Greetings from West Virginia!

[Katherine Tyler]

Greetings from West Virginia!

I live in the southern Allegheny mountains, and I'm trying to be more self-sufficient. We lose electricity for a few days at a time in the winter, which is fine because we have a woodstove for heat, and we get plenty of sunshine for light.

My concern is water. We have a 200 ft. deep well with a 1 horsepower pump to draw it up. I'd like to be able to run it on solar power when needed, but I have no idea what I would need in the way of panels, cells, Kwt, etc. I need to build it as inexpensively as possible, even if it takes a little extra work.

The water is needed, not only for our home, but to supply drinking water to "throwaways" - horses and ponies that have been beaten, starved, abused, and sometimes tortured. I rehabilitate them physically and mentally. They need about 20 gallons per day. Our pump produces about 7 gallons per minute.

Where do I start?

[slade1977]

Read this post:

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?t=790

It's almost an identical issue, and goes into some of the questions that need to be addressed to give a better idea of where to go. It revolves around a 1.5HP pump, so similar to yours.

First, I'd say if you are only worried about intermetant power loose, a small generator is generally a more economical solution. I know that when I'm most worried about losing power is in some of the really bad snow storms. Problem with solar in those situations is that the snow storms tend to block the sun when I would need it most. For emergency power, a small 5kW gas generator is hard to beat. I went with gas only because in a real emergency, I can pull gas out of my cars to fill up the generator.

There is also a larger system design issue. Because of the limited day use of solar, you effectively need to store energy. You can either go with batteries, which in my opinion is not worth it, or you can go with a redesigned water system.

In your shoes, I would look into making or installing a storage tank that sits above ground, preferably inside the house so as to not freeze during the winter. Then you would want to install a head tank that you would pump full of water during the solar hours. Think of a water tower, it's the same principle. Only problem is obtaining enough working pressure at a reasonable height for the head tank. For 60psi working pressure, you'd need a tank positioned about 140ft above the storage tank. For 40psi, 92.3 ft, 20psi-46ft. My home's inlet pressure is around. The standard is around 50 psi for residental, but most appliances can operate down to 15psi. Problem with that approach is sizing a pump that can run off solar capable of pumping that high.

The other option for the head tank is installing it just above the storage tank, and pressurizing it to around 60psi. You'd need to do some research into commercial options for this kind of system.

For those reasons, I think the generator is a better all around option. A battery backuped up offgrid solar system may be an option as well.

Regards,

[Mike90250]

I would look into converting your well into a solar power well 100%

Here's a link to the Grundfos brand solar pumps. About $1K for pump, and then add a couple of PV panels. If you can pump 2 GPM for 5 hours, that's 600 gallons/day

http://store.solar-electric.com/grsoposuwapu.html

The nice thing about Grundfos, you can connect AC or DC to them, and the internal electronics makes the pump run. If you have a week of cloudy days, you can hook a
small genset, or enough batteries to start the pump, to the pump and you get water.

To get an inverter to run your existing well pump off solar, would be expensive, to start a well pump, you need about 3 or 4x the running capacity. 1HP runs about 900W, so you'd need a 4,000w inverter, pure sine, to reliably be able to start the pump without burning it up.
Choosing an inverter for water pumping http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/wind-...p-Inverter.pdf

What voltage is your existing well pump 120V or 240V ?

[Photovoltaic Supporter]

Hey Mike90250 Good answer, I';; remember to touch base with you when I run into snags.
Here in SC we are way behind the rest of the world concerning photovoltaic energy. I am working on changing that. What might I ask are the prices doing in your neck of the woods? I see a little drop here and there but are you still seeing $ 8. - $ 9.00 per watt installs? Would love some input on cost from different parts of the country. Hard to get this info...anywhere that you can trust! Thanks...

[Mike90250]

West Coast is looking around $5 W installed, pre-rebate. Been that for a couple years.

[russ]

Water pump

I ran across information on Grundfoss pumps designed for wind or solar - the SQ Flex series.

Don't know if they will fill the bill or not but probably have a better chance than a pump designed for normal grid power supply. The URL for literature is

http://net.grundfos.com/Appl/WebCAPS/InitCtrl?mode=13

That is their site for the US & documentation