Solar water pump

[rubybeetle]

I wonder if it is cheaper to put together your own little solar pump system with a solar panel big enough to run the pump all day and charge a battery enough to run it all night. Any thoughts?

 

[Melos]

I wonder how big the solar panel would need to be? WHile the idea of using solar power is very attractive to me, I don't fancy having some big panel up above my head while I'm walking around the garden.

 

[kelkat]

My husband and I have been looking into the solar chargers that they put on electic fences. I would think something like this would work for a pump and it's not that intrusive.

Surely they have actual solar pumps out there.

 

[rubybeetle]

True! I asked my husband what he could do to hide the panel. He said he could run a line underground to the panels on top of my shed, where they'd be out of the way.

 

[kelkat]

That would work. But most of the panels we have priced have been crazy (like 20 grand or something like that). I couldn't see doing that for a pond, especially if you are going to be running lines underground anyway.

 

[rubybeetle]

My entire solar system for my trailer-- four solar panels, six batteries, charge controller and inverter-- was under $3,000. My husband just did a huge solar job which had big solar panels with the highest output available for $1000 each. I don't think I need one that big for a pond. A friend said she saw some used ones on ebay, I think I'll check them out. I wish I could just plug in my pump to my current system, but it's stretched thin with the fridge.

We're not on the grid, we live in the middle of nowhere! But I still love it.

 

[Muttchaser]

I'm new to this forum and quite a bit late on this thread but I saw this on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-2-5-Watt-So...5QQihZ010QQcategoryZ20507QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[chris]

I'm new to this forum and quite a bit late on this thread but I saw this on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-2-5-Watt-So...5QQihZ010QQcategoryZ20507QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Interesting, I wonder if you can get one that has more the 45gph. Thanks cranking up my brain thoughts.

 

[richdeer3]

There are many good solar pond products out there if you know where to look. Oase has great pumps. Visit http://www.richdeer3pondsupplies.com and see the solar product pages. Good luck, Gail

 

[chatterbox]

Here is a Link from New York that specialises in Solar Panels..You can even build your own Panel for alot less money as they have kits available..

http://www.siliconsolar.com/

http://www.pondsonlinecanada.com/pumpssol.htm

 

[gehrlekrona]

I bought a solar pump from silicon solar. Worst piece of **** ever bought by me. It looked good on the site, had battey backup and as the newbie I am I thought that would work for my pond. I got the fountain one but I could spit better than the pump. You need a powerful pump with a lot of solar power so unless you go for the biggest one there is, save you money.

 

[richdeer3]

Solar products do work under the right conditions but there are still some bugs that certain manufacture need to work out. If possible I would use regular pumps in addition to solar if you have a larger pond or a heavy fish load. Solar works well for small water features where you can't or don't want corded pumps.

 

[gehrlekrona]

I "broke down" and brought out power to my pond so now I can run bigger pumps for my waterfall and I can also put some lights out there. I am hoping it'll look nice when I got the patio and the retaining wall built.
I was going to placesandstone around the pond but read somewhere that it wasn't good since they erode and deposit the erosion into the pond.
Anywa, if you need more powerful pumping then, in my opinion, you need to use 120V

 

[DrCase]

rock and water are natural.

 

[Sidt87]

Bringing back this topic! But does anyone know or can recommend a solar water pump for a pond that is 14 x 32 x 4ft? I believe it is around 11,000-13,000 gallons. Also wondering if a 2000gph pump would be sufficient enough for this large of a pond or would I have to go way higher than 2000gph?
Thanks.