Solar for Septic

Foleyart

Hi
In a new house, moved in just before xmass. New Envirocare tank installed which takes all the effluent and also domestic waste, great system huge tank. There is however a compressor on the tank which runs 24/7 and filtrates the water as well as pumping out excess water. My question is , would it be possible to power this with a solar panel as I notice my esb bills are quite high?. I intend at some stage to put in a wind turbine as well but the cost at the moment is out of the question. Appreciate any help.:o

10-10-20

Yes and no. Depending on the pump requirements, the initial outlay will be gigantic as the solar panels and batteries will set you back a number of thousand. In my mind, a combined wind/solar may be a better option for you, but again, prices are high.

Can you tell us what the electrical rating of the pump is? It's printed on the pump in Watts, Amps will do also.

Foleyart

Howdy
I know a combined wind solar would be the ideal solution to my power problem, but at the moment it is not an option, too expensive. I do intend to install a wind turbine in the future, ideal open site elevated over the brow of a hill on the west coast !!. But I just thought for the moment I might be able to install a solar panel to power the pump. The pump is only 60 watts.

10-10-20

524 kW per year works out at ~€82.40 p/a.

You could get your hands on solar panels for approx 20W per €100 (approx €5 per W).
To work out the average watt hrs per day required - work on the rule that says the average panel will output usable power for approx 4.5hrs per day.
As your pump needs 60W, 24 hours a day... that's 5.3 times the base of 60W, meaning that your solar system needs to be minimum 320W. 320W x €5 = €1600.
Add in the battery system and charge controllers at €400 or so, and you can expect to recoup your expenditure in... 25 years...


(...I'd leave it on the mains)

10-10-20

On the up-side, you'll save 225.39 kgCO2 per annum...

2 stroke

Guess you shuold check whats realy using all that juice.

ircoha

10-10-20 wrote:

524 kW per year works out at ~€82.40 p/a.

You could get your hands on solar panels for approx 20W per €100 (approx €5 per W).
To work out the average watt hrs per day required - work on the rule that says the average panel will output usable power for approx 4.5hrs per day.
As your pump needs 60W, 24 hours a day... that's 5.3 times the base of 60W, meaning that your solar system needs to be minimum 320W. 320W x €5 = €1600.
Add in the battery system and charge controllers at €400 or so, and you can expect to recoup your expenditure in... 25 years...


(...I'd leave it on the mains)

nice calcs: just to add that the batteries don't last the 25 years so the payback is even longer, they seem to be good for c 500 cycles and that u can only discharge them by 50% so u need twice the number .....

10-10-20

True - and some solar panels loose 20% of their capacity over a set period of time... Mine is 20% over 5 years...

Irish_Army01

The latest Solar Energy technology comes in the form of the "Evacuated Tubes". Each one looks like long fluorescent lamps and consists of two glass tubes constructed from borosilicate glass which is of extremely strong construction.

These type of solar cells are far more efficient than the flat panel types and are capable of collecting Solar energy on over cast days.

jobrok1

Irish_Army01 wrote:

The latest Solar Energy technology comes in the form of the Evacuated Tubes.

These are solar water heaters! Not solar PV panels.

Irish_Army01

jobrok1 wrote:

These are solar water heaters! Not solar PV panels.

your right..I didn't read the thread properly !:o

air

If the pump is AC it may be possible to swap it out for a DC one of much lower wattage, I know that there are specialist companies that do just this for well pumps for people that want to use DC power from renewable energy sources.

Foleyart

Thanks for the constructive tip Air, I'll definitely check it out!;)

liberty 2007

Foleyart wrote:

Hi
In a new house, moved in just before xmass. New Envirocare tank installed which takes all the effluent and also domestic waste, great system huge tank. There is however a compressor on the tank which runs 24/7 and filtrates the water as well as pumping out excess water. My question is , would it be possible to power this with a solar panel as I notice my esb bills are quite high?. I intend at some stage to put in a wind turbine as well but the cost at the moment is out of the question. Appreciate any help.:o

You should have got a reed bed, unfortunatly the fool in the local co. co's haven't seen the light yet

liberty 2007

Foleyart wrote:

Hi
In a new house, moved in just before xmass. New Envirocare tank installed which takes all the effluent and also domestic waste, great system huge tank. There is however a compressor on the tank which runs 24/7 and filtrates the water as well as pumping out excess water. My question is , would it be possible to power this with a solar panel as I notice my esb bills are quite high?. I intend at some stage to put in a wind turbine as well but the cost at the moment is out of the question. Appreciate any help.:o

You should have got a reed bed, unfortunatly the fool in the local co. co's haven't seen the light yet