Aerator pump the more I read the more I am confused.

[RobCLaGrange]

Nooby here! No Solar at this point.

I am looking at a 1/4 Hp air pump that pulls 3.2 amps so thinking around 408 watts. I am in LaGrange Texas LOTS of sun during the summer when the pond/fish need to O2 the most if the air compressor can run during the day with sun and a few hours at night off of the battery I think I should be good? I thought a 400 watt would match the draw and was looking to do a 500 watt (2 x 250) panels to have a bit of extra? But now after reading 15 posts I am thinking I am off.

Is this a doable job/project or do I need to run power 700 feet? I really want to do and understand Solar and think it is a skill set I would like to have.

Rob

 

[snoobler]

Welcome to the forum.

3.2A*120V = 384W

Panels don't generally put out their peak power, and they only put out a large percentage of that power for a short time around the middle of the day.

Try it this way instead - decide how many hours you want to run per day:

"I want to run the pump for 12 hours/day"

12 * 384 = 4608Wh

4608Wh/12V = 384Ah, so you would need 384Ah of 12V batteries.

Assuming you get great sun, 4608Wh/5h = 921.6W of solar, let's round up to 1000W.

 

[rcrracer]

It must use too much electricity pumping water or air to aerate a pond. People who grow fish/shrimp etc. use devices that froth the water. Plenty of pics on the internet. Versions of paddle wheel type. https://jhxqq2011.en.made-in-china....Performance-for-Oxygen-Fish-Pond-Aerator.html Ken's hatchery version of a propeller type. https://hatcheryfishfarm.com/collections/fountains-surface-aerators Decades ago, the original Ken's had a diesel tractor parked next to the office. The tractor had a PTO that powered a big surface aerator in the main lake. They would crank up the tractor up in the morning and I assume it would run all day. In the other lakes they used their electric surface aerators($600 back in the old days). Someone might be able to make a cheap propeller type surface aerator using a trolling motor.

 

[MichaelK]

One problem you will face is that at 8am, your panels are only putting out a fraction of what they are capable of, because the sun if at such an obtuse angle. That's why Snoobler's numbers are so much larger than yours (realistic). You'll need a battery bank and an inverter to run this pump if it's AC.

As alternative, what you might look into is a DC operated pump, the could be wired directly to the panels, or to a dedicated pump controller. You could wire your two 250W panels in series, and let them run the DC pump during the daylight hours. The pump would start out slow in the morning, reach a peak around your noon, and then drop off till sunset. The panels could be racked facing south along the edge of your pond, and the higher serial voltage will cut down on voltage drop. I'd reseach the aeration pumps out there, and put together a stand-alone system that runs just the pump.

 

[Bryan Sloan]

Nooby here! No Solar at this point.

I am looking at a 1/4 Hp air pump that pulls 3.2 amps so thinking around 408 watts. I am in LaGrange Texas LOTS of sun during the summer when the pond/fish need to O2 the most if the air compressor can run during the day with sun and a few hours at night off of the battery I think I should be good? I thought a 400 watt would match the draw and was looking to do a 500 watt (2 x 250) panels to have a bit of extra? But now after reading 15 posts I am thinking I am off.

Is this a doable job/project or do I need to run power 700 feet? I really want to do and understand Solar and think it is a skill set I would like to have.

Rob

Thread 'Pond aerator up and running'
https://diysolarforum.com/threads/pond-aerator-up-and-running.12022/

Rob, it’s very possible. Here’s a link to the system I’m using to run my aerator. Working very well, and my batteries charge fully by mid morning. My post has all the math, and Snoobler is spot on in his reply. I switched out the inverter to a smaller one since I don’t have a large load, but the other components are unchanged

Bryan

 

[RobCLaGrange]

Thread 'Pond aerator up and running'
https://diysolarforum.com/threads/pond-aerator-up-and-running.12022/

Rob, it’s very possible. Here’s a link to the system I’m using to run my aerator. Working very well, and my batteries charge fully by mid morning. My post has all the math, and Snoobler is spot on in his reply. I switched out the inverter to a smaller one since I don’t have a large load, but the other components are unchanged

Bryan

Awesome, thanks for the info!!! Can't wait to get started!