What type of pumps?

4 posts
Sat, 12/14/2013 - 09:48 #1

Member for

11 years 3 months
kitchentea
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 09/08/2013 - 12:06

What type of pumps?

 

We have recently bought 15 hectares on Queensland's Darling Downs that has around 100 olive trees established and we want to run a few cattle on the block as well.

The block has two bores with no pumps attached so we are trying to decide what will work best.  We won't be living on the block so reliability is really important.

There seem to be endless options from the classic windmill to solar powered submersible pumps and many options in between.  The water level on the deepest bore is at approximately 60 metres and the shallower one about 40 metres.

Any advice on what works gratefully accepted.

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Sat, 12/14/2013 - 16:16 #2
rmcpb
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/22/2012 - 11:13

If you are not there all the time maybe a solar system with on/off switches linked to water level in the tank would be the best option. I am looking at getting some remote cameras that can be programed to take and send a photo twice a day to my phone so I can monitor remote tanks as well. While the classic mill is nice its a lot of work as you have to turn it on and off manually so you end up paying a lot of money and ongoing monitoring for nice. Solar for me.

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Sun, 12/15/2013 - 12:32 #3
nicephotog
Last seen: 12/16/2013 - 09:45
Joined: 12/31/2012 - 02:56

Hi, i've done a huge quantity of research into solar and wind recently, and much of it is from the economic side of acquirement. You can't get something that doesn't work by buying cheaper and you cannot get something that you don't know will work or not(hence hybrid systems).

Its all in the batterys and battery care you commit. Solar and wind are for most the batteies must fit the job for cost and power usage requirement.

e.g. If it "profits you"(meaning it pays money back as commerce) to use discharging to 30% DOD level of the battery it will last approx 1400 recharges.

If you need it 10 years, the battery type will need to be top quality with ability last in life-cycle 10 years at 30 degrees Celsius and calculated for only 10% or 15% DOD discharge quantity and well housed by ventillated double walling to stop excess heat damage.

 

Trouble is workhorse batteries generally require to be deep cycle.

So they cost.

Second depending how many Kwh you use and what the surge/draw current for the pump is will determine how many batteries you need to use in the previous scenario of discharge levels %.

 

Solar and wind are all about batteries.

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Wed, 12/25/2013 - 17:03 #4
Jez
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 12/25/2013 - 16:46

Have you got LV power? if so use that, if not, have you got HV nearby it may cost $20,000 or more to get a substation put there. If using a generator get a pump controller that can tolerate the fluctuations of a generator. Always start gen, then pump, then turn off pump, then turn off gen. Very important to do that. buy a good quality generator only.

Try and find who sunk your bore and get all the levels - bore depth, standing water levels and replenishment rate ie litres per second. You cant draw more than it produces.You generally place a pump about 5m from the bottom of the bore. Your standing levels may be at 40-60m, bore may be way deeper.

Do you want to pump to a tank then irrigate, or directly from bore? you need all these before buying a pump unit.

Windmills are great. initially a bit of a outlay, but relatively maintainence free.

I'm not familiar with solar pumps so cant really comment.

Good luck.

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