Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
So I had a thought about my well pump. I'm in the process of trying to get my cabin On Grid right now, and while I'm building an off-grid solar for the cabin itself, that won't run my well pump. If I wanted to be able to run my well pump I'd have to get a 48v AGM or FLA 8-12 battery (4s/2-3p - $$$$) battery bank (because freezing!) a 6kw Low Frequency Split Phase inverter ($$!!$$), a 48v MPPT controller ($$) and a stack of panels ($$$) to get the 2500Wh a day I need (on average) just to run the 300ft deep 2500w 240v well pump. That's "Real Money" and I have cats to feed.
So I had a thought about rigging up a mechanical positive displacement pump in parallel with a big flywheel and some sort of gearbox/bicycle setup outside to pump up the pressure tanks (see doodle) on pedal power. Since the whole system takes about 10-15 minutes to do it's initial tank charge and water line fill (bleeding the air and such) and then only runs for about 5-6 minutes to recharge the tanks when they're drawn down (not a LOT of water usage) it only actually runs for 30-45 minutes a day on average. Currently I just fire up the big generator and power it that way but that's a lot of starting and stopping.
This whole idea can be killed really easy with 1 question though and that's why I'm hoping someone here has some extensive knowledge of how well pumps work. Can I "Suck" water 300ft up the pipe through the existing pump? I.E. will the water get past the impeller and such down at the bottom of the well or will the pump itself stop any water from getting through the pipe if the pump itself isn't running?
I just installed a new controller box and the pump house sits over the well head (see photo) so replacing the pump is pretty much a No-Go without moving the entire pump house (8x16) up and over the head and leaving it exposed to the elements.
Or is my crack habit flaring up again?
So I had a thought about rigging up a mechanical positive displacement pump in parallel with a big flywheel and some sort of gearbox/bicycle setup outside to pump up the pressure tanks (see doodle) on pedal power. Since the whole system takes about 10-15 minutes to do it's initial tank charge and water line fill (bleeding the air and such) and then only runs for about 5-6 minutes to recharge the tanks when they're drawn down (not a LOT of water usage) it only actually runs for 30-45 minutes a day on average. Currently I just fire up the big generator and power it that way but that's a lot of starting and stopping.
This whole idea can be killed really easy with 1 question though and that's why I'm hoping someone here has some extensive knowledge of how well pumps work. Can I "Suck" water 300ft up the pipe through the existing pump? I.E. will the water get past the impeller and such down at the bottom of the well or will the pump itself stop any water from getting through the pipe if the pump itself isn't running?
I just installed a new controller box and the pump house sits over the well head (see photo) so replacing the pump is pretty much a No-Go without moving the entire pump house (8x16) up and over the head and leaving it exposed to the elements.
Or is my crack habit flaring up again?