el sid question [RE-wrenches]

[bbassett at rockisland.com]

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Jay,

I have an El Sid 20PV pump in my SDHW system. Keep in mind that it takes 
1.1 amps to get it started. I'm using a 30watt module so it takes about 
1/2 sun to start it. When we have partly hazy days sometimes it doesn't 
start when I could be collecting a goodly amount of heat. Then when it 
does start I get a really hot slug of fluid through the system. I don't 
think this is conducive to long glycol life. It keeps running until 
pretty low light once it gets going. It pumps fine at over 2gpm through 
a single 4x10 collector and low restriction heat exchanger (coil in 
tank) with about 35% glycol. Dan did let me try out a circuit board he 
made to help with the startup, and it worked fine while it worked, but 
didn't work very long, and the electronics were exposed to being touched 
and possibly easily damaged, so was not really a solution yet. 

So if you really wanted to use one I would couple it to a 40 watt module 
or greater, making sure that it won't ever go over the 20 volt limit for 
the pump. Good luck finding a 40 watt module, much less one with lower 
voltage! Maybe the fountain pump module AEE has would be a good match, 
hi amperage, low voltage 28 watt, although I prefer glass framed modules 
for long life to match the heating collectors. I've had good luck with 
the smaller ElSid pumps, both PV and battery versions. I would consider 
using two of the ElSid-10PV pump, even if it is expensive, and a 30watt 
module. My experience with two Hartell pumps on one module is that it 
works very well. There's plenty of amps that starts one pump and then 
the other one starts immediately after, so you might get good low sun 
performance. I haven't tried this with two ElSid pumps, but give Dan a 
call and ask him what he thinks. 

I tried one of the new Laing DC pumps last year, and found that it 
didn't start on PV at all. It also made the most hideous wailing noise 
I've ever heard while sitting there doing nothing. I've heard that they 
work with an LCB, but don't know how well. They also didn't seem to have 
a clue about what is required for a PV direct pump (or much of anything 
else), even though they advertise that these pumps can be used that way.

I just R&R a collector, for reroofing, that I installed about 15 years 
ago that had an early version of the brushless Hartell pump (before the 
little pancake motor was used). The system had an old Solarex 10 watt 
module that tested OK still. It started with about 20% sun or less, just 
barely turning over, but the warm fluid did come down the pipe! And with 
good sun ran very nicely. It was quiet too. I wish I could get these 
again.

Actually my favorite was an old tiny Laing pump (very efficient) that I 
coupled to a 10 watt de-bladed brushless DC fan. It worked great, but my 
epoxied together shaft didn't last very long. So this is not a hard nut 
to crack, someone just needs to do it right.

Brad


jay peltz wrote:
> 
> I am planning on using a el sid 20 watt version on a glycol 4 panel  
> system, off grid, array direct.
> 
> Anybody know of any problems with this unit?
> 
> thanks,
> 
> jay
> 
> peltz power
> 
> 

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