Summary of Water, a Priority!
Summary of Water, a Priority!
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Water, a Priority!
These are the realities about what you do or what you expect when going totally Off Grid for the first time. You have to get your head around WATER!!!! |
Off the Grid and Water Tanks |
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Published by admin on 12-Dec-2017 10:40 (1332 )
Being off the grid in oz, means harvesting your own water
Off the Grid and Water Tanks
Off the Grid and Water Tanks
Published by admin on 07-Mar-2017 14:29 (1224 )
This topic also got my attention very quickly at the old property and I learned allot very quickly about what pumps can do what , how much power some use and what pumps don't break down as often as others.
We have run high powered 240v centrifugal pumps , high pressure 12 volt diaphragm pumps and small 12 volt low current draw low pressure centrifugal pumps at one time or another..
Again living totally Off the Grid can throw little miseries or mysteries at you when you least expect it ... lolol
In the shower with a head full of soap and oppps!! the pump goes off or dies :- (
Things to know about pumps :
Different pumps do different things
Pumps come in many power configurations
Pumps have different power requirements
Pumps have different duty cycles
A few different types of pumps:
Bellow:A rather standard 240volt domestic centrifugal pump with a pressure controller that comes in many power(watts) sizes.
These are usually cheap . Last pretty well and are commonly used on domestic properties .
We use one like this that is only 230Watts.... Run intermittently only like in a domestic situation they are fine and do not hammer our Solar power supply. Ours is only 230W :- )
NOTE: some of these are up to 1000 watts , so look at the specifications before you pick it up or pay for it :- ) IMO these low cost , low power consumption pumps that are easily run on smaller solor systems are by far the best choice if you can not arrange or set up gravity systems on your property.
Bellow:A sample of a larger centrifugal pump like the last one , but uses much more power . As a rule , I have found that these pumps with no built in controller are mostly electricity guzzlers ! Most that I have dealt with and used are at least 1000watts ( 1KW) and way more sometimes ... A real burden on the load for most Solar systems , especially at night when you are running on batteries alone... ( no sunshine to flow power direct to you loads.)
Bellow:A std domestic pump with a pressure tank to help maintain constant pressure. These are great setups , but I find most ready to go setups like the one below , have power requirements up to and over the 500W range.
NOTE : These tanks will run fine and help maintain constant pressure on the smaller low power style pumps above ..
Bellow:]A std type petrol pump
Not good for std domestic supply usually . They are more for transferring large amounts of water from one place to another .We have one of these for our water transferring needs around the property and it doubles as our fire fighting pump , ready to go at a minutes notice !
Bellow:A std 12/24 volt diaphragm pump.
We use a couple of these for water supply for irrigation and things like that , but we have found that they , apart from being a tad noisy , they are not designed for long duration intermittent use .?
I have blown a couple of these up and killed the pressure cut out switches on them mainly because I feel they are not good for constant intermittent use ? IMO
Bellow:A purpose built twin 12/24 volt diaphragm pump set up.
I have one of these in my workshop , but I have never used it . We bought it years ago , but with the failure of a few Diaphragm pumps in the past , I am reluctant to bother now as we use a low power 240 instead. They are good pumps , but not my first choice due to reliability and Duty cycle limitations..
NOTE: Duty cycle = how often it is needed and how long you run them.
Bellow:A small low voltage 12/24v booster ,circulation pump.
These are great for those little needs , like powering water through hydroponics , powering water up to an evaporative cooler ect ect .
They come in 12 and 24 volts and most draw only very low power .
We have a 12volt one pumping water up to our evap cooler and it uses only 3 amps !!
Bellow:A std looking pool pump NOT much good off grid ! power hungry as !!! I would not bother trying anything like one of these for Off Grid use. Maybe if I win the lottery , I might have one onsite near the pool if I ever put one in , but it would have to be Generator powered . The Solar power here would run them no probs , but would give the system a work out because of the up too 2000W ratings on them..
Bellow:
A Ram pump video from UTUBE
Ram pumps are easy to build , relatively low cost , but most of the ones that I have seen and worked on are connected to springs or dams ect with the elevation require to set them going ... and I believe that the waste water that has to be discharged needed to run them needs to be dealt with if you are on a limited amount of lets say tank water ... I understand why people with slightly elevated free spring or creek water use them though .... they are trippy to watch running :- ) BTW ... we do not have one on our property because I have enough solar to run reasonable electric pumps for what we need to achieve ...
BOTTOM LINE : Asses your available power and buy a pump that best suits those needs.
cheers
Steve
We have run high powered 240v centrifugal pumps , high pressure 12 volt diaphragm pumps and small 12 volt low current draw low pressure centrifugal pumps at one time or another..
Again living totally Off the Grid can throw little miseries or mysteries at you when you least expect it ... lolol
In the shower with a head full of soap and oppps!! the pump goes off or dies :- (
Things to know about pumps :
Different pumps do different things
Pumps come in many power configurations
Pumps have different power requirements
Pumps have different duty cycles
Different Pumps last longer doing some tasks far better than others.
Always have a back up Pump !!
Always have a back up Pump !!
A few different types of pumps:
Bellow:A rather standard 240volt domestic centrifugal pump with a pressure controller that comes in many power(watts) sizes.
These are usually cheap . Last pretty well and are commonly used on domestic properties .
We use one like this that is only 230Watts.... Run intermittently only like in a domestic situation they are fine and do not hammer our Solar power supply. Ours is only 230W :- )
NOTE: some of these are up to 1000 watts , so look at the specifications before you pick it up or pay for it :- ) IMO these low cost , low power consumption pumps that are easily run on smaller solor systems are by far the best choice if you can not arrange or set up gravity systems on your property.
Bellow:A sample of a larger centrifugal pump like the last one , but uses much more power . As a rule , I have found that these pumps with no built in controller are mostly electricity guzzlers ! Most that I have dealt with and used are at least 1000watts ( 1KW) and way more sometimes ... A real burden on the load for most Solar systems , especially at night when you are running on batteries alone... ( no sunshine to flow power direct to you loads.)
Bellow:A std domestic pump with a pressure tank to help maintain constant pressure. These are great setups , but I find most ready to go setups like the one below , have power requirements up to and over the 500W range.
NOTE : These tanks will run fine and help maintain constant pressure on the smaller low power style pumps above ..
Bellow:]A std type petrol pump
Not good for std domestic supply usually . They are more for transferring large amounts of water from one place to another .We have one of these for our water transferring needs around the property and it doubles as our fire fighting pump , ready to go at a minutes notice !
Bellow:A std 12/24 volt diaphragm pump.
We use a couple of these for water supply for irrigation and things like that , but we have found that they , apart from being a tad noisy , they are not designed for long duration intermittent use .?
I have blown a couple of these up and killed the pressure cut out switches on them mainly because I feel they are not good for constant intermittent use ? IMO
Bellow:A purpose built twin 12/24 volt diaphragm pump set up.
I have one of these in my workshop , but I have never used it . We bought it years ago , but with the failure of a few Diaphragm pumps in the past , I am reluctant to bother now as we use a low power 240 instead. They are good pumps , but not my first choice due to reliability and Duty cycle limitations..
NOTE: Duty cycle = how often it is needed and how long you run them.
Bellow:A small low voltage 12/24v booster ,circulation pump.
These are great for those little needs , like powering water through hydroponics , powering water up to an evaporative cooler ect ect .
They come in 12 and 24 volts and most draw only very low power .
We have a 12volt one pumping water up to our evap cooler and it uses only 3 amps !!
Bellow:A std looking pool pump NOT much good off grid ! power hungry as !!! I would not bother trying anything like one of these for Off Grid use. Maybe if I win the lottery , I might have one onsite near the pool if I ever put one in , but it would have to be Generator powered . The Solar power here would run them no probs , but would give the system a work out because of the up too 2000W ratings on them..
Bellow:
A Ram pump video from UTUBE
Ram pumps are easy to build , relatively low cost , but most of the ones that I have seen and worked on are connected to springs or dams ect with the elevation require to set them going ... and I believe that the waste water that has to be discharged needed to run them needs to be dealt with if you are on a limited amount of lets say tank water ... I understand why people with slightly elevated free spring or creek water use them though .... they are trippy to watch running :- ) BTW ... we do not have one on our property because I have enough solar to run reasonable electric pumps for what we need to achieve ...
BOTTOM LINE : Asses your available power and buy a pump that best suits those needs.
cheers
Steve
