The awful truth [RE-wrenches]

[Matt Tritt]

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Hi gang,
One of my solar pump customers has been having a bugger of a time with a 
Grundfos SQF (11) I sold him a while back to replace one of the Solastar 
pumps I sold him back in 99 or so. Actually he had a pretty bad time 
with it as well but at least he got a few years of reliable service out 
of it.

Actually I should rephrase that first statement since this is the SECOND 
SQF we've had in his well, the first just cr****ed-out after just a few 
months in the hole of very spotty service. Grundfos, it turns out, has a 
very odd return policy in that you have to return the bad pump to the 
factory for them to test (we guys are too dull witted to determine if 
there really is something amiss) before they allow credit for a 
replacement on the pump that was sent to replace the bad one. Otherwise, 
they charge for the second pump with no returns allowed. Obviously, this 
policy can cause some grumbling (to say the least) and loss of 
confidence in the manufacturer, especially if the owner has been without 
a pump for a while!

Anyhow, this newest SQF is behaving pretty much like the first one did; 
low output, surging (even under AC power) and occasional failure to 
start. Sometimes it works just fine though so I'm certain that there's 
nothing wrong with the array. But that brings up another observation: 
This is a 4 module series connected system using 4 Solarex 120's (12 
volt) with a rating (in a perfect world) of 480 Watts at up to 79 V, but 
here's the rub: the stated rating Max power @45 deg C is only 85 Watts 
and, since it appears that whenever full sun is on the modules, possibly 
assisted by the nice dark blue backing, the cell temp almost immediately 
shoots up to just about that exact temp, which means that his 480 Watt 
array is actually lucky to put out 336 Watts (the highest I've seen it 
produce).

On the other hand I have to say that I've sold and installed a lot of 
other SQ's, none of which have given a bit of trouble, The factory is 
dragging it's feet on this second bad pump, attempting to place the 
blame on low water (50' submerged), bad power supply (runs weirdly on 
120 AC as well), or any other customer-caused problem they can think of. 
I don't think so. I have heard stories about at least two other series 
11's failing up in Canada, but I would like to know if any of you have 
had similar experiences. ?

Waiting on the edge of my seat,

Matt T

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