About six months ago we finished the install on a solar submersible well pump from Sun Pumps on a well previously drilled and cased a few years ago.
Static level of water was found to be 145'
My attempts to lower a 300' tape in there weighted with a large bolt, allowed me to estimate a depth of 160-180' However more scientific methods showed it at 145'.
It's a 4" well into our aquifer here. We have a couple of other wells on the property including a dedicated hand pump deep well into the aquifer. It is cased in PVC and a pad of concrete was poured around the casing in 2010. Like everyone else, I have to budget for large projects like this :)
The pump itself was purchased some time later. It is a Sun Pumps SDS-T-128
Specs on the pump show a maximum flow of 1.8 gallons per minute with a maximum head of 230 feet.
The panel is a MX 60 235 watt panel purchased from Solar Blvd
Power comes from the panel to the PC-30 controller from Sun Pumps. They were very clear that using another controller may void the warranty on the pump, so to avoid any Bravo Sierra and because this was my first time using their product, I decided to pony up the cash for there controller. I would use it again, it's relatively simple to hook up and use.

One thing I noticed was that even when MOSTLY SHADED, the panel was showing good voltage-

Now, "good voltage" with the shading doesn't equate to good pumping however. The flow gets perceptibly slower as the panel is heavily shaded.
The location I put the panel in isn't exactly the best from a pure "power" standpoint. However as survivalists we have to always balance these things with the overriding consideration of SECURITY. This is the reason this particular panel has a hour or more of shading in the morning. Keep in mind also this is not our only water source, it's one of several.
Here is the connections between the panel and the Sun Pumps controller- cave man simple. Cave simple provided the "cave man" realizes he needs the new cable type apparatus used with these newer panels... This "caveman" assumed that the panel had the standard old school connections every other panel I have has. Wrong assumption. And good message for those of us storing various things that we think we will put together after the fact- you may want to go ahead and assemble all the components now- they might not go together the way the last similar thing you had did. Now that being said, I was able to string power with just standard 10-2 from the panel to the controller, however for a cleaner look and various other reasons, I bought the stupid cable... LOL
1/2" poly pipe, a safety rope and 10-2 well pump wire was attached to the pump itself, laid out in the pasture first. Then it was slowly lowered into the casing. Every 10-15 feet we taped or tie wrapped the pipe, safety rope and wire together. A check valve (one way valve) was installed not far above the pump as well, per the instructions from the manual.
Connections were made to the controller and lo and behold- nothing happened. Hey, maybe we need to flip this little red switch inside the controller? Ya think? Flip the switch and you could hear a faint noise as the pump starts up. Not long after water begins flowing- yeah THAT'S what that switch is for! DUH!! LOL
We are pumping out of the well branching off to a small orchard that uses drip irrigation and also tee'ing into a 550 gallon storage tank in the picture. We have since made the install more "clean" and the next thing is to do a few things to add ballistic protection to both the tank and well head. Other water storage tanks and sources are available and they are protected in the same manner. Doesn't do that much good to go to all this trouble and then get a hole in it in the PAW.
Static level of water was found to be 145'
My attempts to lower a 300' tape in there weighted with a large bolt, allowed me to estimate a depth of 160-180' However more scientific methods showed it at 145'.
It's a 4" well into our aquifer here. We have a couple of other wells on the property including a dedicated hand pump deep well into the aquifer. It is cased in PVC and a pad of concrete was poured around the casing in 2010. Like everyone else, I have to budget for large projects like this :)
The pump itself was purchased some time later. It is a Sun Pumps SDS-T-128
Specs on the pump show a maximum flow of 1.8 gallons per minute with a maximum head of 230 feet.
The panel is a MX 60 235 watt panel purchased from Solar Blvd
Power comes from the panel to the PC-30 controller from Sun Pumps. They were very clear that using another controller may void the warranty on the pump, so to avoid any Bravo Sierra and because this was my first time using their product, I decided to pony up the cash for there controller. I would use it again, it's relatively simple to hook up and use.
One thing I noticed was that even when MOSTLY SHADED, the panel was showing good voltage-
Now, "good voltage" with the shading doesn't equate to good pumping however. The flow gets perceptibly slower as the panel is heavily shaded.
The location I put the panel in isn't exactly the best from a pure "power" standpoint. However as survivalists we have to always balance these things with the overriding consideration of SECURITY. This is the reason this particular panel has a hour or more of shading in the morning. Keep in mind also this is not our only water source, it's one of several.
Here is the connections between the panel and the Sun Pumps controller- cave man simple. Cave simple provided the "cave man" realizes he needs the new cable type apparatus used with these newer panels... This "caveman" assumed that the panel had the standard old school connections every other panel I have has. Wrong assumption. And good message for those of us storing various things that we think we will put together after the fact- you may want to go ahead and assemble all the components now- they might not go together the way the last similar thing you had did. Now that being said, I was able to string power with just standard 10-2 from the panel to the controller, however for a cleaner look and various other reasons, I bought the stupid cable... LOL
1/2" poly pipe, a safety rope and 10-2 well pump wire was attached to the pump itself, laid out in the pasture first. Then it was slowly lowered into the casing. Every 10-15 feet we taped or tie wrapped the pipe, safety rope and wire together. A check valve (one way valve) was installed not far above the pump as well, per the instructions from the manual.
Connections were made to the controller and lo and behold- nothing happened. Hey, maybe we need to flip this little red switch inside the controller? Ya think? Flip the switch and you could hear a faint noise as the pump starts up. Not long after water begins flowing- yeah THAT'S what that switch is for! DUH!! LOL
We are pumping out of the well branching off to a small orchard that uses drip irrigation and also tee'ing into a 550 gallon storage tank in the picture. We have since made the install more "clean" and the next thing is to do a few things to add ballistic protection to both the tank and well head. Other water storage tanks and sources are available and they are protected in the same manner. Doesn't do that much good to go to all this trouble and then get a hole in it in the PAW.
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