Survivalist Forum banner

Solar Panel for Well Pump

21K views 29 replies 19 participants last post by  bambamz 
#1 ·
I plan to hunker in - if at all possible - and need to figure out how to get water from my well. Does anyone know what size/type solar panel would be needed to generate a well pump? Or any other ideas?
 
#2 ·
Most wells will have a MINIMUM 1/2 hp, some as much as 2 -3 hp for deep well submersibles.

You can figure about 1400 watts for an average 1 hp AC well pump. This doesn't mean your panel has to be that large per se, because you can't run an AC motor directly off a solar panel.


Ideally, you'd have your solar collection panels charging a battery bank with an inverter to run the well pump. For running an induction motor, your inverter will have to be sized MINIMUM 50% over the running load, and 2x is better. Your battery bank should be suitably sized to sustain the output current without large drain and charge cycles, and also sufficient to prevent the voltage of the battery bank from dropping below 12v, where most inverters will automatically shut down.

So plan a couple hundred watts of solar panels to charge batteries,
A ~2000w inverter
Battery banks to provide 180 amp @12v continuous output

A wind generator to supplement the solar panels would be good. At least around my part of the country, the days it's not sunny, it's usually windy.
 
#4 ·
Solar powered wells are common out in the scrubland of west Texas for filling cattle troughs and this analysis I think is right on....of course it does depend on your well depth...here is a link on canned systems....
http://solarwater.com/products.htm
I am putting a well in this fall at my BOL but I am putting in a combo electric and manual.... if there is no power, then I dont want to be reliant on a sunny day... my arm can always pump that handle... I'll save my solar money for things I cant do manually...but to each his own... good luck!..;)
 
#8 ·
We have a very high water table around my house. Two wells on the property. One is about 120' deep and that is our house well.

The other is about 30' deep and is a hand-dug well about 4' in diameter. That one always has about 24' of water in it. One year, I set up a siphon-type thing to put water down back from that well. It never went dry and even in the hottest months, it was maintaining about 18 feet of water and I was using a lot of water through it.

I have a nice reconditioned hand pump in the barn (with all the fixings- i got it from a farm sale and had it fixed up. Also got replacement parts.) for the hand-dug well. I've considered looking into a solar powered pump and rigging something into the house, but need to spend the money elsewhere.

Should I have to stay and have no electricity, I'll probably regret that decision. It will suck having to go outside and move manually water into the house every day or so.

It's raining right now and has been for a while. The water table is up to about 2 feet below ground level right now. I can tell by the wet foundation in the basement. Water is here.
 
#13 ·
Well

I've got a well...got to worrying about loss of power so I built me a hand pump to hook up in emergencies....put a 165 gal tank in my pump house...I can fill it with either the hand pump or the well electric pump off of a generator....then I got me a Marine bilge pump 12v that I can run from my tank thru a hose to the house once I've run out of fuel for my generator...this way I don't need but a 50w solar panel to keep my bilge pump battery charged...H
 
#14 ·
http://www.survivalunlimited.com/waterpumps/spsolarpump.htm

This is the link to the place I got mine. Living in a rural area on a pump, water was the big limitation on bugging in. No power, no water. This system co-exists with my regular A/C pump. The hand pump is still available and takes about 15-20 minutes to install. The 12v option is just a small DC motor that works the same linkage that the hand lever actuates. It runs off of a single deep-cycle battery that charges on a 45 watt solar panel from Harbor Freight. It pressurizes my normal water system so that when the power goes out there is no effect on the operation of my normal household water. Toilets flush, water flows from the sink and shower faucets. Since my water heaters are tankless propane units, power outages have little effect on cleanliness and comfort anymore! I have a dozen extra O rings for mine, but haven't had to change one yet.

John
 
#16 ·
Well I have only done my prelim ivestigation, but my guys tell me that to have both electric and manual pump option at the same time, your casing has to be large enuff...6" comes to mind as what they told me.... but before I do anything I am going to make certain...
 
#17 ·
That's only if you're going to put in a second drop pipe and foot valve. If you tee off the inlet to the electric pump, and install a check valve in front of both the hand pump and the electric pump, you can use the same drop pipe and foot valve without issue. This is assuming it's a suction pump not an eductor jet pump (Most probable from your one pipe description).

If its a deep well with a jet pump or submersible, you then need a bigger well casing so the hand pump pipe can drop directly to the bottom. The reason the tee trick works with a suction setup and not the others is simple physics. No pump can suck water more than about 25 feet vertically. Submersibles and jet eductors work to push water up the pipe instead of pulling. Deep well hand pumps use a rod that goes all the way down the inside of the drop pipe to actuate the submerged plunger as opposed to a pitcher pump, which simply sucks the water from the point of use.
 
#21 ·
hey guys - I am kinda desperate. I cut my power to go off-grid so I could begin affording the solar panels required. My electric bill was 1200 a month.

I need water ASAP. I have a well pump, an airator? and a pump coming into the house. I need to know the cheapest way to get two hours a day of water and then we can cut it off. Just long enough to take showers and run water for dishes and into a bucket to clean with (and for toilet flushing)

Please help! I don't know if it is ok to give out emails on this site?? Given my desperation I will. It's anders02 at live dot com.

ANY help would be SO APPRECIATED!

Thanks!
 
#23 ·
Loving this topic!!!

One thing to keep in mind (while not contributing to the hand powered vrs solar debate) is that water levels very but are more then a matter of feet you had to dig down to reach water.

Please keep in mind that hitting water at (enter number here) yards does not mean you only keep water levels at that level. It means you met the under ground river at that level. You can Hand pump from the highest elevation the water rises to or anywhere below.

The long short of this is that having both options works great.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MikeK
#26 ·
We have been using this system for our garden, orchard and back up water supply for several years with zero issues:

http://us.grundfos.com/products/find-product/sqflex.html

I run 3 - 200 watt panels from another manufacturer but use a Grundfos pump and controller.

In direct sunlight it will fill a 1500 gallon tank in roughly 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

Extra solar power can be put to use elsewhere.
 
#27 ·
I have an old wind pump for my livestock water well. It's one that pumps constantly when the wind blows so it's not suitable for in the house. That pump is run on my home system.

But because I volunteered to watch my neighbor's home this weekend (again) I have time to cruise the internet and I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD23Zub8RR8#t=33

I have no clue about this and was wondering if it would be a good alternative for those who need an off grid well.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top