# Solar power to a water well



## txsteele (Nov 19, 2014)

So I recently purchased several acres. The property currently has an electrical well drilled on it. I called the local electrician in the area to inquire about putting a solar panel on the well in case the electricity went out. He said there was not a way to do that???

For any of you on here that know better, is there a way to do that? Ultimately I would like to have a solar panel hooked up to the well so that I could have a water supply to my house if the power went out. Any thoughts?


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

See the "We Got Water" thread lower down in the forum for my setup.

How it's done depends on how you plan your usage. If you need a pressurized system then you have the coice of a large battery bank and inverter or a 2 pump setup (one to pump from the well to a cistern and the other to pressurize the system.

If you can use gravity to feed out of the cistern then a simple setup like mine works nicely.

WWW


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

Correct terminology and more information are in order.

First off, you do not have an "electric well". What you have is a well pumped by an AC well pump. Depending on it's capacity, it might be either 110 or 220V AC. Do you know how to look at wiring to tell the difference?

Just to start, you need to add additional information, such as what is the diameter of your well casing, the diameter of the hole in the ground. Then you need to specify how many feet below ground your water table is. And, how far below the water table the pump is positioned. Also knowing the refresh rate of the bore helps. That means how many gallons per minute enter the bore-hole from the surrounding rock. If for example you hook up a pump the delivers 5 gallons per minute, and your refresh rate is only 2 gallons per minute, you will be pumping the well dry continously.

This is all information you can get from the original driller, depending on how long ago the well was drilled.

If your bore hole is large enough, you might be able to accomidate two pumps, the original AC one, and a second solar one. Adding a second pump though is not a trivial project. If your well is hundreds of feet deep, your system will weigh several hundred pounds and you'll need a crane to pull it out.

I'd say, if you have the expertise to answer the questions above, you probably would be able to do it yourself. If you can't, just forget the idea and pay someone to do it for you.


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## MosesAtwood (Dec 3, 2014)

As previously stated, more informaiton is needed. Here's a place to start:

http://www.sunrnr.com/solar-power-a-well-pump.html

That's what we use, but it's a bit pricey. We lose power here regularly and since we have a well... no power means no water. This solution was easy to install and works great for us. Our pump is only 1/2 HP though.


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## michael ark (Dec 11, 2013)

Look at youtube at engineer775 he has a lot of videos on their about solar wells.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdZ2n3A8Zw8&list=UUpDl4WPpgvvOeZFpw4ewycA"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdZ2n3A8Zw8&list=UUpDl4WPpgvvOeZFpw4ewycA[/ame]


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## 12vman (Feb 17, 2004)

A gallon of gas or propane can move a lot of water using your existing pump/well if you can store it at ground level..

A friend of mine uses a 4k gal. cistern and a standard submersible pump with a generator to pull the water from the well and uses 12 volt pumps to pressures it up to use in his home. Simple and effective..

He fires up the generator every week or so to fill the cistern. The cistern is a tad bit higher than his house in elevation but not high enough to provide any good pressure. 12 volt pumps pressure it up with ease..

A submersible pump will move a lot of water at free flow so it wouldn't take long to fill a cistern. (As long as your well has enough return keep up!) Pressuring it up at ground level would require a lot less panels than trying to get the water out of the well. If you can store a good quantity at ground level, it's much easier to manage.. 

Just some food for thought..


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## philm (Dec 16, 2014)

http://www.simplepump.com/OUR-PUMPS/Solar.html


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