and I don't want a cistern, or water tower, or anything similar.

Maybe as we get farther into it we'll find out you can't do it at all, we'll need to look at how much power my well actually draws over an extended period of time, with average household loading. Should be interesting.

reply to post by Bedlam


My well isn't that deep at all.
So far, most of the solar options are to be able to pump only when the sun is shining and then, at a pretty low rate...as far and wide as our water goes (I need water pressure), it probably is really going to be best to go with the diesel generator backup. The battery stored solutions get pretty expensive. So far, the best generator I've found for the bucks, is a Generac 7500 (Tractor Supply) for $999.99. Pricey solution, but it will also allow me to keep power to the fridge, so we don't lose $$$ in groceries during an outage. (plus, we could just power it up intermittently, as needed).

I'll also need to get an electrician out to put in a switchover, just to make it safe. I can do most electrical work, but as this also goes hand in hand with the power company, I'd prefer a professional. I'd likely make a larger housing box that can reduce the noise of the generator too, while still allowing for intake and exhaust, etc., and have a flat concrete slab area as a base. (like a big dog house)

Power we can live without for a while, water not so much. At least we have the pool for flushing.

My current water solution that we've been using, is that we have two 50 gallon rain barrels, and two 50 gallon potable water barrels. We can use the water from the rain barrels for flushing and washing (or even cooking, especially if boiling), the others for drinking and other cooking. This works fine for home use (but it's a challenge to run water to the horses, a lot of buckets). Recently, we had quite a few days of testing this, as we had a water leak under the house, so had to shut off the water for days, while we got it examined, repaired. It was the first time my wife saw the real life application of my prepper ways, and I have to say, it got her a bit more onboard with the whole idea....

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by Bedlam

 

My well isn't that deep at all.

I bet you're not on the coast then. Here, if you don't want that salty taste, you have to go for the aquifer instead of the deep ground water.

Primarily my only contaminants are sodium, iron and copper, and a bit of silicon. No pesticides or petroleum byproducts at all (!?) and no bacteria. Just acid, in the deep well, from CO2 and no calcium to buffer it. Makes managing the pool chemistry a bit odd at times.

It'll be a fun design project. If it's not practical, I'll still have the prototype running the house pump.