Change in water supply setup

[kickstand]

The bicycle route is a really good non-solar route. Good idea for shallow wells.

But it sure would be fun watching someone trying to pull from a deep well.

I have a 12v Harbor Freight pump that I have plumbed into my well pump system, so that I can connect it to a 12v battery during a power outage or main pump failure. It won't get quite to the pressure that the main (120v) pump will, and I have to manually power it on and off, but it will keep things pressured up during a problem.

[airdrop]

Good point.

To replace what i have, yes, would require at least 2kW in power. You indirectly bring up another, much larger concern: Wire sizing.
Even if the panels were on top of the well, 180' of wire would need to be ~2/0AWG in order to keep Vdrop at 3% assuming 2kW @ 48v. This is not very feasible. I've run 2/0awg and would rather give a fully clawed cat a bath instead. I'd need to invert to at least 110/115v to keep the wire size to a manageable (physically and financially) size.

I thought going with a smaller pump would work but even the half HPs run on 5-6 amp. I did find a burcam 230v 3wire that runs on 5amps but thats still 1150w with starting amps being at 10.

airdrop - I did reach out to Rural Power Solutions. I was looking at their full backup system with panels, batteries and an inverter but it was $8-10k and had 20-24 panels.

I'm not sure what to do to ensure water supply during grid down. I have a metal roofed shed that I could gutter and harvest rain. However, how does one prevent bacteria/crap growing in the tank and, more importantly, how does one properly filter the water? Who knows how many birds crap on that roof.

Keep alum on hand , add it to a bucket of water an let it settle out the solids then skim off the top , should make it easier to filter or boil .

[0utlaw]

You mentioned using a 12v RV pump. What pump did you use and is your water tank(ibc) elevated at all (on a hill and/or tower)?
I like this idea.

My tank is elevated 16 inches, one cinder block. I used a shurflo 2088-554-144 3.5 gpm and it says 45 psi but steady running mine is more like 35 maybe 40 if the flow isn't wide open. I also put a shurflo 182-200 surge tank on it to reduce pump cycling. I pretty much copied the fresh water system on my buddy's class A motor home less the propane water heater. We ran this setup after Michael for quite a while other than low pressure showers you really never noticed. Also note we were on limited electricity so we didn't run dishwashers or washing machines but showers, flushing toilets and tap water all worked great.

[knotReally]

Keep alum on hand , add it to a bucket of water an let it settle out the solids then skim off the top , should make it easier to filter or boil .

Almost asked what this is used for but a quick search resulted in this. MIght be helfpul for those wondering like me.

http://gcpba.org/2010/08/26/treating-water-with-alum/

[knotReally]

But it sure would be fun watching someone trying to pull from a deep well.

I have a 12v Harbor Freight pump that I have plumbed into my well pump system, so that I can connect it to a 12v battery during a power outage or main pump failure. It won't get quite to the pressure that the main (120v) pump will, and I have to manually power it on and off, but it will keep things pressured up during a problem.

Kick, just thinking out loud here but you might be able to utilize your existing pressure switch to actuate your pump so you dont have to manually turn on/off. Might not be safe so a second switch could improve the safety (so you dont get 120v power and it fry something) but those switches are mechanical so it should work. Plus, if you get a 30/50 and turn it down you might get it to work seeing how you mentioned it doesnt pressurize as much as your normal pump.

[knotReally]

My tank is elevated 16 inches, one cinder block. I used a shurflo 2088-554-144 3.5 gpm and it says 45 psi but steady running mine is more like 35 maybe 40 if the flow isn't wide open. I also put a shurflo 182-200 surge tank on it to reduce pump cycling. I pretty much copied the fresh water system on my buddy's class A motor home less the propane water heater. We ran this setup after Michael for quite a while other than low pressure showers you really never noticed. Also note we were on limited electricity so we didn't run dishwashers or washing machines but showers, flushing toilets and tap water all worked great.

My parents have a motor home. Good call. I'll take a look at how they are setup and use that to gen ideas.
Thank you for the part numbers. I might not copy but it gives me a better direction to head.

[kickstand]

Kick, just thinking out loud here but you might be able to utilize your existing pressure switch to actuate your pump so you dont have to manually turn on/off. Might not be safe so a second switch could improve the safety (so you dont get 120v power and it fry something) but those switches are mechanical so it should work. Plus, if you get a 30/50 and turn it down you might get it to work seeing how you mentioned it doesnt pressurize as much as your normal pump.

I did have it set up that way, and set the kick-off pressure as low as it would go, but it just never quite operated the way I was hoping. I had the power wires terminated with alligator clips and about 15 feet of wiring, so I could either put a battery in the pump house or just drive a vehicle over to it and hook up to the vehicle battery. Here's a horrible diagram of how I had it set up. It burnt the contacts out on 2 pressure switches, probably due to low pressure. When I wanted to run off of 12v DC, I would shut the 2 ball-valves off, and open the 2 faucets.


HouseWaterDiagram.png

[knotReally]

kick, i could see how that could burn up a switch since you'd be running a good bit of amps (i assume). Think a relay could prevent that?

[airdrop]

How deep is your water table ? A pump will only pull about 25 ft or so , deeper than that you need the jet pump or a pump down in the casing , if the 12 volt pump was running all the time because it couldn't pick up enough water to shutoff it would burn those contacts more than likely . The guys that run DC/solar on their cattle tanks use pumps that go down into the casing to get close to the table , they don't pump bunches just steady .

[knotReally]

How deep is your water table ? A pump will only pull about 25 ft or so , deeper than that you need the jet pump or a pump down in the casing , if the 12 volt pump was running all the time because it couldn't pick up enough water to shutoff it would burn those contacts more than likely . The guys that run DC/solar on their cattle tanks use pumps that go down into the casing to get close to the table , they don't pump bunches just steady .

NOt sure if you're talking to kick or myself. My well has water around 140-160'. I have the report on it but cant seem to find it.
My pump is in the well.

[0utlaw]

Well depth and water table aren't necessarily the same, I have a 200 foot well but the water table is around 25 feet.

[knotReally]

Well depth and water table aren't necessarily the same, I have a 200 foot well but the water table is around 25 feet.

They aren't the same. Well must be deeper than water table otherwise its just a hole.