Showing posts with label solar pond pumps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar pond pumps. Show all posts

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Solar pumps

Question:
How to pump water from a stream?
I'm looking for a small pump that can run on solar power and pump water from a tiny stream behind my house straight up about 10' to a barrel that I'll use to water my garden. The trick is it has to be low gallons per minute but also be able to pump high enough and run on solar power.




Answer:
Solar powered pumps are not capable of that. Solar power has a long way to go before being powerful enough to pump a 10' height. You could set up a sump pump in the stream that worked on a timer and pumped water when you needed/wanted it. It would have to be a relatively large pump to have a 10' head, perhaps as much as 2500 gph.

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Solar Powered Fountains


    Question:
    How can a pond fountain work with a solar panel?
    I try to put a fountain in my garden pond I would like to make it solar powered and don't know how. I’ve see it in garden magazines and I would like to do that in my yard.



    Answer:
    You can buy them. Oase makes the best one I know. That said, the technology for solar powered pumps is not as good as it could be and the failure rate is high. I wish they were higher on the list of important things to do.