Solar powered waterfall

[Ford]

I have a client that has asked me to install a pondless waterfall. He wants to use solar power, to run the pump....He would like to have a good flow, as the pond is about 75' from his patio. He would like to see, and hear the water movement. I am thinking the pump should be at least 2000+ gph.

Has anyone on this site done a project like this one?

Any information on this subject will be gretly appreciated.

Thanks

Ford

[papercutter]

I haven't yet, but I'm hoping to be designing one for a commercial site if I get the bid. I believe OASE has some pretty powerful solar pumps. I think my brother was saying the panels are pretty big- 4'x4' and up. The big PITA with solar is the size of the battery block you need to keep power going after dark, or in less than ideal conditions. The site I'm doing will be closed at night, so not a big deal, but I'd assume your client would at least want the option of having it run at night?

[Stonehenge]

Never have. But in a few minutes of Googling, this is starting to look like a red flag project to me. I think you'll need a pump bigger than 200 gph, and that means you'll need something that can produce about 300W at 110V. Here's a link to a "high output" solar pump: HP-300FX High Output Solar Pump Kit (http://www.siliconsolar.com/hp300fx-high-output-solar-pump-kit-p-11.html)

(String about 200 of those together and you might have something... )

Do they already power their home from solar? If so, this might be no different than a typical install. But if you're going to be installing the solar, I think the client should be prepared for the price of this thing to at least double because of the need for solar power. And then the not small footprint of the solar panels needed for this water feature.

If it were me, I'd put together a package that shows that solar isn't practical from either a cost or performance perspective, and try to sell them on a traditional pump arrangement.

[livingwaters]

I am in the process of designing a natural swimming pond for a client. She is a physics professor and works on the cutting edge of solar technology.
I installed a pond for her a couple years ago and I reccomended a Dolphin high efficiency external pump for the waterfall. When she saw the specs for the pump laughed and told me that the pump draws more energy than her house! I didn't know at the time, but our local power company acctually pays her for putting energy back into the grid!:lightbulb
Anyway, with this new pond, she is going to have me install a SunCentric (http://www.innovativesolar.com/index.php?cPath=108)pump. According to her, its the only option for anything larger than a small fountain. It will pump approx 60 gpm at 15 ft of head pressure, with a 24 amp draw.
I think with the panels and all it will run approx. $2000
I will let you know how it goes.

[Ford]

Thanks for the replys...

PC- Yes, the panels are large, and the battery storage is a problem. There is a garden shed about 50' away...Maybe I could mount the panels on the roof, and hide the battery bank under the potting bench. I don't think they care if it runs at night, it is a pondless application.

Stonehenge
Yes the power of the solar pumps is very low.....and I need a min. of 2000 gph, better would be a 2500-3000 gph. unit.
They do not have solar power to the house, but they do have a lot of money. They know this will be costly, but they like the solar idea.

Livingwaters
I went to the suncentric site. I could not figure out how much these pumps, but your client says 60 gpm. thats 3600 gph... a nice flow. The amp draw at 24 seems high. I sent suncentric an e-mail asking for more information....Thanks.

[livingwaters]

Heres the link to the flow chart. (http://www.conergy.us/PortalData/3/Resources/products/solar_pumps/pdf/SunCentric_TD_USA_0603_B-web.pdf)
Its a little hard to read, the flow depends on the size of your panels.

[LandArts]

Seems kind of silly to install a solar power system just to run one pump. I'd recommend that they have someone install a roof-top solar system on their home instead.

[AZTLANLC]

I just started a job for customer and he installed 4 solar panels seem fairly good size, probably 10 x 8 but they way they work seem pretty good idea, they are tapped into the meter and when they are running the meter is running backwards, he has a separate meter for the solar panels.
In other words the electricity the solar panels produce during the day goes to someone else to use and then he gets credit for the one he uses

[papercutter]

After talking to the client, it looks like we're definitely specifying all solar-powered pumps for the two water features (two pumps per) to try and add LEED points. It's a competitive bid so I won't give anything away yet, but if there's any interest I'll post details after the contract's awarded.

[donnajordan]

Hey, Ford, if you didn't get your solar going yet, try Http://www.Fountainsfengshui.com
They have a great staff and lots to choose from.

[mdvaden]

I've never seen a water feature that runs from solar at a home that was not all solar already. But I'd be curious to see a chart someday for watts and cost per so many GPH, where the solar is just for the water feature.

My guess is about $5000 worth of solar installation minimum for something in the range of an 1800 GPH pump operating 24 hours.

That's purely a guess.

[sydneysolar]

Do they already power their home from solar?

I was banned because I am a spammer from the Philippines!

:Python: