Solar irrigation from pond

[Cassey]

Hi, I have a 4 acre lake about 75 feet below, and a 500 feet away, from my garden and orchard. The lake has a 8x12 fishing dock built on poles that ends in 12-15 foot deep water.

I'm looking to rig a direct solar powered water pump to slowly accumulate water up on a ridge (call it 90 feet above lake level) and gravity feed water during the summer to the plants. I'm presuming I'd use an above ground tank to stage the water in over a week or so, and water the plants over weekends. Overflow would simply travel overground back to the lake, perhaps filling a few amphibian ponds along the way.

I have no problems mounting solar panels on the south facing walkway side, and could build a small (perhaps cubic yard?) housing for any pump to keep it out of the rain and snow. It would NOT be heated however, so would need to deal with freezing winter temps (no problem manually draining something once a year in the fall when I don't have water needs).

Beyond the above, I'm pretty clueless with regards to pump style (above ground, submersible, etc.) and associated requirements (like filtering the pond water, which has a few feet of clarity, but would likely clog a 10 micro filter pretty quickly).

Any suggestions?

[Logan5]

It can be and has been done, you will need lots of research to find the products needed for your particular application. It will be expensive but if battery free, it will have a clearly defined ROI

[Mike90250]

Most pumps with 100 foot head, are deep well pumps. To use in a pond, you need a "Flow induction Sleeve". But maybe the SQFlex series won't need that, because you can afford to provide minimal power and less than normal heating.

I do something of the same thing. but on a larger scale. I water a 300 tree orchard, and use about 2000 gallons a day. I use a conventional well pump in a pond, pump to storage tanks at 165 feet, and gravity feed a drip system.

[inetdog]

Most pumps with 100 foot head, are deep well pumps. To use in a pond, you need a "Flow induction Sleeve". But maybe the SQFlex series won't need that, because you can afford to provide minimal power and less than normal heating.

I do something of the same thing. but on a larger scale. I water a 300 tree orchard, and use about 2000 gallons a day. I use a conventional well pump in a pond, pump to storage tanks at 165 feet, and gravity feed a drip system.

Do you use any kind of filtration or sediment collection scheme for your irrigation system, or is that only for your domestic water?

[Mike90250]

at the pond, I use a #180 mesh disk filter, (3" pipe) just after the pump. I only have to clean the frog parts out 2x a season. So, what gets up to the tanks, is pretty fine stuff. I have an even finer filter on 2" pipe at the orchard, just before the drip system and I have to clean that 4x a season.
Drinking water (at only 5gph) passes first through a gravel roughing filter, and then into the slow sand which I have to aqua vac 2x a year. After the slow sand, it goes to a holding tank (1500 gal) with an ozone bubbler which polishes it up.

[Cassey]

Are their deep well pumps that are powered directly off the panels, like SlowPumps are? Be nice not to have to fool with batteries, chargers, and possibly inverters.

Regarding freezing, do you just pull the pumps out in the winter and drain the system?

Or, for the record: 50 fruit trees, 100's of berries, vines, and bushes - plus some nut trees and a water company that charges me $100/day to run a hose.

[Mike90250]

I leave my pump in the pond, I have to pump drinking water at least once a week

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

Go to http://us.grundfos.com/products/find...-SP-TL-014.pdf
and find the head/flow rate you need (the 3" pumps are the high head pumps)
200W of solar might be all you need.

[Cassey]

Mike92050 Do you have to deal with freezing temperatures? I'm sure the pump would be fine a few feet down in the lake, but I'm concerned about the piping from the lake up to the storage tank (and the storage tank itself!). Thanks for the links, checking those out now.

[Mike90250]

Yes, the line from the pond to the high water mark is exposed and sometimes freezes (2" poly, so freeze is OK) i sometimes try to cover it with straw to help insulate it. but the pump is safe underwater