Solar powered water pump

[KMacGinley]

Does anyone have any experience with using and maintaining a solar powered water pump system. I want to pump water from a stream into a tank, while fencing the cows out of the stream. I also would like to know the kind you would recommend. Any information you can give me would helpful.

 

[dun]

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ight=solar

 

[KMacGinley]

Yep, read that before, I need to pump about 25 feet, with no power nearby. I also wish to avoid having to physically pump water each day. By running a gas pump or messing with it at all.

 

[jkwilson]

If you want this to work in the winter, it will have to be way oversized to handle the gloomy skies we have in the winter. Any chance at all you can locate the tank some distance away and get it to siphon? If you have enough fall you can fill the tank and plumb an overflow back into the ditch to keep the ground drier.

Solar will be expensive.

I ran a water tank on a siphon at a place with no power for about 5 years. It ran continuously for 3 years at one time with no freeze-ups or restarting. I used 1" black poly pipe laying on top of the ground into a Rubbermaid tank. For the tank inlet, I made a fitting for the drain hole that choked down to about the diameter of a pencil, and the water ran over the back into the pond's spillway.

The only time I had problems was when I first started using it and baby crawdads would clog the hose, so I had to put an inlet strainer in the pond.

I also did the same thing at another place for one summer with over 175 feet of black poly laying on the ground. I had less than 2 feet of drop, but it still worked.

 

[KMacGinley]

Thanks, this will only run in the summer.

 

[dj]

K you didn't say if that 25 ft was up or sideways.
Something like this might work for you if you lay a vertical line
from the spring. Like the right hand illustration here.
http://www.frostfreenosepumps.com/applications.html
Or a ram pump might work for you?
illustrations here
http://www.clemson.edu/irrig/Equip/ram3.htm

 

[KMacGinley]

its up, it is a very deep ditch. thanks.

 

[jhambley]

Don't know exactly how much water you want to pump or how high a lift you need but...

I've used a small DC pump to water trees from my pond. The pump I used was designed for an RV to pump water from the storage tank to the sink. It has the added advatage of pressurizing the water to 45PSI to use on a hose. It was manufactured by Shurflo and cost about $75. I believe it only has a 12' lift capacity but I've used it on 300' of garden hose to deliver about 4 gallons per minute.

If you get with Shurflo, they have some very low power requirements that I think would match up well with a solar panel. I personnally used a battery with a battery charger.

 

[KMacGinley]

So you had juice close there? I will be watering 35 pairs at this place.

 

[jhambley]

I charged the battery at the house and took it out to the farm when I wanted to water the trees.

In summer, with thirty five pairs, I would think you'll need to use a gas water pump. Your volume and lift requirements would prevent you from using most DC pumps.

Might want to look at something like this:

http://www.cumminstools.com/browse.cfm/4,1290.htm

 

[KMacGinley]

Thanks, that looks like a good pump, Now I'm going to need a giant tank if I go with something like that. So I don't have to run it everyday.

 

[jkwilson]

Thanks, that looks like a good pump, Now I'm going to need a giant tank if I go with something like that. So I don't have to run it everyday.

The Amish often get large tanks that they pump full with a gas pump, and connect a hose low on this tank connected to a standard stock tank with a float to keep it full. Only need to pump once a week or so.

 

[KMacGinley]

That sounds like a winner. Thanks.

 

[flaboy-]

Here ya go. Not cheap but they have models that will do the job.

http://www.solardyne.com/solwatpum.html

 

[KMacGinley]

Thanks.