Who has solar water pumping??

[akar]

I'm looking into a pump/cistern system, but water here is about 250 feet deep.

I had found a link that gave step by step advice on the best system to use, but I didn't bookmark it(or can't find it, ugh!!) It mentioned that one time of converter was more efficient and no batteries were preferred. The guy said that the cistern IS the battery. Man, I wish I could find that article. Anyone got info based on experience, that has best instruction for setting up a solar rig??

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akar

[akar]

I'm just trying to get an A-Z efficient system without unnecessary bells and whistles, with the least maintenance. This isn't the article, but has much of the info. http://www.backwoodssolar.com/Catalo...SYSTEM%20IDEAS
Seems like an efficient solar water system can have DC powered deep well with 4 shatterproff modules I can't understand the details yet. The article speaks of 75 watt panels, but the 64 are said to be better. http://store.sundancesolar.com/un64watsolpa.html and a cistern of maybe 2000 gallons?? Does the pump or solar have a switch that turnns it off when cisterns are all full??

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akar

[fixer]

hmm, what's your budget?

most of the submersible pumps for deep wells seem kinda pricey!

a VERY simple way to make a pump is to use a ball or flap valve at the end of a length of PVC pipe. as the valve and attached pipe move down, the valve opens and water fills the pipe to the level of the source water. raise the pipe and push down again, quickly and more water flows in.

this cam be powered by hand using a simple lever, or... if you add a simple flywheel, powered by a motor.

for solar power, use a deep cycle, marine, or lead-acid "gell cell" battery, charged by the PV pannels. the cistern should have a float switch to turn the pump on/off as needed.

most batteries require some maintence to maintain the water levels in the battery, a sealed or gell battery will reduce that maintence need.

if you don't use batteries, you can't pump water at night, and your PVs may not produce enough amperage to run the pump on demand.

a simple solar system will require PV panels, rechargable battery, pump, switch and plumbing.

check www.homepower.com and see if they have anything online. they also have all their back issues available on CD

[akar]

I don't know about the budget fixer, but I'm thinking the system I have in mind will be around $7500 when all's said and done. If there's a manual way to get drinking water at 300 feet, I'm all for it. I was thinking at that depth, pushing it up was about the only choice. Great link...think that might be a great compliment to BHM.

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akar

[fixer]

ok, found that link, LOTSA good stuff here!
http://www.i4at.org/library.html

and the pump valve is here-
http://www.i4at.org/lib2/valve.htm



will it work at 300'? hmmm, depends on how tight the valve seals, the ID of the plumbing above it (and thus the weight of water you are pushing), the speed at which you can cycle the pump.

build it with threaded couplings between the PVC sections and you will have cheap water... it's A solution for the cost of 30 sections of PVC and some other hardware.

a 10' x 1" ID section of pipe has a volume of 377.143 cubic inches

one gallon of water weighs ~8lbs and has a volume of 217.969 cubic inches

basicly that's 1.75 gal of water in each 10' length of pipe, or 14 lbs or water each ten feet.

so, the total weight of water you have to lift would be 420 lbs, plus the hardware... call it an even #450.

smaller diameter pipe will reduce the flow, but also the weight.

for manual opperation, you would probably want a 4:1 advantasge on the lever handle, and if you go with a 6" stroke on the pump and a 2' stroke on the handle end

every 11 strokes on the pump handle will give you one gallon of water. (actually, 1.05 gal, assuming minimal leaks and backflow at the valve... probably more like 15 storkes IRL)

a lotta work but CHEAP for manual opperation and inexpensive for powered opperation...heck, you could even use a horizontal shaft lawnmower engine to run it, since you have the cistern to store the water, just start the engine manually as needed, depending on your usage.

[akar]

Man, you're not kidding...great bookmark. After more info, I might get water here at 250. I see John Ashcroft and Bush scrubbed all the lockpicking links.

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akar