# Flexible water pumping system



## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

So, I helped out on a solar water pumping project recently and I figured I might as well share my thoughts.

First of all, I have been working on water pumping systems for a looong time; submersible, surface centrifugal, pumpjacks, mechanical, powered by grid, batteries, solar, generator, inverter, DC, even cow noses  So, the concepts aren't new to me by any means, but there are still things I haven't tried extensively. For standard submersibles I like to stick with non-control box models because controllers DO fail, I prefer to use 110V models most of the time because there are many more inverter and generator options available.

Recently (relatively mind you ) I have really been amazed by the various DC diaphragm pumps available like the Shurflo 9300









This chart is for 24V DC, wattage is lower on 12V.

They are amazingly efficient and make water pumping with solar or other alternative energy pretty simple, with the proviso that some water storage is likely needed (they are low flow), and that the diaphragms DO wear out (they can be replaced easily) possibly before a standard submersible would fail. Price wise they can be found reasonably and overall I just love them, incredibly simple and can be run from any DC, 12 or 24V and that is easily obtained from AC if needed. One full-sized solar panel is usually enough for hundreds of gallons per day.

Anyways, the recent set-up is almost the polar opposite. It uses a very sophisticated Grundfos SQflex pump, controller, and "remote monitor" coupled to a sizable solar array with no batteries, and pumping into a 10000 gallon tank. So, $$$ in other words. The pump actually wasn't really THAT expensive, considering the price of a good plain-jane submersible these days, but still pricy.

The really cool thing about these pumps though, IMO, is that *the same pump will run on 30-300V DC OR 90-240V AC*, that is just very cool. So, once the whole thing was setup and running away on solar (didn't time it yet but many thousands of gallons per day for sure) we simply wired in a 110V cord :2thumb:

These pumps are VERY efficient, amazing amount of output on so few watts. Even a tiny inverter generator will run it fine, as will a good inverter.

So, now I have seen these in Wells and in surface water pumping and I have to say they are pretty neat. I don't like the complexity of the controller so having a spare is essential on any vital system, but I have to say I am pretty impressed. Aside from the initial cost I find it hard to say anything bad about these pumps and there is a lot of good.

http://www.grundfos.com/products/find-product/sqflex.html#overview


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## LastOutlaw (Jun 1, 2013)

So, I have a well head unused. It is supposed to be 180 ft deep. This pump could lift from that depth running on 12 to 24 volts?


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

Must take some hefty wire for a 200 foot depth and add from well head to house???


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

LastOutlaw said:


> So, I have a well head unused. It is supposed to be 180 ft deep. This pump could lift from that depth running on 12 to 24 volts?


The diaphragm style pumps, no problem. Of course @ 12V the output will be very low so for any sort of household use some sort of storage will be required. They pump plenty of gallons per day but not per minute.

For the SQflex types, they like a higher voltage setup ie; 2 regular panels minimum. This particular setup used 4. But, they give a solid GPM in return.



helicopter5472 said:


> Must take some hefty wire for a 200 foot depth and add from well head to house???


Either of these pumps require very little wire because of the low amperage. The shurflos max out at under 5 amps, so the only issues is line loss, still @ that current and 200ft something like 10G is enough, and only 2 wires at that.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

how many times more expensive is a grundfos compared to a franklin of somewhat similar capacity??
And it looks like there are replaceable parts, but how are these priced??


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Tirediron said:


> how many times more expensive is a grundfos compared to a franklin of somewhat similar capacity??
> And it looks like there are replaceable parts, but how are these priced??


Grundfos pumps in general are on the very high end price-wise, but they are very well made imo, not only stainless steel throughout but even multiple grades of SS depending on the type of water. I just picked up a regular submersible Grundfos (doesn't need a controller, regular pump) for over $600 last year:eyebulge: These are twice that price, possibly more, depending.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

cowboyhermit said:


> Grundfos pumps in general are on the very high end price-wise, but they are very well made imo, not only stainless steel throughout but even multiple grades of SS depending on the type of water. I just picked up a regular submersible Grundfos (doesn't need a controller, regular pump) for over $600 last year:eyebulge: These are twice that price, possibly more, depending.


I'm impressed with the quality of Grundfos pumps, when I worked for the local school district in the custodial/maintenance department I installed an all stainless steel hot water circulation pump for the kitchen dishwashing system, the water running through that pump was very hot and I had a few other pumps fail before coming across the Grundfos pump, but it ran for sometime after I retired. Thing is, throughout the 20+ years I worked for the school district, I saw the quality of a lot of the replacement equipment, such as motors, pumps, heating systems go down drastically, anything that was still of high quality often showed up being much higher priced but far less prone to failure.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Viking said:


> I'm impressed with the quality of Grundfos pumps, when I worked for the local school district in the custodial/maintenance department I installed an all stainless steel hot water circulation pump for the kitchen dishwashing system, the water running through that pump was very hot and I had a few other pumps fail before coming across the Grundfos pump, but it ran for sometime after I retired. Thing is, throughout the 20+ years I worked for the school district, I saw the quality of a lot of the replacement equipment, such as motors, pumps, heating systems go down drastically, anything that was still of high quality often showed up being much higher priced but far less prone to failure.


Yeah, I was willing to pay the premium on the 110V Grundfos simply to get the max trouble free life practical. Could have picked one up considerably cheaper, RedLion or whatever but I wanted to do whatever I could to increase reliability in that situation. Same goes for galvanized fittings, these days it is brass or stainless, (or even high quality "plastic") or it doesn't go down the well. Pumpjacks are still an exception.

I had one single galvanized fitting (that I didn't install) ruin an entire pitless adapter setup  Ended up needing to backhoe and replace the works, not fun, and not worth $10 extra on fittings.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

We have the cheap chinese version of the shurflo, costs us about $140 Australian delivered. The parts are interchangable with the Shurflo. Why the cheap one? Well we don't just have one we have a few of them, 4 I think. The last one we installed has been running for 2 years, 6 hours a day. Pulled it up to have a look at it last summer and other than a clean to get rid of deposits it was still in perfect order. We have had problems with this type of pump but it's been with an older Shurflo(ran for 15 years before problems started) or with power to the pump or sediment buildup. 
It's a 1 horsepower unit, about 60ft from ground level to the water line and the pump is about 30 feet below that. Flow at ground level is about 10 gallons per minute, up at the 15,000 gallon storage tank (100ft higher than the top of the well) flow is about 4-5 gallons per minute. We can run on mains or solar. For the money these pumps are fantastic.
We have one of the spare pumps set up ready to drop in the well, cable and pipe attached, we can pull one up and drop the new one down in about 30 minutes with three people.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Yeah, there are lots of similar diaphragm pumps, some cheap and others a bit more but with more stainless steel and/or higher flow rates.

I find it pretty amazing what they can pump on so little power so we have used them a lot in wells and surface water pumping too. I really like the simplicity.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Wellrounded said:


> Flow at ground level is about 10 gallons per minute, up at the 15,000 gallon storage tank (100ft higher than the top of the well) flow is about 4-5 gallons per minute.


I can't help but think a "booster" pump at the top of the well would relieve some of the workload of the pump "down the hole" and would extend it's life significantly.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

LincTex said:


> I can't help but think a "booster" pump at the top of the well would relieve some of the workload of the pump "down the hole" and would extend it's life significantly.


Of course if the booster pump failed to run it would cause problems, not that hard to rig up a bypass with a check valve I suppose. I don't think it would end up any more efficient but I would think it would have to reduce wear, and definetly increase gpm.

As for the O.P, I should mention that these pumps apparently also come in traditional centrifugal models, as opposed to the fancy helical models I am familiar with.


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