Solar powered water irrigation

[vancheese]

Hi people

My orchard is dying slowly from a lack of water and as I live near the city of Sunshine (Szeged, Hungary) and have a deep well with plenty of water, I was pondering creating a solar pump systems which draw water from the well and distributes it the trees. I was hoping to make this as cheap as possible so I was thinking of running a tankless system without a major tank and just run the pump during the day and using a porous tubing system to deliver the water. I don't need a high-pressure system and just a small flow of water to ensure that the trees live!
I was wondering what advice people have about this, Would I be better to just buy a large tank and fill it and then use that water to distribute the water? I've seen other solar pumps here (http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 18#p163550)

Cheers for any help

Andy

ps. sorry if this appears twice

[KathyLauren]

I was all set to tell you about my system, but I see from your link that you've already read all about it.

If you want to pump from a well, you will need a different pump than the type I used. Exactly what pump you need depends on the depth of the well and what kind of flow rate you plan to use. For a shallow well, a surface-mounted pump will do, but be sure to read up on the maximum lift the pump is capable of pulling before you buy it. For a deep well, you will need a submersible pump. I think there are DC submersibles available, but they will be hard to find. Most well pumps are AC.

Once you have selected the pump, then plan your battery and solar panels according to its electrical needs. With more than a 15 watt panel, you will need a charge controller.

If you are going tankless, make sure you know what flow rate the well is capable of providing. You can't exceed its flow rate or you will run the well dry and will risk damaging the pump. If the well can't supply the flow rate you require for irrigation, then you will have to use a tank.

[Solargardener]

Hi,

I don't know how big your orchard is, but the pumps at http://www.rainwatergardening.com will pump water up from about 4m and water a few trees (depending on size)

[pumpy]

I agree with Keith. If you opt for a surface mounted pump, then you need to consider the total head capability of the pump (H max). So if you need to draw the water up, say, 5M & want to send 25M then you have a total head of 30M...... OR 3 Bar, as 10M + 1 Bar. Bear in mind that no surface-mounted pump will draw water from over 8M (even if it's as big as your house !). Also when calculating head requirement, allow for any possible "friction loss" thro' the output pipe-work etc. Good luck.