Converting AC deep well pump to solar pump. Need advice. Here are all details

reachist · May 2021

Hi. I have a customer who wants to convert his existing ac well pump with solar pump.

I need suggestion for those who have experience about

1. Either running this AC pump with the solar panels.

2. Or purchasing deep well solar pump and use solar panels.

PUMP:

Current pump model number: 25JV1P4-2W230

Motor Horsepower: 1 HP
Motor Voltage: 230 Volts
Motor Phase / Hz: Single Phase / 60 Hz
Motor Wire Type: 2-Wire Motor
Motor Lead: 3-Wires ( L1 / L2 / Ground )
Pump GPM Rated: 25 GPM
Pump Stages: 6 Stages
Pump TDH Rated: 150 TDH
Pump Discharge Connection: 1-1/4" NPT

Pump Discharge Head & Wire Bracket: Thermoplastic

Full Load Amps: 8.2
Max. SF Amps: 9.8

WELL:

Current well depth is 260' (79 meters)

Current pump is placed at 240' (73 meters)
Static water level is 30' (9 meters)

Depth to bedrock: 35ft

Well Yield: 40GPM

Well diameter: 6"

Well finish: open hole

BOREHOLE INFO:

Section-1: Top:0 Bottom:40', Diameter:8

Section-2: Top:40, Bottom 260', Diameter: 6"

Current pump label says that 25GPM (5.6 m3 /hour)

Water will be stored in pond near to the well, so there is no extra head when water reaches ground surface.

Can you tell me what pump you have that I can use?
Well location, Eastern PA. (Northampton County Zip code 18064)

First question.

Customer already have more than enough (about 20pcs or so) 385W solar panels. (Panel model VSUN 144MH)

VMPP: 40.2V VOC: 40.2V IMPP: 9.59A Maximum System Voltage 1500V

How many solar panel he needs to run this 230V solar pump? (There is no power at the farm and Generator was source of power)

He has pressure tank on the surface but we will disable that and send water directly to the big pond and collect there.

Second question:

Unfortunately, good solar pumps that made in USA are out of his budget and he couldn't make it.

We have found some solar pumps overseas but not much people have experience with them. Still PWS solar pump is giving 3 yrs warranty.

For example 750W or 1100W solar pump will probably run with 3-4 solar panels (385W each)

When I gave above information to the seller, he said because pressure tank installed, AC pump placed so deep.

So, since customer will not use pressure tank, and static water level is 30', no need to place solar pump more 100' deep

Pump head calculation is only 30' seller says (from static water level (30') to ground surface)

Customer daily water needs is about 15-20GPM which makes about 900-1200GPH and 5000 to 7000 Gallon per day.

And, since well yield is 40GPM, placing solar pump somewhere between 30' to 100' will be more than enough.

Below is the pump seller recommend. I don't know if we allowed to share pump model so I hided model numbers but its number #3

When I check performance curve, I see that this pumps gives 4.8m3/hr (21GPM) at about 38 meters (124').

This is my first post and I tried to state every details. Can someone assist me to make decision please. Thank you.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6024911/uploads/editor/wr/ggpd5vlnd7jb.png

Dave Angelini · May 2021

I think you left out the Why. Why does your customer want to do what you are asking?

reachist · May 2021

Dave thanks for your reply. Because its farm and place doesn't have electricity. He is tired of using generator. Since he doesn't live close by farm, its not easy to keep Generator running.
By the way, its farm and for production, he needs water during summer. I would say from May to September or so. Also, he has greenhouse plan and he may need water all year round.

Dave Angelini · May 2021

Well that is a great reason. I hear some reall weird questions on taking out a working pump system and playing around with imported pumps of unknown quality.

Definately list the model of the pump.

Winter in your area will probably need a genset.

If there is not money to do this right with a solar pump that can run off the solar without batteries, then you have to look at building an enclosed shed or garage for batteries and inverter. That will not be cheap either.

The other thing is to keep this easy, what is the budget? No sense in people here trying to guess. It might help if you restate the project with less verbage now that there is a reasonable why to doing this. It might help you also.

BB. · May 2021

Reachist--Go ahead and keep the comments/information in your discussion/thread.

We are not really setup up for "wall" discussions.f

reachist → Dave Angelini

Hi Dave. Panels he already have.
For pump, 4-5 different companies we got quote.
All of them range around $600 to $900 from Hong Kong
3 US companies quoted us.
Least expensive was $2200 and most expensive one was over $3000. Without panels.
That's a big difference.

Take care,
-Bill

mike95490 · May 2021

2 choices:
fancy DC solar pump & panels. $$$$$
plain AC pump & daylight timer, PV panels, charger, PSW inverter. $$$$$

you might get lucky and get by with a smaller DC pump system, all depends on your site and what you can afford for downtime if you have to replace a part. Might take 3 days to get a 4Kw inverter replaced, or 5 days for a new DC pump

Since I run a whole house and everything, I have the honking big inverter and a plain, cheap AC pump which should last 20+ years

mcgivor · May 2021

BB. said:

Reachist--Go ahead and keep the comments/information in your discussion/thread.

We are not really setup up for "wall" discussions.f
reachist → Dave Angelini
Hi Dave. Panels he already have.
For pump, 4-5 different companies we got quote.
All of them range around $600 to $900 from Hong Kong
3 US companies quoted us.
Least expensive was $2200 and most expensive one was over $3000. Without panels.
That's a big difference.
Take care,
-Bill

Ten years ago I needed a 230 V 1/2 hp pump, there was a choice between a Grundfos and a Chinese model, Grundfos was $900, the alternative was $100. Being aware Grundfos are probably the best available the price difference however made the decision to opt for the lower cost one, it's still going strong after 10 years pumping daily, the question is would the Grundfos last 90 years to warrant it's premium and if so someone else would benifit it's endurance, as I would be long gone.

In a a high demand situation perhaps the higher cost pump would be the better choice for reliability, or would having a spare ofset a warranty claim downtime?

Direct solar pumps, either DC or 3 phase AC are available both including controller, my latest purchase is a 300W DC powered by a single 410W panel, larger are an option, I recently priced a 1 hp direct solar pump for a friend it was $300 i , naturally of Chinese manufacture, the price is excellent if you consider it disposable, sometimes you win, sometimes not, it was a gamble I was willing to take.

MichaelK · May 2021

I took a different route. I simply determined how much power my 240VAC pump required, and designed a solar system to meet that. It works. So, no need to pull a pump out of the ground and replace it. I determined I needed 2200W to run my pump. So, using the 2X rule, I designed a 48V system that would run it with 4500W of panels.

I installed my panels on rotating ground mounts, and by rotating the panel East in the morning, I can turn on my pump at 8am. Rotating to the West in the afternoon, I can keep the pump running till 4pm with zero battery depletion. This runs a XW+6848 with eight L-16 batteries. I'm very happy with the performance of this system.

Converting AC deep well pump to solar pump. Need advice. Here are all details

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