DC deep well pumps

[waceycornia]

What is a good brand of DC well pump? I neep to pump water out of a 150 ft deep well and want to use a solar set up with a dc pump.

[Nadja]

Sorta Deep Well Pump

Well, here in the upper desert of AZ. we average about 320' deep up to about 1500 ft. So what do we use ? We all pretty much use 220 single phase AC well pumps. Even on solar , they are not so bad. Most of my neighbors all just fire up the generators, pump for about an hour into a top side holding tank and then from there a small house pressure system does the trick. In fact a shur-flo pump with a 2 liter bladder tank and you have hot showers or any other water needed. If you wish to run the deep well pump on solar, you will need to go one of two ways, either two sine wave inverters with a com strip to enable 220 or a 220 step up tranformer , which will do the same thing.

[Mike90250]

Grunfos makes some DC pumps, but the pump and it's controller are as expensive as a PV, battery, inverter setup to run a generic AC pump.

The most important thing is to properly size the pump, the combo of Motor & pump stages is critical to get the best performance per watt. And a 240V, 3 wire pump is easier for an inverter to start than the same pump in a 2 wire configuraton.

Mike "been there, done that" B.

[waceycornia]

DC well pump

I think i want to go with a dc pump because it will be filling a water trough for cattle to drink out of and i don

[Mike90250]

AC or DC cooks beef just fine - watts are watts.

Billions of houses in the states have deep well pumps that run on 240V utility power, and seldom, if any reports of getting shocked by water. Of course, the DC pumps may cost 2 or 3 times what an AC pump costs. And if it needs repair, Billy Bob at the Pump Shack is not likely to have any parts for it. And for safety, I don't trust the Chi Com products.

[waceycornia]

DC well pump

Well as far as safety i just went and fixed an ac pump that was not properly grounded and it killed a horse and two cows so im not sure which way to go with this deal. I agree with the staying away from chinese products i have never had any luck with anything made in china.

[Mike90250]

Well as far as safety i just went and fixed an ac pump that was not properly grounded and it killed a horse and two cows....

That's a bummer. Sorry about that. Properly grounded is the operative word, DC pumps need to be grounded too, same as AC.

[wildheart]

Aloha


just new to this forum...due to last week's debacle.

I saved and executed the drilling of a well on my land. Apparently all the well diggers jobs are large, municipal and on grid...thus the 220v that now hangs 265' down. I am off grid with a system that is just fitted to my home, barely. I am searching for the best dc pump/panel combo to replace the unusable pump & stand alone. Does anybody run such a system that could also be supplemented with 110v Honda EU 3000 gennie?

Water, water everywhere. ..but not a drop to drink

Thank you...I hope this is a simple solve!

[Mike90250]

Some questions first. The well is 265' What is the water level you will be pumping from ? How many GPM do you need ? There are some 1/3 hp AC pumps that may have enough head for 1GPM
It takes energy to lift water, so if you can use solar to pump to a ground level cistern with a Grundfos SQ flex http://us.grundfos.com/products/find...ct/sqflex.html
But they are not cheap.

[fivewin]

If an AC pump draws 375watt according to the sticker on the pump, can i run (startup) this pump with a 1200watt inverter.

[Mike90250]

If an AC pump draws 375watt according to the sticker on the pump, can i run (startup) this pump with a 1200watt inverter.

assume starting current is 10x running current. 3,750 watts for 2 seconds to start. Can a 1,200w inverter provide a surge of 3750 watts for a second or so ?
Doubtful, even if it's a 24V inverter. You can call the pump mfg and see what they spec the starting amps at, or what the Locked Rotor Amps are.
here's a chart, see if you can work it backwards to see what your starting watts would be

Well Pump Motor Specs.jpg

[fivewin]

That guy lost his manual. So i only see the sticker.

But wow, to be on the save side you must have at least 4000 pure sinewave inverter. Lets see if my friend is willing to check his bank ac hehehe

He wants to go offgrid

[Mike90250]

Some pumps only take 5x running power to start. Research the pump, download a copy of the manual, and DESIGN a system. Or just throw parts at it, and maybe it will work.
Hey, the bridge didn't fall down, so let the school bus over it.

[Raul]

That's very interesting. I have a karcher bp4 pumping from 55-60 feet. The one way valve is fitted 5 feet above the pump so the line remains under pressure but alows the pump to start and free spin before the pressure hits the valve again. It came with a one way valve built in and took it out as the pump will lock up. By moving it up the line 5-6 feet alows the pump to start without a load.
This pump is 750w and is fed by a victron 1200va-1000w inverter that services my garage, where I have a freezer as well. Never had a overload alarm ever.

[fivewin]

What do mean "start without a load"? Is it not so that when the ac pump starts the starting current is (much)more.

Or is it a dc (brushless) pump with an adaptor?