Solar Powered Well Pump
Simple Pump Installation Photos

From Hawaii

Thank you Ron and Gary for your service and products. Pictured above is the system I've installed to water my property. The black corrugated tube is an 20' long 18" plastic culvert that is my well. mounted on top is a hand water pump and a Simple Pump powered by 4 50 watt panels providing 24 volts. Water is pumped to a 500 gallon tank that sits on a 42" high circular deck supported by five masonry block piers. The circuit breaker box is mounted on one of them.

There is a 1 1/4" takeoff outlet at the lower sidewall of the tank with a main shutoff. Two 3/4" hose bibs come off the 1 1/4" line for watering a small taro field and potted vegetables. There is an 1 1/2" overflow at upper sidewall (near solar panel support). There is another hose bib there for utilizing "extra" water. The 1 1/2" line has a shutoff below that hose bib so that unused "extra" water can be routed through a trap and into a sump leading to an irrigation ditch.

The plan is to put a 300 gallon tilapia fishtank under one of the gardening hose bibs and raise some fish (and fertilizer for the garden beyond).

Juan Wilson
Hanapepe Valley, Kauai, Hawaii
www.islandbreath.org "Going Local"

From Alabama

A recent Simple Pump installation using 2 each 210 watt solar panels on a
top of pole mount.  The pump house is just behind Marc's head.

Conduit is in the trench going to the pump house.

The Simple Pump pipe and rods are queued up ready for installation.

The pump cylinder and first two sections of pipe are in the well.  This is
an unusual 7 inch PVC casing.  Note the safety tool that catches the
pipe hub to prevent it falling into the well.

The down rod connections are made between each pipe section.  The
guide bushing for the rod is in the bottom of the pipe hub.  As soon as the
rod is tightened the pipe section is lowered into place and screwed together.

The pipe is cleaned with a strong chlorine solution as the pipe is lowered into the well.

All of the pipe is now in the well, the pump head has been attached
and the collar that holds the pump head to the well cap is tightened.

The motorized option is now bolted to the pump head.  The cover is
removed here to show the slide that strokes the rod as the gear motor
turns.

This application uses two each 12 volt 258 amp Sun Xtender AGM solar
batteries, enough battery storage to pump 300 gallons per day with
five days of autonomy (cloudy weather) during December, which is the least sunny
time of the year in this location.  The batteries weigh about 160 pounds each.

When the pump was started up we ran a flow test and were pumping a about 2.7 gallons per minute from 100 feet using the Model 125 pump.  Installation including the conduit work, trench backfilling, solar and pump install took three workers about 9 hours.  The pump house is being enclosed the day following the solar and pump installation.