Submersible Solar Pump

[Lynne Simpson 180Farm FaberVA]

Wonder if anybody has any experience with efficient, low cost submersible solar pumps for livestock watering?  I have seen some on ebay, but hesitate to try one without knowing if they are any good.  We have a year round spring flowing out of a hill about 50 feet below and 150 feet away from pasture.  We will run 1 inch black plastic pipe underground and my old hot tub will serve as the reservoir.  Just need an inexpensive way to get it up the hill to the trough. 

Maybe a rahm pump be a better route to go...any experiences/advice appreciated!

[zephyrhillsusan]

Following with interest. We have an old hand-dug well in one pasture and were already told it would cost $1,000 just to run electricity to it, that's before we'd buy a pump.

[lakeportfarms]

I think a ram pump would be a bit too complicated and not versatile enough for you to put together given your conditions. We have a solar submersible pump and it works quite well for watering livestock. You can't do any real significant water pressure or volume though without spending a LOT of money for a big system though. The other option is to pump it gradually to a large gravity tank, and from there you can get a good deal of (short term) volume and/or pressure. I guess your hot tub sort of serves that purpose...

[Lynne Simpson 180Farm FaberVA]

Thanks lakeportfarms, I think you are right about the ram pump, and I don't think I could stand that constant clacking all the time. What brand/model of solar submersible pump did you get, and if you don't mind telling me, how much did you pay for it?

I just happened upon this website when I was trying to see what size solar submersible I might need to pump up 50 feet. www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterPumping/SimpleSolarPump/SimpleSolarPump.htm

Do you think it might work for my purposes? The price is certainly affordable. Maybe I could even rig a timer up on it.

Anything will beat hauling 55 gallon water barrels!

Thanks for input...

[RedRidge]

We have a variety of off grid systems... for house, barn, and pasture. Two wells, tanks from 350-1600 gal, and an all weather creek.

For an actual solar well pump go with www.sunrotor.com/

Or for a hand pump that's easy to use and can have solar added use www.simplepump.com

For nongravity tank filling via micro hydro instead of solar (ours is from a year round creek, isn't that loud, but is 25 acres from the house) we recommend www.riferam.com/river/index.php

[Lynne Simpson 180Farm FaberVA]

Thanks for all the help. Hate to part with my money, so have just looked at some DIY home-made PVC ram pumps and they actually look simple enough for my non-engineering self to try...will let you know if it works.