Hi all

I'm putting a 'water feature' in our garden but have no idea on how powerful
a pump I'm going to need. The feature is a replica mill stone, 56cm diameter
with a central hole of 2cm, and all I want is a nice steady flow of water
over it ie no great jets of water, fancy fountains etc

Liking the idea of a solar pump due to the no wiring and presumably no need
to remember to switch on/off etc A trawl on Ebay has thron up a couple of
cheapies from HK and which claim to put out 150 lph but don't know what this
means in real terms,so

1. Do solar pumps actually work, does it have to be a brilliant summers day
or will they still work in the dead of winter

2. Any idea on how much output I'll actually need

Many Thanks

Jim

Jim wrote:
Hi all

I'm putting a 'water feature' in our garden but have no idea on how
powerful a pump I'm going to need. The feature is a replica mill
stone, 56cm diameter with a central hole of 2cm, and all I want is a
nice steady flow of water over it ie no great jets of water, fancy
fountains etc
Liking the idea of a solar pump due to the no wiring and presumably
no need to remember to switch on/off etc A trawl on Ebay has thron
up a couple of cheapies from HK and which claim to put out 150 lph
but don't know what this means in real terms,so

1. Do solar pumps actually work, does it have to be a brilliant
summers day or will they still work in the dead of winter

2. Any idea on how much output I'll actually need

Many Thanks

Jim
Yes, they do work, but there are more crap items out there than good. I have
a solar air pump for my pond....works great in bright sun, but not at all in
normal daylight! I'd say forget ebay.....go to a decent garden centre and
see one working.
--
Pete C
London UK

g'day jim,

dunno surely there has to be wiring to get power from solar collector to
pump and soemwhere in the middle a battery or 2 to store the generated power
needed?

would mean buying a 12 volt (if that is the voltage of choice) pump easily
bought from most pond suppliers or a boat shop, you won't need huge pump, as
you don't want say more than trickling water for effect.

will solar itself work? that depend on whether you can face the pv cells
south in your case up there in the north, then how much sun the collector
can actually recieve through those sunny days? target at least 8 hours i
would guess. storing the power is an issue to look at but that is what will
be needed, it would be a miniature stand alone solar system surely or how
else would the pump have continual aon your demand power ie.,. in the app'
12 hours of each day that is dark, then deduct those cloudy and rainy days
over hee app' 1/3 of the days of the year, not to mention your long winter,
but i guess winter need not count. then pump may come with built in
battery?? always the week point of any system. might do better with little
wind generator?

anyhow keep us informed, i would simply us ac power it will be such little
draw to make negligable effect on power usage, yes more involved to set up
but once done you can turn your pump on any time night or day and know it
will work. still only need small pump.

we pump rain water for wash machine through 1/2" boat bilge pump through
1/2" hose at around 700 lt/hour can get pump to around 1k/lt+ per hour
capacity, that pump been going for 3 years now cost around $50AUD.

len

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/


snipped

Jim wrote:
Hi all

I'm putting a 'water feature' in our garden but have no idea on how powerful
a pump I'm going to need. The feature is a replica mill stone, 56cm diameter
with a central hole of 2cm, and all I want is a nice steady flow of water
over it ie no great jets of water, fancy fountains etc

Solar pumps can be fairly good with the right power supply. I used one
to irrigate my greenhouse powered by a lead acid accumulator. Hardest
part was keeping mosquito larvae from jamming the drip line jets.

Liking the idea of a solar pump due to the no wiring and presumably no need
to remember to switch on/off etc A trawl on Ebay has thron up a couple of
cheapies from HK and which claim to put out 150 lph but don't know what this
means in real terms,so

1. Do solar pumps actually work, does it have to be a brilliant summers day
or will they still work in the dead of winter

The pumps work fine. The problem is always with extracting enough solar
power from the photovoltaic array. Most solar devices are sold with a
woefully inadequate solar collector and are inclined to disappoint.

In direct sunlight a PV array delivers about 40% of its nominal rated
power in winter (for the few hours the sun is above the horizon) and
100% in summer. Under cloudy conditions the power output is pathetic.

2. Any idea on how much output I'll actually need

A few litres per minute should be enough. The one I used was from
Bullnet (approx £20 when I bought it). Their website is getting worse no
prices at all but it is still the same luminous orange colour.

I did the sums for my application and elected to use a rechargable lead
acid battery - the solar collector would never pay for itself.

http://www.nezumi.demon.co.uk/garden/water/fountain.htm

Picture of the pump I used in action on a decent power supply towards
the bottom of the page. My conclusion was that there is nothing at all
wrong with the solar pumps provided that you power them some other way!

Regards,
Martin Brown

Hi Jim,

I would avoid the solar pumps shipped directly from China. You may get lucky, but there is a high chance of disappointment.

We are not currently selling solar pumps in our store, but we have done in the past, and are currently hearing positive notes about the Bermuda range.

If you do go for a solar option, be prepared to invest a little time in the positioning the panel and maintenance. As much direct sunlight to the panel as possible, and ensure that the pump is cleaned periodically. They are tiny brushless motors that run best on water that is free of debris.

Hope this helps.

Matt