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Water Pumps

Home » Labour Sourcing & Project Management » Eco-Friendly Solutions » Water Pumps

Many remote homes or businesses do not have gravity feed or city water available and must use some other form of water pumping.

Solar pumps are unique in electrical and mechanical design. Conventional water pumps will not provide satisfactory performance in a non-grid powered situation as they are not designed with energy efficiency in mind.

Submersible Pumps

Grundfos has launched a new line of extremely efficient, flexible and reliable off-grid water pumping systems, called SQFlex. As the name implies, these systems are extremely flexible.

A wide variety of power sources can be utilized - solar, wind and backup generator to ensure operation throughout the seasons.

Please call or email us with the specifics of your pumping application and we will be pleased to provide a quotation for your water pumping project. The following specification sheets are available for download: SQFlex 2 page general brochure SQFlex 20 page full brochure

Solar Pumper System

This entry level water pumping package includes everything required for a reliable and low maintenance water supply purposes. This system will provide varying quantities of water according to your site conditions, the principal factor being the total head - or vertical distance the water must be pushed. The next factor is the power output of the solar array which is a direct relationship to the amount of sun that falls on the panels and the number of panels in an array. The lower the head, the higher the performance. To increase the output, simply add more solar panels!

Surface Pumps

Surface pumps are less expensive than submersibles. These units are not submersible and need to be protected from exposure to water and the elements. They can draw water from a shallow well, spring, pond, river or tank and push it uphill through long pipelines to fill a storage tank or to pressurize it.

PV Direct

This type of water pumping is about as simple as it can get. A solar panel coupled directly to a DC water pump, without any batteries or inverters in between. When it’s sunny, water is pumped. These are commonly used in agricultural applications such as irrigation or livestock. Farmers around the world are switching to solar stock watering and drip irrigation due to its simplicity.

Battery Powered

Often residential needs include the ability to supply water under pressure on demand. Storage batteries are required for this application because the pump needs to run on demand, not just when there is sunshine available. DC pumps are more efficient than AC pumps, but AC pumps may be less expensive and are more readily available.

Pressurization

The use of an accumulator tank allows for city-style pressurized water that is available on demand. This allows the use of multiple fixtures at the same time while maintaining usable pressure. Accumulator tanks also extend the life of pressure pumps allowing them to run for several minutes at a time to pressurize the tank instead of the rapid on-off that is characteristic of so many water systems that are found in boats and RV’s.

Sizing

In order to properly size a solar water pumping system, careful planning must be adhered to. It is difficult to accurately rate a pump as the harder a pump has to work (the higher it has to push water or the higher the pressure) the more current it will draw. In a system with an accumulator tank, the pump will often be drawing 3 times the current towards the end of the pressurization cycle. We would be pleased to assist in designing a water pumping system for you. Please call for more information.