diy solar

diy solar

MPP Solar Pump Inverter / Experience with deep well, 230VAC single phase 3 hp pumps

MPP Solar: "No."

You might check your pump specs with watts247.com as I believe they offer those as well.

Ground level with the base about 4' below the house. They have a 1/2hp jet pump and a pressure tank to provide pressure to the house.

He's acquired a rebranded Sigineer 6kW/24V inverter with 18kW surge. Both Sigineer and Electric Car Parts Company (distributor) confirmed it should work. He's waiting for his well pump guy to do the wiring.

So he needs juice for the pump AND the pressure tank?

First off, as everyone else has stated, he needs to simplify his pump/power issues. Hedges is all over it ... he's nailed it. Great advice.

Secondly your neighbor needs to elevate his storage tanks and let gravity do the work. Make sure he has a proper redundant backflow valve system in place and that his tanks stay topped-off, free of direct UV (deterioration) ray issues and properly, periodically, treated. He can also step down his service lines from the tank to increase water pressure.

I'm running off of eight caged, covered and enclosed IBC containers that are linked in series, self leveling and elevated 7' off the ground. That's 2000 gals of water sitting in a platform built on 6x6 treated posts with 2x12 treated joists and all of the containers have backflow valves inbetween in case of a rupture or penetration in one tank for whatever reasons ... and the entire set-up, including the tin roof covering amd siding which is easy if you're using 24' posts, cost me a little over $3k, tanks included. No more need for pressure tanks. Plenty of water if the grid goes down until I can make sure that at least one of my wells are up and running again on solar or gennies. This system also facilitates getting your tanks full, and longer lasting, with one cycle verses having to run your pump (or genny) over and over again.

Back to the pump issues ... Hedges laid that out nicely. And I'm thankful we do not have to drill much beyond 300' for good water here, often less.

I do not see how anyone can expect long pump life on the 500-1000 feet wells without going 3-Phase. I'm not a well driller nor am I an electrician but I know a few, including my brother in law who dug all three wells on this property and who digs a bunch of 500'+ wells for these big time farmers around here ... and I just talked to him and he said he would never install anything less than 3-phase at that depth ('700) if for nothing else to save big money on the wire alone.

With that said I do, and have, run my 300'+ well with a 1½ pump on a 5kw gennie no problems, although I've got a 14kw genny now.

Back to the cistern above ground storage for a moment. We're here in SC with an avg mean temp of 72° and it very very rarely gets below and stays below 32° around here .... but I still covered and enclosed my tanks just to be sure. If your neighbor is somewhere where it does get below freezing for extended periods of time ... he has to enclose his tanks and insulate and have available 120 power to run a small space heater to prevent freezing of course ... that goes without saying but I did it anyway.

ETA: Just talked to the BIL and he said, fwiw, he believes that a '700 residential well could be run on a Hallmark rated as a 3 HP, 230V/60HZ single phase motor (here's the model # he gave me and I hope I typed it correctly ma0431x-18a-e) and he said he thinks it comes with 250' of wire but the pump is good to 700' and it has a built in capacitor to help with start up so the 14kw genny will work fine according to him but you'll need minimum 4" casing to drop that pump. He said to call Hallmark and double check him to make sure. Here's the number he gave me 847-301-8050 and ask for Henry.

FWIW BIL also said that based upon your curve and head, and if that water is 700' deep in a 1000 foot well ... you're going to need a minimum 7hp pump to draw anything near 15 gpm.

Anyways, that's all a fwiw. I hope I conveyed what he was saying correctly ... he stressed it's all about where the water is, not how deep the well actually is. He said he's hit good water at 200' but still dug a 500' well and dropped 6" casing based upon usage requirements and that I didn't really provide him enough information to know for sure how to answer. He's assuming your water table is somewhere around 400' on a 700' deep well.

ETA2: And you've got to get all of the above figured-out before you start buying inverters and panels and building battery banks, etc.
 
@scrooster

No. Nothin specific, but most of what you typed. No.

This is a 3 month old thread and has been resolved in other threads.

This is a 25 year-running off-grid property. The system has been operating in its current configuration for that time. The house is 3 stories and about 3200 sqft Timber Frame with SIPs. Astoundingly efficient structure. The 2X 1000 gallon cisterns are in a pump house along with the batteries, inverter, generator, etc. The system and design are very sound. Elevating the tanks 20' in the air is not in any way practical in any sense of the word. The 1/2hp jet pump and pressure tank system (with a backflow preventer) provide the house with more than adequate pressure from the 1500-2000 gallons that are above ground at any given time.

The well pump produces about 8-10gpm based on run-time approximations.

After 25 years of generator running, the desire has changed to where they want to be able to run their EXISTING Grundfos pump without running the 25kW diesel generator about 2 hours a day, about 2 days a week. The pump was recently replaced (< 3 years), so replacing a pump isn't an economical option.

Solution: $1,000 6kW/24V Sigineer inverter with 18kW for 20sec surge capacity for starting the pump. The run consumption of the pump is 2760W, surge of 13kW to 14.6Kw for a couple of seconds.

Will be attached to existing 24kWh 24V system with 4/0 cables. Existing Trace SW4024 runs all other 120VAC items including the jet pump and has done so successfully for 25 years. They use about 6-7kWh total power on typical days.

The intent is to run manually only on sunny days near solar maximum where their 4kW array can run the pump. Generator will be relegated to backup purposes only rather than a necessity. The wife hates the smell and the noise. It's a beast.
 
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