Deep water... [RE-wrenches]

Wed Jul 5 00:31:55 EDT 2000

Gary,

If I read your parameters right (available gpm) you're getting 50 gallons a
minute at least of recharge to the well.  It doesn't sound to me as if you
will exceed your recharge rate so drawdown isn't as much of an issue.  You
can use the pumps at close to their limit as long as you are secure in the
idea they recharge rate won't change substantially.

Tom Elliot
Guffey Energy Works
Solar Energy Education
http://www.wagonmaker.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Higbee, Solutions from the Land" <ghigbee at efn.org>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: 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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