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If I wanted to run my well and mini split off of solar?

2big bronco

2big bronco

Og irate
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
188
Messages
4,368
Loc
Prunedale ca
The 2 biggest power draws at my house are my well pump and mini split system, both of which are outside near eachother and have disconnect switches near by. To me this seems like they would be easy to wire and if I ever had issues I could just flip a switch back to have them running off of house power.

Well runs off of 240v with 2 20amp glass fuses. Well is 300' deep with the pump somewhere around 270 and produces 7gpm.

The mini split system runs off of a 20 amp 240 breaker.

I'm assuming I need a battery pack, some solar panels and some sort of controller? How do I size everything and is there just a "kit" I can buy that has everything to make it simple? I get sun all day every day summer or winter.
 
fwiw if you ever have to replace your well pump they make ones that will run off 120v 240v and will also work hooked straight to solar panels(done this multiple times) with no controller or batteries
 
rockyota83 said:
fwiw if you ever have to replace your well pump they make ones that will run off 120v 240v and will also work hooked straight to solar panels(done this multiple times) with no controller or batteries
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Sounds like a bunch of electronic stuff to fail in the pump.
How much head?

link to what you're talking about?
 
Bust out the wallet, for cells and panels.

Prepare for sticker shock. Wait, I said that already. :flipoff2:
 
trampas said:
Bust out the wallet, for cells and panels.

Prepare for sticker shock. Wait, I said that already. :flipoff2:
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If the numbers dont make sence then they dont make sence but it would be nice to not think about the power bill when I want to run the hose for an hour or sleep with the thermostat set at 65 instead of burning to death in the 70* heat.
 
My buddy just pieced together a setup for a off grid cabin that he is building. I think he has about 5K into the whole setup panels, charge controller, inverter and batteries. I know that it works good enough that he is debating putting the same setup at his house. And I am too. I can get some more details on the exact parts that he used if you want.
 
So 40 amps at 240v of draw? So 9,600 watts? With 100 watt panels, that's 96 of them...at $200/pop once you figure mounting/wiring that's $19,200 of panels without batteries.

Even if we say you run one or the other and they're not quite full load, you're still $10k panels and that's before enough battery capacity to make it through the night. So figure a budget of $20k to do it 100% solar.
 
I am 100% offgrid running three arrays.

I am running a 110V jet pump directly connected to a 1550 gallon water tank. The array that feeds power to the jet pump and LED cabin lighting is very simple and small. 500 watts of solar panels feeding a 30amp charge controller and 6 Optima blue tops wired in 12V to a 3000watt Renogy inverter. Works great. I think if you are running a well pump and jet pump that you would want a 5000watt + inverter to handle the load in case they both kick on at the same time.

No way you would need 20k worth of solar to run this.

Edit - this same array also runs the washing machine. No problem at all.
 
2big bronco said:
If the numbers dont make sence then they dont make sence but it would be nice to not think about the power bill when I want to run the hose for an hour or sleep with the thermostat set at 65 instead of burning to death in the 70* heat.
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"I think I live in the most perfect weather" :flipoff2:
 
When I put in my well I considered going Solar. The cost of the pump and the variable voltage voodoo circuit being on the pump. I stopped there.
 
blakes said:
I am 100% offgrid running three arrays.

I am running a 110V jet pump directly connected to a 1550 gallon water tank. The array that feeds power to the jet pump and LED cabin lighting is very simple and small. 500 watts of solar panels feeding a 30amp charge controller and 6 Optima blue tops wired in 12V to a 3000watt Renogy inverter. Works great. I think if you are running a well pump and jet pump that you would want a 5000watt + inverter to handle the load in case they both kick on at the same time.

No way you would need 20k worth of solar to run this.

Edit - this same array also runs the washing machine. No problem at all.
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He said well pump and mini split (not jet pump)...that's a lot of energy needed to run those completely off grid. When you factor in not 100% efficiency of the panels (which I didn't do) and running the mini split at night or on cloudy/rainy days, and still wanting to be able to recover on sunny days, you need a shit ton of solar capability. $20k isn't a bad number as a starting point. The only saving grace would be that the well pump doesn't run nearly as much as the mini split would, so you might be able to accommodate it's load via the batteries alone (don't include it's full load in the solar array).
 
You need to figure out how much power you actually need, knowing circuit sizes is a small part of it and really only useful for knowing how big of an inverter you need. What you need to know is how many Kwh you use, once you have that figured then you can size your solar array and battery bank to have enough capacity to run that load with enough capacity to account for poor solar days. I'd want at least 3 days capacity in my battery bank and enough solar to meet demand and recharge the batteries in a reasonable amount of time.
 
I'll be watching for some of the pirate well experts on this.

I asked a long while ago somewhere else and was told no f'n way for cost.

I did find low voltage pumps (12v, 24v, 48v, and 110v) and they carried a hefty ~$1200 price tag. But it also sounded like they weren't really feasible for deeper wells. It was similar price for jet pumps for a storage pump.

From what I recall of your lot, you had a lot of elevation out back. Couldn't you do a storage tank uphill and do a gravity feed? Then use a gas/diesel/propane type pump solution to pump 3k gallons or more up hill. Your location also doesn't get a lot of extended freezing weather... maybe a night of sub 30s but not days on end.
 
https://thesolarstore.com/grundfos-s...ft-p-2696.html

Premade kit for well pump only. Really nice pump for solar even if you don't use their kit because it doesn't care what voltage you supply and it has an internal soft start so you don't have the inrush.

We ran our standard 1.5 HP well pump solar only for right around 7500 batteries and all. I'd say your minisplit will be a similar load and not having to do racks twice and wiring twice and all the support stuff, you could get both running for around 10 to 12 depending on battery need and inverter size.
 
Archer said:
They have complete solar powered well pumps https://www.rpssolarpumps.com/
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Have one of their kits on my well. It's not as deep as the OP's, but I've been happy with it. Feeds a 1200 gallon tank and gravity feeds back to the garden and house. Not a ton of pressure, but plenty of water.

Took me a while to get it working right, but their support was helpful and quick.
 
Lil'John said:
I'll be watching for some of the pirate well experts on this.

I asked a long while ago somewhere else and was told no f'n way for cost.

I did find low voltage pumps (12v, 24v, 48v, and 110v) and they carried a hefty ~$1200 price tag. But it also sounded like they weren't really feasible for deeper wells. It was similar price for jet pumps for a storage pump.

From what I recall of your lot, you had a lot of elevation out back. Couldn't you do a storage tank uphill and do a gravity feed? Then use a gas/diesel/propane type pump solution to pump 3k gallons or more up hill. Your location also doesn't get a lot of extended freezing weather... maybe a night of sub 30s but not days on end.
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Yes and I already have a 5k gallon tank sitting at the top of the hill I just haven't hooked it up yet. My neighbor has his house and tank at roughly the same distance and elevation change and he gets 45psi from gravity.

I have no idea at all how much water we use so it would be hard at this point to do the math on if a gas pump would be more efficient. I've pumped 1000 gallons straight but no idea if I can pump more then that either.
 
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2big bronco said:
Yes and I already have a 5k gallon tank sitting at the top of the hill I just haven't hooked it up yet. My neighbor has his house and tank at roughly the same distance and elevation change and he gets 45psi from gravity.

I have no idea at all how much water we use so it would be hard at this point to do the math on if a gas pump would be more efficient. I've pumped 1000 gallons straight but no idea if I can pump more then that either.
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I don't know about solar pumps I've never installed one.
A 5000 gallon tank would for indoor use and depending on your landscape could possibly take care of your outdoor use as well. One thing to consider is any tank open to the atmosphere needs some from of disinfection. Chlorine injection pumps are most common but is going to be difficult to setup in your application. Ozone UV light is probably the way to go in your situation. The next thing would be a solenoid valve activated by float switches inside the tank to shut off the water when the tank gets to a certain level ½-⅔ empty that way if the well pump fails a pipe breaks or you use to much water one day you'll have reserve and won't have to wait until fills up to have water again.
 
M92PV4U said:
I don't know about solar pumps I've never installed one.
A 5000 gallon tank would for indoor use and depending on your landscape could possibly take care of your outdoor use as well. One thing to consider is any tank open to the atmosphere needs some from of disinfection. Chlorine injection pumps are most common but is going to be difficult to setup in your application. Ozone UV light is probably the way to go in your situation. The next thing would be a solenoid valve activated by float switches inside the tank to shut off the water when the tank gets to a certain level ½-⅔ empty that way if the well pump fails a pipe breaks or you use to much water one day you'll have reserve and won't have to wait until fills up to have water again.
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I could be wrong but I dont think anyone around here does anything to "treat" thier water in the tank and I'm the only person around that even has a filter.
 
2big bronco said:
I could be wrong but I dont think anyone around here does anything to "treat" thier water in the tank and I'm the only person around that even has a filter.
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If the tank is open, vented it should have something to treat bacteria. Algae will also grow in these tanks. I look at a portable water source as a glass of water if you wouldn't drink from a dirty glass why would you drink from a dirty or not properly taken care of well or tank?
 
Just install a grid tied system. Running batteries when you're grid connected is mostly dumb. The grid is the bestest battery ever.

Step one: Kick the hang up over powering your well pump and mini-split with solar. What happens when neither is running and your batteries are full? The solar system just sits there being a giant paper weight. Grid-tie eliminates that nonsense and allows you to utilize every KWH those panels produce.
 
SomeGuy said:
So 40 amps at 240v of draw? So 9,600 watts? With 100 watt panels, that's 96 of them...at $200/pop once you figure mounting/wiring that's $19,200 of panels without batteries.

Even if we say you run one or the other and they're not quite full load, you're still $10k panels and that's before enough battery capacity to make it through the night. So figure a budget of $20k to do it 100% solar.
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That's not the right panels or price? 300+w panels are under $1 a watt now, 100w 12v panels wouldn't be used in this system anyway.
 
M92PV4U said:
If the tank is open, vented it should have something to treat bacteria. Algae will also grow in these tanks. I look at a portable water source as a glass of water if you wouldn't drink from a dirty glass why would you drink from a dirty or not properly taken care of well or tank?
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So basically any tank that would be used with a well would need something to keep it potable? My understanding is all storage tanks require a vent.

Also my understanding is that for outdoors, the black/green plastic type tanks are superior to white type because they provide resistence to light causing/growing bacteria/algae.

Last question for you... at what point temperature wise should a person be concerned with freezing issues with a storage tank? In my case, I'm at 3500' in Sierra foothills where I get three snow storms of about 18" each and a total accumulation of 3'. Sometimes several days below 32 degree.

CrustyJeep said:
Just install a grid tied system. Running batteries when you're grid connected is mostly dumb. The grid is the bestest battery ever.

Step one: Kick the hang up over powering your well pump and mini-split with solar. What happens when neither is running and your batteries are full? The solar system just sits there being a giant paper weight. Grid-tie eliminates that nonsense and allows you to utilize every KWH those panels produce.
Click to expand...
Using the grid as a "battery" seems to fail completely when the power goes out. Am I missing something?
 
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