Sizing A Solar Pump System

Step 1 - Select a site that maintains good sun exposure throughout the year. Make sure obstacles do not cast a shadow on the solar panels to impede the performance.

Step 2 - Determine the total water needed in a 24 hour period. Peak sun hours vary with geographical locations and a Solar-Direct system must be able to achieve that amount within given sun light.

Step 3 - Deteremine your water source or well recovery rate and desired pump flow rate (gallons per day). Sizing the pump to fit your needs is important to achieve the results you want.

Step 4 - It is important that the total dynamic head is calculated for a given system accurately. An example might be a desire for 5 gallons per minute with a 100 ft well that maintains 60 ft of water. The system is designed to fill a stock tank located 150ft from the pump, and uses a 1" pipe line and 25ft higher than the well head. All of these factors will need to be accounted for in sizing a system.