Selfsufficientish.com

is it possible to have a soler pannel making the electricity to run a pump to pump the water up a well, connected to hoses running through the garden providing a drop by drop watering system?

Definitely!

You will need to know how deep the well is. Most low-voltage pumps have a limited lift. If you push the lift capacity to its limit, you get no pressure at the output. If the well is deeper than the pump can lift, you will have to go with a submersible pump. They generally draw more power. When choosing the pump, you have to take into account not only the depth of the well, but also the outlet pressure and the flow rate you want.

Once you know the pump you need, you can design the rest of the system. You can run any size pump off batteries, if you have enough of them. It's fairly straightforward arithmetic to calculate the size of batteries you need, if you know the wattage of the pump and the duty cycle you want to operate it on (how long on, how long off). Once you know the size of the battery bank, you can choose an array of solar panels that will keep them charged in most weather.

If you only want a trickle from a shallow well, it will be a small, inexpensive system. If you want to run a fire hose from a deep well, you might need a very large, expensive system. But one way or another, it can be done.

What he said. But have you considered a windmill / header tank combination? It might be cheaper and lower maintenance, depending on the scale of setup you need.

Jon ,is it feasable to substitute a bank of batteries with a decent size header tank? I'm determined that our next place will generate at least SOME power,I 'm no engineer though I understand the basic principles,memories of living on a canal boat have turned me against batteries,maintenance,cost,disposal etc.

OJ - I've just started a setup with a 250l pressure tank I salvaged from an old domestic water supply that I'm using to irrigate my enormous bed of tomato plants with drip hose.

All I'm doing is raising it up on a few blocks to give a few cm more head. But I admit that I'm filling it from the borehole with an electric pump. I mention the windmill 'cos a neighbour bought a kit widmill capable of drawing from 20m down and is using it for animal watering. It cost about 350 euros I think and since he's had it he's not had to fill the trough himself. There's a sort of ballcock arrangement that decouples the mechanism when a fixed level is reached. All very cunning.

At that price,who wouldn't have one? It occurs to my non tech mind that water coming DOWN a thin tube in theory would turn some kind of small turbine,as well as irrigating your garden....(that may be ludicrous).

The Riff-Raff Element wrote:I mention the windmill 'cos a neighbour bought a kit widmill capable of drawing from 20m down and is using it for animal watering. It cost about 350 euros I think and since he's had it he's not had to fill the trough himself. There's a sort of ballcock arrangement that decouples the mechanism when a fixed level is reached. All very cunning.

Could you get any more details on that, TRRE? I can think of a good few local people and, no doubt, several on this board, who would be interested in such a low-cost way of raising water for irrigation and animals.

I still haven't moved on my plan to irrigate the polytunnel incorporating a solar power system so I'm still collecting ideas like your neighbour's. Any more clues? Any supplier names? Photos?

The Riff-Raff Element wrote:What he said. But have you considered a windmill / header tank combination? It might be cheaper and lower maintenance, depending on the scale of setup you need.

i concidered this but we live in macedonia in a mountain vally, it is nearly allways sunny and hardly ever windy. plus the well is surrounded by trees inside a walled garden so its even more sheltered from the wind. i think the soler pannel would be more efficient seeing you need to water more when its hot and sunny and thats when the pannel will be making most electricity.

greenorelse wrote:

The Riff-Raff Element wrote:I mention the windmill 'cos a neighbour bought a kit widmill capable of drawing from 20m down and is using it for animal watering. It cost about 350 euros I think and since he's had it he's not had to fill the trough himself. There's a sort of ballcock arrangement that decouples the mechanism when a fixed level is reached. All very cunning.

Could you get any more details on that, TRRE? I can think of a good few local people and, no doubt, several on this board, who would be interested in such a low-cost way of raising water for irrigation and animals.

I still haven't moved on my plan to irrigate the polytunnel incorporating a solar power system so I'm still collecting ideas like your neighbour's. Any more clues? Any supplier names? Photos?

I shall question him....

Anything more on this, TRRE?