Deep water... [RE-wrenches]

Wed Jul 5 11:42:10 EDT 2000

Gary,
You have a good grasp of the options available.  Sometimes you just can't
get there from here.
Being a SunRise fan for its simplicity and efficiency here in the arid
Southwest, I would try to back up to the big picture first.  You have
acknowledged that GPD, total dynamic head, and budget don't all jive.
Right, agreed.  So let's go back and look at the load.  Where do these 2K
and 5K GPD figures come from?  What does your client believe he needs to
accomplish that requires this?  And the key question: How can he accomplish
his end result using less gallonage?  Approach it same as a power system,
using water efficiency like we preach electrical efficiency.  Can he do a
drip system?  Can he run fewer head on that pasture? Can his 23 kids take
shorter showers?

The 180VDC/48VDC system sounds prohibitively complex and expensive--I
haven't yet found contactors rated for that high a DC voltage, nor have I
encountered an off-the-shelf way to convert generator AC to 180vDC for the
near term.

The SunRise runs at 80% of rated flow and watts on a 48V battery system,
with no electronics between batteries and pump.

I mentioned your question to Windy Dankoff, and he should be e-responding
any nanosecond now as well.  He'll have better advice.

Allan

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Higbee, Solutions from the Land <ghigbee at efn.org>
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Date: Tuesday, July 04, 2000 4:56 PM
Subject: Deep water... [RE-wrenches]

>Hi Wrenches,
>
>I'd appreciate some help with a water-pumping/household design I'm working
>on. I'm fine with the array-sizing for the household, but the water-pumping
>is a challenge. We've got a lift of about 425' from the water in the well
to
>the big tank. We'd also like as close to 5,000 gallons per day as possible.
>At this point my client understands this will greatly exceed his budget,
but
>would still like to get at least 2,000 gallons per day. I'll give you a few
>parameters and pose a few questions:
>
>PARAMETERS
>location=near Yakima WA (east of cascades)
>tracking hours per day in summer=10
>well-depth=330'
>static-level depth=230'
>available gpm=over 50 (small aquifer)
>additional lift up hill to 5,000 gallon tank=175'
>design total lift with drawdown=425'
>desired gallons per day summer=5,000 (probably unrealistic, given budget)
>minimum gallons per day summer=around 2,000
>
>ADDITIONSL
>My client already has a propane generator (which will need the autostart
>stuff). It appears that the initial system budget won't allow much of an
>array, so we're looking at inverter(s), batteries, well-pump, with
generator
>charging to start with.
>
>ESSENTIALS
>Pumping scheme that lifts 2,000 gallons plus per day in the summer, with a
>lift of 425'. Includes something like 6kwH/day domestic use. Winter water
>pumping needs will be dramatically less, but much less sun means we'll want
>to use the large solar arrays for both water pumping AND domestic use. The
>challenge here is that ideally we might like something like a Solarjack SCS
>pump (running PV-direct at 180 volts) for summer pumping, but also be able
>to use the same array for inverter/domestic use. This way we don't have a
>big pumping array sitting around in the winter, when we'll need all we can
>get for the house.
>
>OPTIONS/QUESTIONS
>At this point I see several options, but all have challenges (sounds like
>real life!):
>
>1) Use a Solarjack SCS pump. We'd need a big, efficient transformer to
>convert a 48-volt nominal battery bank into the 180 volts at almost 8 amps
>the Solarjack SCS pump wants. Running the model 4-550 with PCB8-180
>controller would give around 3,000 gallons in our 10 tracking hours--a good
>number. Any ideas?
>
>2) Use two Sunrise pumps. This lets us use a 48-volt system for pumping and
>inverter. The problem here is that we may be just out of reach of the model
>5222 (1.6 gpm @ 400'), and we would be looking at the model 5218 and 1.2
>gpm. Doubling this (two pumps) gives us 2.4gpm. Running this for 10
tracking
>hours only gives us about 1400 gallons per day for something over $4,000 in
>pumps/controllers. But it does so with great efficiency (about half the
>array of the above). It probably isn't practical to size the battery bank
so
>that we continue to run the pumps long after dark, so we seem limited
>something like 2,000 gallons per day.
>
>3) Use an AC pump with one SW inverter and a T-240 transformer. In my
>conversations with Trace I'm told to stick with something like a 3/4hp
>maximum for one SW (4024, 4048), with a locked-rotor amps safely in the
>range of the inverter. Since we don't want to dump the household stuff
every
>time the pump starts this could be challenging for a 425' lift.
>
>4) Use an AC pump with two DR 3624 inverters (two SW's are likely out of
the
>budget) for a high-surge 240-volt source. This sounds workable but we're
not
>getting sine-wave to the house (oh-well), and we're sorely lacking in
>generator control (750' from the house, in the snow and ice!).
>
>5) Go with a big AC pump, and do the water pumping with the generator. This
>is likely the cheapest short-term solution, but it sounds yucky!
>
>HELP!?
>I'd sure appreciate some ideas here.
>
>THANK YOU!
>
>Gary
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>     Gary Higbee  (ghigbee at efn.org)
>             (541)607-1818
>    Solutions from the Land--solar,
>  wind, and hydro site analysis, design,
>            and installation
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
>
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