Advice required on water feature / solar pumps
 

Hi,

I want to make a cheap, basic water feature for our decking and a
solar-powered pump would seem the easiest way of doing this. Does
anyone have any experience of using these? - are they generally any
good, and what should I look out for?

The price does seem to vary considerably, so any help would be
gratefully received. So far, i've found the following sites:-

http://www.sunshinesolar.co.uk/item-...Kit--waterpump
http://www.gosolar.u-net.com/Solar_f...ns_gosolar.htm
http://www.solarpumps.co.uk/rechargeable.asp

I'm not an expert, and don't want to spend too much time on this, so
the simpler the better!

Many thanks in advance

Steve

don't know if this wil help..but I just bought a water feature with solar pump for the bottom of the garden as putting in electric would be too much hard work( basic boring teracotta urn and bowl from B & q) and was surprised how little sun is needed to get the pump working and how strong the water flow was.

The only drawback is that due to the direction of the sun I have to move the solar panel as the sun rises over

"SteveWJ" wrote in message
oups.com...

Hi,

I want to make a cheap, basic water feature for our decking and a
solar-powered pump would seem the easiest way of doing this. Does
anyone have any experience of using these? - are they generally any
good, and what should I look out for?

The price does seem to vary considerably, so any help would be
gratefully received. So far, i've found the following sites:-


http://www.sunshinesolar.co.uk/item-...Kit--waterpump
http://www.gosolar.u-net.com/Solar_f...ns_gosolar.htm
http://www.solarpumps.co.uk/rechargeable.asp

I'm not an expert, and don't want to spend too much time on this, so
the simpler the better!

Many thanks in advance

Steve

I bought several of them a couple of years ago from different sources
hoping to make a water feature. I returned each of them to the shops and
bought an electric one. They are rubbish and a waste of money. For a start
they only work in full sunshine and secondly I could pee a better flow rate
than they produce.

"w.g.s.hamm" wrote
"SteveWJ" wrote
Hi,

I want to make a cheap, basic water feature for our decking and a
solar-powered pump would seem the easiest way of doing this. Does
anyone have any experience of using these? - are they generally any
good, and what should I look out for?
snip
Steve

I bought several of them a couple of years ago from different sources
hoping to make a water feature. I returned each of them to the shops and
bought an electric one. They are rubbish and a waste of money. For a start
they only work in full sunshine and secondly I could pee a better flow rate
than they produce.

I had a similar experience with solar lights :~(
More like glow worms !
Jenny

"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"w.g.s.hamm" wrote
"SteveWJ" wrote
Hi,

I want to make a cheap, basic water feature for our decking and a
solar-powered pump would seem the easiest way of doing this. Does
anyone have any experience of using these? - are they generally any
good, and what should I look out for?
snip
Steve

I bought several of them a couple of years ago from different sources
hoping to make a water feature. I returned each of them to the shops and
bought an electric one. They are rubbish and a waste of money. For a
start
they only work in full sunshine and secondly I could pee a better flow
rate
than they produce.

I had a similar experience with solar lights :~(
More like glow worms !
Jenny


I am convinced my garden gets darker when the solar lights come on. petrol
station junk bought on an impulse.

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

Tumbleweed wrote:
"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"w.g.s.hamm" wrote
"SteveWJ" wrote
Hi,

I want to make a cheap, basic water feature for our decking and
a
solar-powered pump would seem the easiest way of doing this.
Does
anyone have any experience of using these? - are they generally
any
good, and what should I look out for?
snip
Steve

I bought several of them a couple of years ago from different
sources hoping to make a water feature. I returned each of them
to
the shops and bought an electric one. They are rubbish and a
waste
of money. For a start
they only work in full sunshine and secondly I could pee a better
flow rate
than they produce.

I had a similar experience with solar lights :~(
More like glow worms !
Jenny


I am convinced my garden gets darker when the solar lights come on.
petrol station junk bought on an impulse.

Was it, I wonder, one of my own children or somebody else's who used
to say "Turn the dark on"? This was, of course, before clever Daddy
discovered how to blow out an electric light.

--
Mike.

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 21:24:31 +0100, "Tumbleweed"
wrote:


"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"w.g.s.hamm" wrote
"SteveWJ" wrote
Hi,

I want to make a cheap, basic water feature for our decking and a
solar-powered pump would seem the easiest way of doing this. Does
anyone have any experience of using these? - are they generally any
good, and what should I look out for?
snip
Steve

I bought several of them a couple of years ago from different sources
hoping to make a water feature. I returned each of them to the shops and
bought an electric one. They are rubbish and a waste of money. For a
start
they only work in full sunshine and secondly I could pee a better flow
rate
than they produce.

I had a similar experience with solar lights :~(
More like glow worms !

Mine too.

Failed glow worm farmers are we.
Martin

I took the cheapo ones back and bought some 'proper' expensive ones instead.
They were just as bad as the others!
Took those back too and bought new lamps for the bedroom instead :~)
Jenny

I recently bought the rechargable version from solarpumps.co.uk and
have been very pleased with it.

I wouldn't recommend one unless it has a battery, as otherwise it'll
obviously only work when the sun is directly on it.

The pump I have is more than adequate for the water feature I've made
and the battery life is very good too.

hope this is of help.

russ

I bought a low voltage DC pump and a solar panel, about 3ft by 1ft, and
unless it was pointing directly at the sun it did mostly nothing at all.
However, when the sun did shine, the solar panel powered my pump too much:
water was spewing out of my water feature too fast. So you need a battery
if you go down this route.

With the solar panel in a position of dappled shade (still a lot of
sunlight getting to the panel) the pump would stop. If the solar panel was
directed away from the sun (by not very much IIRC) the pump would stop.
The company I bought the solar panel from said it would work in overcast
conditions!! I got my money back.

My water feature is now powered from the mains, and works just right.

Regards,

Paul.

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