Solar system for a water pump and the shed for it.

[rogerius]

As I mentioned in one of my previous post, we installed a water well last month. Because we are off the grid and no budget to bring the hydro on the property, we decide to install a solar pump. We choose a Groundfous pump 16SQF-10; a quite expensive pump but worth every penny so far. To drive this pump I bought 6x 255W panels which I connected in 2 parallel strings of 3 panels in series. As a result, the total power delivery in full sun is 106V at 16A. The panels are connected directly to the pump using the pump controller but this will be changed once the house will be build and water will be required during the night, so CC, inverter and batteries will complete the system.

I installed all piping as can be seen in one of the pictures. It was quite challenging as took me almost a day to dug the 4ft big hole manually. Now we have water to fill up the pond, for garden and when the house will be ready I can connect it to the well.

To keep the solar panels in full sun, I build a small shed 8'x12'=96sqft(no permit required) and I installed the PVs on the roof. Quite tricky to bring those panels on the roof because of size and weight (50lbs at 3'x5'-6") but with my friend Kubota everything is possible. I attached some picture for reference. What is left, is to install the siding. I'll post the final pictures.

 

[dave1949]

Super!

Those pitless adapter pits are pitiless. :laughing: Years ago I had to dig one up that was below a house trailer. What fun. I don't know why the original owner thought it was a great idea to park the trailer over the well head.

 

[EddieWalker]

Awesome, that's just what I want to do for my garden. Does it start pumping automatically once the sun rises? I'm thinking of using a 2,500 gallon tank and think that once the sun comes up, it will start pumping the water into the pump. Then I can water my garden from the tank during the night and start all over again the next day.

Where did you buy everything?

Eddie

 

[rogerius]

Awesome, that's just what I want to do for my garden. Does it start pumping automatically once the sun rises? I'm thinking of using a 2,500 gallon tank and think that once the sun comes up, it will start pumping the water into the pump. Then I can water my garden from the tank during the night and start all over again the next day.

Where did you buy everything?

Eddie

Yeap. Once the sun is up, the pump start pumping each morning without any button to push. What is nice at this pump is the working voltage. Is running on very wide range: 30-300VDC or 110-220VAC. The controller has a nice display which indicates the wattage. I see the water flown even at 100W and at full power the controller shown 1.1KW.

I'm from Ontario and here compare with US everything is more expensive plus we are donating 13%. I bought the pump from a Groundfous dealer here in town for 2500CAD (around 2300US) but I saw on web in US is around 1800-2000US. The solar panels was 0.97c/watt from a solar store here around me but in US you can find even with 0.7c/watt.

 

[EddieWalker]

This is just so exciting for me!!!! What are you using for a controller and did you design it all yourself or did you go to a website for the plans? I have zero experience with this, so it's all bits and pieces of information I'm getting from what I find online. I'm familiar with the pump you are using and from what I've read, it is the very best one out there by a HUGE margin. I'm not sure what solar panels are the best, or what to look for when buying. How did you decide and what brand are you using?

How big is the hole for your well? How deep are you? How many gallons per hour are you pumping when you have full sun?

Sorry for all the questions, every detail is such a big deal in figuring out what will work best for me in trying to do the same thing you are.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[ericher69]

Nice work! Please raise your ROPS next time you are using your FEL. Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[forgeblast]

Nice build, great idea!!

 

[rogerius]

This is just so exciting for me!!!! What are you using for a controller and did you design it all yourself or did you go to a website for the plans? I have zero experience with this, so it's all bits and pieces of information I'm getting from what I find online. I'm familiar with the pump you are using and from what I've read, it is the very best one out there by a HUGE margin. I'm not sure what solar panels are the best, or what to look for when buying. How did you decide and what brand are you using?

How big is the hole for your well? How deep are you? How many gallons per hour are you pumping when you have full sun?

Sorry for all the questions, every detail is such a big deal in figuring out what will work best for me in trying to do the same thing you are.

Thanks,
Eddie

Sorry Eddie for my late response but I just came back from property. Let's go one by one:
- I was using Groundfous controller CU200 and here is a link for the spec where you can see all the configurations, solar, wind or connected to the grid plus option for a level sensor. Even can run without the controller direct to the solar panels: http://ca.grundfos.com/content/dam/GCA/Literature/Product Guide/LSPTL014_1211_SQFlex.pdf
- The solar panels are connected to the controller by using 2 circuit breakers and from there to the pump.
- I choose Groundfous based on reviews, also because has a good service here in North America and because has such a nice voltage range.
- For solar panels I didn't have to many options other then China made or Canadian made so I choose Canadian Solar with 10 years limited warranty and 25 years power warranty (min 80% power)
- I was reading on some solar forums that you select the solar energy for pump double than you want the pump to run. So I was looking for 800W because based on spec I can get around 15-18GPM from this pump. That is how I select the solar panel type of 255W. So 6 panels will give around 1.53KW.
- I connected the panels in a way to be close to 100V so I connect 3 panels in series and then both 2 strings in parallel so theoretically around 3*30.2V = 90.6V but actually I measured and the panels deliver 106V at max 15A.
- The water level in my well is at 28ft and the pump at 50ft so with this pump at 0.8W I can get max 18GPM
- The well is 6" in dia. and the pump is 3.9" dia centrifugal type, but the spec is saying it can be installed in min 4" well

Hope this will help.
Rogerius

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you very much, that's what I was looking for. I'm going to print this out and use it for designing my system. I only hope I can get half the water you are getting!!!!

Eddie

 

[LuigiQuims]

As I mentioned in one of my previous post, we installed a water well last month. Because we are off the grid and no budget to bring the hydro on the property, we decide to install a solar pump. We choose a Groundfous pump 16SQF-10; a quite expensive pump but worth every penny so far. To drive this pump I bought 6x 255W panels which I connected in 2 parallel strings of 3 panels in series. As a result, the total power delivery in full sun is 106V at 16A. The panels are connected directly to the pump using the pump controller but this will be changed once the house will be build and water will be required during the night, so CC, inverter and batteries will complete the system.

I installed all piping as can be seen in one of the pictures. It was quite challenging as took me almost a day to dug the 4ft big hole manually. Now we have water to fill up the pond, for garden and when the house will be ready I can connect it to the well.

To keep the solar panels in full sun, I build a small shed 8'x12'=96sqft(no permit required) and I installed the PVs on the roof. Quite tricky to bring those panels on the roof because of size and weight (50lbs at 3'x5'-6") but with my friend Kubota everything is possible. I attached some picture for reference. What is left, is to install the siding. I'll post the final pictures.

Looks like very effective water pump..Is it working fine? Hope you will share you true review..