In recent years, new techniques for pumping water from renewable energies have been emerging. In this case, it is born solar water pump as one of the applications of solar energy.
Solar water pumps are used to pump water in deep systems, in water pressure, in tanks, etc. They are used to pump water at low cost and with adequate efficiency. Do you want to know the advantages and disadvantages of these pumps and know which one you need according to your need?
What is a solar water pump and what is it for?
A solar water pump is a device capable of pumping direct current water and It works through solar energy. There are several types of solar pumps, among which the photovoltaic solar, the thermal solar water pump and the domestic hot water pump stand out.
These water pumps are submersible and are powered by energy from the sun. They work in a similar way to other traditional water pumps, except that their power source is renewable. They are used for irrigation in farmland, for people who want to pump water from a well to extract it, for those hospitals that want to send hot water to showers, etc. All this with the advantage of its low cost, since it is powered by energy that comes from the sun.
Advantages and disadvantages
Like all appliances that work with renewable energy, the solar water pump has some advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional ones.
Among the advantages we find:
- They are 100% clean and ecological, so they do not leave any type of residue or pollute.
- It is inexhaustible energyas it comes from a renewable energy source.
- It gives the possibility of pumping in isolated places and without electrical network or in those places with difficulty to fill the diesel tanks.
- It has many applications in which it works well. For example, it is used to extract water from a well for a house, to raise irrigation water for crops, drip irrigation, extraction of dirty water from tanks or septic tanks, swimming pools, water from reservoirs, etc.
The downsides are pretty obvious. Like all solar powered appliances, their capacity and performance are limited to the energy they can collect from the sun. Cloudy days, nights, etc. They are inconvenient when using this type of pump. However, when the solar radiation conditions are ideal, this pump can have great performance and efficiency.
Types of solar water pump
There are several types of solar water pump and we have to know which one we should buy, depending on what we are going to need it for.
There are the submersible pumps and the surface ones. These two pumps differ in some characteristics that make them serve one type of work and not the other.
- On one hand, submersible solar water pump it should be placed under the ground. It is mainly used to extract water from a deep place, such as a well, a reservoir or a cistern. Depending on the volume of water that you want to extract and the depth at which the water is, there are several types of capacities of this pump.
- On the other hand, it is surface pump which, as the name suggests, works on the surface. It is mainly used to increase the pressure of the water where the supply does not reach well. For example, in some more isolated homes, this type of pump is used to increase the water pressure. They are also used primarily for irrigation applications.
When you want to modify irrigation and increase its efficiency, surface solar water pumps are used. These are used for drip irrigation of orchards and gardens, for scheduled irrigation and when trying to increase the flow rate with which it is watered. In all these types of situations, traditional pumps must use a polluting fossil fuel. However, this pump uses energy from the sun and is totally clean.
As for the advantages it provides for irrigation, they are unimaginable. Just a solar water pump It is capable of pumping enough water to drip irrigate 10 hectares of land.
What pump do I use if I water irrigated crops?
Irrigated crops require large volumes of water to grow and increase production. Therefore, it is necessary to know well what type of pump is the most useful in each case.
If our irrigated crops exceed the demand for water above 4500 liters of water per day, it is highly advisable to use the submersible solar water pump. These pumps have a greater pumping capacity than surface pumps, being able to pump up to 13500 liters of water per day. It is true that these pumps are more expensive than surface ones, but we will talk about prices later.
On the other hand, if what we have to pump does not exceed 4500 liters of water per day, it is preferable to use the surface solar water pump. This type of pump is frequently used in the irrigation of crops with a small area and gardens that do not require much water. They are also used in livestock to irrigate pastures.
Pricing
The prices are quite indicative, given the multiple pumps that exist in the markets. The more power and higher quality, the higher the price. The prices of 12v solar water pumps, which are the most common used for irrigation, capable of pumping three liters per minute, They are around 60 euros.
Prices vary a lot depending on the capacity, but it does not mean that it is proportional. You can perfectly find six liter pumps per minute at 70 euros.
With this information you will surely know something more about solar water pumps. These devices allow us to continue advancing in independence from fossil fuels since, normally, these pumps would need diesel or gasoline and this would entail an expense in the purchase of fuel, replacement and transportation.