Our Recommended Use
Based upon a typical family with a vegetable garden and a few domestic animals, it is assumed they will use somewhere around several hundreds of gallons of water per day. A motorized Simple Pump™, along with a 500 gallon storage tank, is perfect for this application.
The Simple Pump™ may also be used to provide water to a remote pasture or for light industrial use where the total Gallons Per Day (gpd) is similar to that used by the typical family.
Technically speaking, the total head varies with the model of motor used. However, the maximum head depth is 225′ and requires the use of the 24v motor with linear bearing link drive.
Our Recommended Simple Pump™ Configuration
It helps when thinking about your water needs to break the problem into two parts. Getting the water to the surface and what to do with that water afterwards. The solar-powered Simple Pump is an integrated, standardized pumping system that will pump the water to the surface. What you do with the water after that varies greatly depending upon your needs.
Our recommended configuration is to use your motorized Simple Pump™ to pump water from your well into a non-pressurized 300 to 500 gallon (usually above ground) storage tank. From that point, if you wish to circulate water under pressure using a pressure tank, you can wire up a small AC/DC transfer pump to move the water from the holding tank to the pressure tank.
Because situations and conditions vary widely, it is recommended you source your own holding tank and transfer pump.
Tanks: You can check out the full range of Bushman drinking water storage tanks by clicking here. Since shipping costs represent a significant portion of the total purchase price of any holding tank, we suggest you find a local source if at all possible.
Transfer pumps: Small DC and AC transfer pumps designed specifically for this job are available from a number of vendors, e.g. Dankoff, Surflo and Jabsco. Many such pumps cost less than $150 and can purchased online or even from your local plumbing supply house. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Lots of questions. The only dumb question is the one you fail to ask.
Small AC/DC transfer pumps often include an integrated pressure sensor which is used to turn the pump on and off based upon a preset pressure you decide upon. In turn, the Simple Pump should be controlled by a standard float valve placed inside the holding tank.
The Simple Reason For This Configuration
Even a large residential pressure tank holds less than 30 gallons of water, with less than 12 gallons of that actually usable before the pressure drops too low to supply much water to the taps. A holding tank provides a much larger reserve of water compared to a pressure tank. This becomes very important when you solar powered Simple Pump™ is down for days on end because of bad weather or breakdown.
