diy solar

diy solar

Grundfos SQ vs RPS system

Wow that is great very cool move , your link did not work but I googled JDL and watched a few vids .
I was Surprised your water is so high in the desert.
You where saying your water needs are low , it looks like you will need a title wave
If you are going to try to green up the desert ? Maybe a better pump would be in order just saying .
 
Not to rain on your "cheap pump idea" but I went down that same route and after two failed pumps and the vendor refusing to fix them under warranty I decided to go with a more expensive/supported vendor. It's a real pain when you get used to flowing water and then your pump quits and now all those plans and critters need water. I should post an entire thread on what I have gone through, I wasn't happy about spending two grand when I could get a pump for $400. But, lesson learned.

I'm an attorney, so I know all about what my rights are and all that, but bottom line, short of posting my story here and the bad press that goes along with it, there isn't a lot you can do when the amount of money is small and the pump is a DYI and they can claim it's broken due to "customer issues" or consumable parts.
 
^^^^
it sucks when that happens , I buy thru Amazon all the time and they will make thing rite no matter what .
I figured a guy that wants water at camp could use a cheep pump , I know a lot of people that are getting good service out of them ?
I allways buy name brand stuff , I have a SQF solar pump at my place but my pump is down 700 feet
So there is no way to save money.
if my water was down 100 feet I would of tried a cheep pump first
 
Wow that is great very cool move , your link did not work but I googled JDL and watched a few vids .
I was Surprised your water is so high in the desert.
You where saying your water needs are low , it looks like you will need a title wave
If you are going to try to green up the desert ? Maybe a better pump would be in order just saying .
It's not a desert yet! I'm on the western side of the bottom of the Sierra Nevada, about 3 miles west of the Pacific Crest Trail. The eastern side is desert. My ecosystem is blue oak savannah but desertifying just like the rest of the state. When an environment is "brittle" (moisture does not come year round), trees don't just grow back when cut down. In this region, a lot of trees were cut down to build mines 120 years ago, and they never grew back. When the mines played out, people ran cattle, and the land has been drying out ever since.

I'm fortunate to have such a good well. Most wells around here are 5 to 10 gpm. Pouring water on the land doesn't solve all problems, but building life in the soil and increasing biomass and biodiversity can improve the water cycles, improve the water holding capacity of the soil, and increase the general resilience of the landscape.
 
Last edited:
I used ShurFlo submersibles for a few years but the electrical connections always seemed to eventually leak. My supplier seems to have substituted a pump called Aqua Flo for the Shur Flo. Aqua Flo ($600 +/-) is stainless steel with factory installed wire. In 2009 I decided to go with Grundfos 3 SQF 2 and it worked flawlessly until recently when it would no longer lift up to my tank (+ 75'). It would still pump 1.5 GPM at ground level but almost nothing at the tank. I suspected that the helical coil and stator had worn. The cost of a replacement coil and stator was so expensive that my supplier refused to even consider that. I thought about changing to RPS or Sun Rotor (cheaper and both can be field repaired) but decided to go back to Grundfos SQF. The SQFlex is basically plug-and play, operates on DC or AC in a variety of voltages. It's a perfect choice for a guy who is not too sharp electronically. (After 35 years off grid, I still have trouble with "series and parallel").

I'm not sure if the forum allows this but I am willing to give my old SQFlex to someone who might be able to bring it back to life.
 
a grundfos sq will work fine for you. it has no surge start and will run on just about any inverter with at least 1500w continuous rating. it will not come with wire or pipe, so you'll need that. also recommend a pitless adapter on your well casing for freeze protection in winter. (allows pipe to exit well underground. ) you'll need a pressure switch if you are pressure pumping, or a float switch if just filling a holding tank. small battery bank for inverter, and solar panels to charge it. a charge controller if you don't go with an all in one inverter. and a generator for backup. there will also be a lot of little odds and ends wire breakers fuses timers etc, that will totally depend on your personal install choices.
 
Okay, now a related question. I'm looking for 10 AWG jacketed submersible 2-conductor cable with NO ground. It's easy to find them with a ground wire, but that is not what the pump requires. The only one I've found so far is expensive ($2.79 per foot!) from Solarconduit.com. Any suggestions?

My static water level is at 52 feet right now, by the way,
 
Okay, now a related question. I'm looking for 10 AWG jacketed submersible 2-conductor cable with NO ground. It's easy to find them with a ground wire, but that is not what the pump requires. The only one I've found so far is expensive ($2.79 per foot!) from Solarconduit.com. Any suggestions?

My static water level is at 52 feet right now, by the way,
Just use 2 wires on the 3 wire stand. Use sealing heat shrink on wire 3 to keep it from corroding. (That way when the cheap pump burns up you'll already have the wires for a good one installed)
 
Just use 2 wires on the 3 wire stand. Use sealing heat shrink on wire 3 to keep it from corroding. (That way when the cheap pump burns up you'll already have the wires for a good one installed)
Thanks! I think I'll design a block and tackle into my well house also. Always nice to plan ahead. :)
 
Thanks! I think I'll design a block and tackle into my well house also. Always nice to plan ahead. :)
that might be overkill, but you do need to attach a piece of aircraft cable (ss wire rope) to the pump (should be a place for it on the pump) so you pull the pump with it and not the pipe/wires.
 
I just bought 10g pump cable with outside cover 2 conductor wire with ground for 99c a foot I thing it came from a place called wire by the foot .
50’ of ware is not very much .
You won’t need block and tackle for a 50 foot well pipe , water and wire is only 60ish pounds
 
Just replaced my 12 year old Grundfos SQFlex Pump. It uses 2 wires plus ground and it is NOT a cheap pump ($2300). The pump is at 70 feet (50 foot static water level) and it's an easy two man lift. I used 10 foot sections of 1" SCH 40 PVC with male and female adapters glued on each end. No need for a block and tackle which will only get in the way. I could probably lift it myself but like having the extra pair of hands for Murphy's Law. I made what I call a "frying pan", a slotted (fits the 1#PVC) piece of metal that stops and secures the hanging pump while you unscrew the exposed 10 foot section. Fortunately it get lighter as you remove piece by piece.
 
Not cheep for sure , how much did the Original set you back 12 years ago?
When I first drilled my well in 2015 the pumps where 1800 bucks
now 2300 extra 100 bucks a year .
How much water are you pumping to kill a pump in 12 years ?
I have pumps 35+ years old in the ground and still pumping water .
I would be disappoint if my pump died in 12 years ,I hope I don’t have to replace mine when I’m in my 70s
the pump is 700’ deep
 
Wow! 700 feet!! Definitely not a two man pull out.
I don't have the 2009 invoice but the total bill was $2300+. That might have included the wire and other things. This invoice was $2500+ but that included $70 for an IO50 grundfos controller. I use this pump to keep my storage tank topped up so it ran when the sun was out. The motor worked fine. The pump would produce 1.5 GPM at the well head but would not lift the same to the tank 75 feet up the hill. My water does have granite in it and I assume that it wore out the stator over the years.
I'm already in my 70's so this SQFlex might outlive me.
 
Just replaced my 12 year old Grundfos SQFlex Pump. It uses 2 wires plus ground and it is NOT a cheap pump ($2300)...
that's one reason why I almost always recommend an SQ not an SQflex. Only reason to go with a flex is for dc pumping and $16-1800 will buy a lot of inverter.
 
I agree and I gave that some thought. I actually have my old Heart Interface 2400 inverter hanging around and considered going with the SQ. But this well house is not a well controlled environment and I was reluctant to add another potential problem inline.

A note to Well Built. Reading from my SQF installation manual. "Maximum sand content. Sand in the liquid will reduce the life of the pump and increase blocking. The sand content of the pumped liquid must not exceed: 50 g/m3." More evidence that my water quality probably reduced the life of the helical coil and stator.
 
That was what I was thinking , I have no sand just solid stone with a few veins of cracked ledge at 300 500 and 700 feet I dropped a go pro down on a line to check it out .
Boy I only want to do this once .
thanks for the reply tc
 
Back
Top