New to solar power forum

[McDaddy]

Last fall I constructed a metal storage building to store tractor, supplies and some hunting gear. It is in a rural area of South Carolina and I am replanting pines for harvesting. The power company estimated that it would cost over $2500 to establish power at my building. Also, the county had extensive requirements on what was needed to establish power at that location. I started investigating solar and wind power as an option because I eventually want to build a cabin on the land, too. I've spent numerous hours investigating some of the power stations. I have a Honda 7500w generator that has helped me through a couple of hurricanes and fluids over the last 4 years, but fueling and maintaining a generator can be a cumbersome (and potential dangerous) task. The recent pandemic has increased my sense of urgency to develop an alternative power supply so I just ordered and received a Ecoflow Delta 1800. Hopefully, the Delta will serve my needs until I receive my Titan Solar Generator (sometime in June). I am hopeful that this forum (and Will's book and videos) will prove useful in providing ideas and guidance. Also, I have found that Minute Man Prep has great information on "living off the grid". Now for my question.

Does anyone have experience with solar pumps? One of minute man prep's videos mentioned RPS solar pumps. Does anyone have other sources or ideas on setting up an "off grid" water pump to supply a residential home?

 

[justicelee26]

There are some great solar powered well pumps out there. Check out the alt-e store. There is a guy on YouTube called Engineer775 who has videos of them getting installed. There are a lot of different setup with pumps, storage tanks, and pressure tanks, depending on your needs. If you could tell me more about what you are looking to do I could give you more detailed info.

 

[McDaddy]

There are some great solar powered well pumps out there. Check out the alt-e store. There is a guy on YouTube called Engineer775 who has videos of them getting installed. There are a lot of different setup with pumps, storage tanks, and pressure tanks, depending on your needs. If you could tell me more about what you are looking to do I could give you more detailed info.

 

[McDaddy]

Thanks for responding. I am really in the beginning stages of planning. I don't have a well at that location yet. My thoughts are to have enough water to supply a future cabin on my property. My brother's home is the closest neighbor and he lives over 1/2 mile from where I plan to build. He has a pump and sewer. First, I thinking of digging a well and getting a pump to water a garden in the area. I will check out Engineer 775 to see what solar options he has. Thought about using a windmill with a handpump option to start, but I like the idea of a solar pump

 

[justicelee26]

Here in South Carolina your well won’t need to be that deep so there are a lot of options. You can have a solar pump that pumps water out of the ground and into a storage tank. If you have a way to elevate the tank you can just use gravity for the water pressure. That way the pump would only have to run to refill the tank and it could be during peak solar hours. You could also have the pump with a pressure tank and the pump would just cycle on and off a lot more frequently and you would need more battery storage.

 

[MichaelK]

You don't necessarily have to have a "solar" pump to supply water. For my cabin's well, I went the opposite route, and determined what size solar array I needed to power my 240VAC wellpump. Previously the power to supply the well pump was by generator. My solar system performed so well, and I ignored the generator so long, that the piston rusted stuck in the cylinder. Flooding the cylinder with WD-40 got it working again.

 

[McDaddy]

You don't necessarily have to have a "solar" pump to supply water. For my cabin's well, I went the opposite route, and determined what size solar array I needed to power my 240VAC wellpump. Previously the power to supply the well pump was by generator. My solar system performed so well, and I ignored the generator so long, that the piston rusted stuck in the cylinder. Flooding the cylinder with WD-40 got it working again.

Thanks. I'm formulating ideas on how to get water at the farm. I plan to put a hand pump in several locations, but want something more substantial to supply the cabin.