Help. Need Solar Pump System.

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in Solar Water Pumping #1
Hello everyone my name is Yoshi and I live in Baja Calaifornia Sur México, I have a well being drilled that will be 40 meters deep (131.2 ft) with an estimated friatic water level between 25-40 meters (82-130ft). water will be traveling throu 2 km (1.2miles) of 2" pipe to a water tank which is another 25 meters (82ft.) higher than well surface level, the tank is aprox. 50,000 liters (13,200 gallons), now the question is what pumps will handle my TDH and which power system can run it.

I work for a client who was recomended a Grundfos 10 HP 6" triple phase 230-460 volt permanent magnet subpump, that gave us 200 LPM 52.8 GPM at a calculated 136 TDH, but I was looking at the generators that will run it and they're huge! Kinda seems like an overkill.

What is recomended? the system could be solar or or power generator.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,654 admin
    #2
    Re: Help. Need Solar Pump System.

    I am not a well/pump person, but the first question is how much water per day/week do you need. Is the need seasonal (summer/farming or winter guests). Do you need generator backup. Do you have wind/sun available.

    You may also want/need two separate pumps... One to get the water up from the well and through the piping, and a second one to raise the water into the water tank/provide pressure for the plumbing fixtures.

    Make sure that if the tank's electric float switches fail, that any overflow of water goes someplace safe.

    Another issue is that the 2" pipe would like to have fairly high water flow (liters per minute/gallons per minute) to keep the pipe clear of sediment. A large utility/generator powered pump will usually cycle on for a period of time, pumping large volumes of water, then cycle off. Solar powered pumps are going to, usually, pump smaller flows of water over most of the day--so the pipes may tend to silt. Adding a filter/settling chamber before the pipe run may be needed.

    Wind-Sun has solar pumping equipment on their website:

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

    You may also take a look at this website (Wind-Sun sells these pumps too)... Available in English and Spanish (depending on which you are more comfortable with):

    http://www.grundfos.com/

    The one thing that I did not yet find is the water head (pressure) added by pumping through 2km of 2" water pipe... Using the pump's maximum flow rate with the pipe's flow restriction will tell you how much additional "head" you will have to pump against.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #3
    Re: Help. Need Solar Pump System.

    Yes lots of sun. The water is for a small field of plants and trees as well as for tap water for two full size houses, total daily consumption is probably around 600-1000 lts but will probably grow once water is available.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #4
    Re: Help. Need Solar Pump System.

    So after researching a bit I think the Grundfos 11-SQflex is probably the best rout, but what I was wondering was, how many of the solar panals I would need to run it as well as any other equipment?
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,654 admin
    #5
    Re: Help. Need Solar Pump System.

    Here is a rough graphic you can use to estimate the wattage of solar panels you would require (pump head vs gallons per day):

    http://www.solar-electric.com/PDF_files/L-SQ-SL-010.pdf

    Also Wind-Sun has a typical quote for a pump system--you can probably identify the major components that you would need from it:

    http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/wind-sun/Grundfos-325.pdf

    You probably should be working with your local supplier (or two for quoting) to identify the supplies needed and any misc. parts that may be still needed that they don't supply.

    -Bill

    PS: This will answer some more of your questions too:

    http://www.solar-electric.com/PDF_files/L-SP-TL-014.pdf
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #6
    Re: Help. Need Solar Pump System.

    I find it interesting that you already know, before the well is drilled, how deep it's going to be and how much water you will have. The geology is different I'm sure, than here where I live, but here, we never know how deep the driller must go before water is found and we never know how much water we will get, or indeed if we will get only a dry, very deep, very expensive hole.
    Wayne
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #7
    Re: Help. Need Solar Pump System.

    Well Wayne I forgot to tell you I'm a clarevouyent, just kidding, the well is in an arroyo or seasonal river bed with very pourus substrate, we took SEV readings, and there was a well in the same place before, but had to be renovated and redone completely.

    I think grundfos SGFlex-11 is probably the way to go with three 200 Wt solar panels, anyone have any feedback on these?
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