Useing solar power to pump water for rice fieilds.

[kickstart]

Hi All.

The wife's son-in-law and daughter are rice farmers, and they are always pumping water into their rice fields ,they use a Kwie Lec,walk behind tractor ,turning a water auger ,belt driven .

Yet again they're saying about the cost of diesel for the Kwie Lec,this time last week it has been 5 000 baht,and they are not yet done.

So,anyone out there using a solar pump to pump water ,the water is a pond that fills in the rainy season ,looking at the net most systems seem to use boar holes ,using 1-2 HP motors and 2 inch pipe,that would be a bit slow ,for them a 3-inch pump would be ideal ,with a low head 10 meters at the most,a 2 HP? motor should work .with 6 panels?.

Anyone any ideas .and what is the cost of a panel and all the electrical bits that need to go with the system.

Thanks .

[jvs]

We have been using Solar for irrigation for years!

Works great!

Saying that,our system is in our own yard and not away from the house in a rice field some where.

I hear solar is being stolen,like anything else i guess.

This is the company we got it from,good service and the have the knowledge.

https://www.beliefsolartech.com/

[kickstart]

8 hours ago, jvs said:

We have been using Solar for irrigation for years!

Works great!

Saying that,our system is in our own yard and not away from the house in a rice field some where.

I hear solar is being stolen,like anything else i guess.

This is the company we got it from,good service and the have the knowledge.

https://www.beliefsolartech.com/

Hi jvs

Thanks for that and the links ,I must admit not thought about solar units being stolen,they rice fields are out in the sticks .

This photo I have posted before ,units mounted on a trailer ,any problems ,take them home with you in the evening 

[farmerjo]

Hi KS

This system looks ok,don't know the cost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5d5c0rg-hw

 

Would be interesting to see what sort of savings could be made converting a engine to gas still using the longtail pump.

 

Or run the diesel engine on old cooking oil.

Edited August 21, 2022 by farmerjo

[VocalNeal]

27 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

Would be interesting to see what sort of savings could be made converting a engine to gas still using the longtail pump.

It would have to be a spark ignition engine. So unless you already have one????

 

You could buy an old taxi? As it would already have the system. Some/most smaller engine long tails run on LPG. 

 

 

I haven't seen a small single cylinder 5-8hp Honda running on LPG. But they might.

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by VocalNeal

[kickstart]

As I said they use a Kwie Lec,and pump from a pond ,they have said with the long tail it still lift water with some pond sediment in it ,not certain if a pump would cope with pond rubbish.

Our own place we have a electric pump on our pond ,use to water trees and plants in the garden ,I have had to take it apart ,to clean out a bit of grass from the impeller ,that was reducing the flow.

I knew a farmer he got an old pickup petrol engine ,and a  second hand gas system   ,rigged to a pump,he was watering grass ,had the gas cylinder there ,said it was an economical set-up,even with gas going up ,got to be better than diesel.

[MrJ2U]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:45 AM, jvs said:

We have been using Solar for irrigation for years!

Works great!

Saying that,our system is in our own yard and not away from the house in a rice field some where.

I hear solar is being stolen,like anything else i guess.

This is the company we got it from,good service and the have the knowledge.

https://www.beliefsolartech.com/

Any pictures?

 

I wanted to add a water feature for the pool using solar.  I see setups of solar powered water pumps advertised on the way to Udon Thani.  I thought it would be fun and good for the kids to learn about solar energy. 

[IsaanAussie]

From a pond to rice paddy? Why not set up a syphon system from 4" plastic pipe?

[farmerjo]

11 hours ago, kickstart said:

As I said they use a Kwie Lec,and pump from a pond ,they have said with the long tail it still lift water with some pond sediment in it ,not certain if a pump would cope with pond rubbish.

Our own place we have a electric pump on our pond ,use to water trees and plants in the garden ,I have had to take it apart ,to clean out a bit of grass from the impeller ,that was reducing the flow.

I knew a farmer he got an old pickup petrol engine ,and a  second hand gas system   ,rigged to a pump,he was watering grass ,had the gas cylinder there ,said it was an economical set-up,even with gas going up ,got to be better than diesel.

The conversion kit for a small petrol engine is quite reasonable.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/carburetor-dual-fuel-conversion-kit-for-honda-gx160-gx200-168f-170f-2kw-3kw-generator-lpgcng-gasoline-dual-fuel-carburetor-carb-i1953758781-s6211566137.html?clickTrackInfo=query%3Akit%2Blpg%3Bnid%3A1953758781%3Bsrc%3ALazadaMainSrp%3Brn%3A14ef0e8f93ad2cb2eb7adde8101a3463%3Bregion%3Ath%3Bsku%3A1953758781_TH%3Bprice%3A159.00%3Bclient%3Adesktop%3Bsupplier_id%3A100187166057%3Basc_category_id%3A10100248%3Bitem_id%3A1953758781%3Bsku_id%3A6211566137%3Bshop_id%3A1776682&search=1&spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.10

 

 

[jvs]

On 8/20/2022 at 8:22 PM, kickstart said:

Hi jvs

Thanks for that and the links ,I must admit not thought about solar units being stolen,they rice fields are out in the sticks .

This photo I have posted before ,units mounted on a trailer ,any problems ,take them home with you in the evening 

Believe Solar also makes a unit with 3 panels and the pump attached ,nice system.

[jvs]

10 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

Any pictures?

 

I wanted to add a water feature for the pool using solar.  I see setups of solar powered water pumps advertised on the way to Udon Thani.  I thought it would be fun and good for the kids to learn about solar energy. 

We actually have two solar systems,we can just open and close a few valves and we can interchange the system,in case of breakdown.

We have used the first system for 0ver 8 years and no issues what so ever.

A DC pump does cost a lot more then an AC pump but they are bullet proof.A little less sunshine and they run a little slower but it will not hurt the system.

You do not need any regulators if you chose the right voltage.We have 100 volt and the pump can handle 110 so we never run optimum

but that is ok we have lots of water.

The other system is hooked up to the well,32 meters deep and very nice clean water.We use this mostly in the summer to fill the small above ground pool we have to cool off in the summer.We have no filter system in that and every second day or so we just let the water run over the garden.

Along with some nice solar lights that also work really well.

 

[MrJ2U]

4 hours ago, jvs said:

We actually have two solar systems,we can just open and close a few valves and we can interchange the system,in case of breakdown.

We have used the first system for 0ver 8 years and no issues what so ever.

A DC pump does cost a lot more then an AC pump but they are bullet proof.A little less sunshine and they run a little slower but it will not hurt the system.

You do not need any regulators if you chose the right voltage.We have 100 volt and the pump can handle 110 so we never run optimum

but that is ok we have lots of water.

The other system is hooked up to the well,32 meters deep and very nice clean water.We use this mostly in the summer to fill the small above ground pool we have to cool off in the summer.We have no filter system in that and every second day or so we just let the water run over the garden.

Along with some nice solar lights that also work really well.

 

Cool! 

[Bill Dauterive]

Paid 35 K for a fully operational system. One panel (3 piece) & one pump. That is enough to pump the fields full yes.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Bill Dauterive

[kickstart]

On 11/13/2022 at 5:47 PM, Bill Dauterive said:

Paid 35 K for a fully operational system. One panel (3 piece) & one pump. That is enough to pump the fields full yes.

The question is, how big is the pump 1-2 hp?, 2-3 inch bore ?,and how big is the field.

[Elkski]

On 11/14/2022 at 8:34 PM, kickstart said:

The question is, how big is the pump 1-2 hp?, 2-3 inch bore ?,and how big is the field.

I'm interested in solar pump from pond to watering system or maybe better pump to tank then gravity feed to field. 

 

In order for your replies on this thread to have any meaning please include the pump HP or wattage, current x voltage, head max, flow rate at a couple head values or picture of the flow curve,  pipe length and diameter. 

  

Next to wife's Rai they have planted 5 Rai palm, 10 m stacking offset grid at 5m.  They pump full length of field, 180-200m store in water tank up maybe 6-8 m from pond, very rough guess, I was told only 1" pipe all the way, not sure poly or PVC,  the solar array looks to be 3x4m so maybe what 1600 watts?   Would this be enough for 200 palms?  Theft is a real issue as they must being buffalo home, scooter in the kitchen, teens take mature pot plants, etc.  

 

As you can see the pas newly planted, no drip system yet so they don't know if design is going to work. 

I'm interested in a 1/5 smaller scale system for cassava and one for durian.   

Edited December 29, 2022 by Elkski
No drip system yet.

[terry Meltham]

We have been using solar to pump up water and supply electricity for our remote animal pens as is too far to run cables only a few days in the year without power due to clouds think the payback about 3 years

 

[Elkski]

Bro I'm law has impression DC pump is weak (he makes slow sound) AC pump strong.  How much head is usual for a storage tank above sprinkler system? 35 psi is what 15 m? I'm further wondering about using a separate booster DC pump to assist the gravity system.  It could be low head high flow I think.  TIA.