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rachelsdad
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2016 12:54pm
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Well...thanks to Creeky I am getting ready to take the Lithium plunge. Electric Car Parts Company seems to have the most knowledge of those I have spoken with and they have offered to give me a soups to nuts proposal for my needs.
Its been a busy summer/fall hauling stuff over to the island and bringing all the debris back to the mainland. Well over 100 trips. Amazing how much a 57 year old body can take...and even more so how much it can ache when you finally stop!!
I have all my needs identified with the exception of an on demand water pump. I recently re-roofed the house and tore off the 200 gallon tank from the second floor roof that supplied head pressure. As I have said innumerable times in the past I plan on buying a 200 gallon plastic tank, near the house, fed by a generator powered pump from the lake and I would like to draw "on demand" when the shower, bathroom or kitchen sink faucet is turned on.
I will be using an inverter so I would prefer not to go a separate 12v route.
Any suggestions/experience for an on demand (preferably under cabinet mounted), pump??
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darz5150
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2016 08:18pm
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https://www.amazon.com/SHURflo-Industrial-Pump-Model-2088-594-154/dp/B0001FAA5Y/ref=s r_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478045558&sr=8-1&keywords=110+volt+water+pump
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2016 09:07pm
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Yes, that is the 115 VAC version of the popular 12 VDC RV pump. As long as it will meet the GPM needs it will work.
Re the inverter AC power vs a DC pump... you plan on leaving the inverter run all the time anyone is present? That can add up to a fair amount of idle time waste. Or is the inverter one with a sleep/standby function? Some of those react very quickly, others are slow or demand a large load to turn back on. Just asking...
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rachelsdad
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2016 07:29am
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Thank you Darz!
Re the inverter AC power vs a DC pump... you plan on leaving the inverter run all the time anyone is present? That can add up to a fair amount of idle time waste. Or is the inverter one with a sleep/standby function? Some of those react very quickly, others are slow or demand a large load to turn back on. Just asking...
Darned good question.....Apparently one I will be asking. Thanks MtnDon.
I'm heading into the dormant season here, I had hoped to be done with this by now but we have really taken our time as there was just so much junk (former owner never removed anything larger than a trash bag from island....see picture) and some tinkering that we've just moseyed on ...of course the delay has been fortunate. I'm totally sold on the lithium...in spite of the initial cost...something I knew nothing about when I first started posting here...MtnDons question here...invaluable.....
So...I guess I need to ask...does anyone use a "split" system to power their water pump separately vs lights??
last load of the year...#42 for season
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Mike 870
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2016 09:28am
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As Don pointed out, you have an inverter that takes some power on idle, you also have a bit of inefficiency loss as you convert from DC to AC. To top it off most 12V pumps are more efficient than 115VAC pumps. If you have a 12 or 24v battery bank, its really not a big deal to run your pump right off the bank. just a fuse and a switch and run power to your pump. You can still use your inverter for your other 115v loads, even maybe downsize the inverter and save money now that it doesn't have pump duty.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2016 09:59am
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Quoting: rachelsdad does anyone use a "split" system to power their water pump separately vs lights??
We do. The RV type water pump is DC. We also have 4 lights that operate on DC. Plus our ceiling fan is DC. Q: Why the DC lights? A: For when or if, the inverter craps out.
Our inverter is an Outback, one of the available inverters that have a very good, programmable level, standby feature. EG: turning on a light, even an LED, the TV or microwave causes the inverter to wake up. It only takes a split second, hardly noticable. OTOH, our spare inverter is a Samlex that requires more watts than a single LED light uses to wake up and also takes several seconds. Not nearly as nice.
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razmichael
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2016 10:39am
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Quoting: rachelsdad does anyone use a "split" system to power their water pump separately vs lights??
We do as well - more on the side of DC. All lights, ceiling fan, water pump are DC. I have a number of 120 sockets around and if I need to vacuum or use 120 I turn on the inverter (remote switch) and then off when complete. Fairly small system (330w's of panel and 220 amp-hrs of batteries) so very limited use of anything 'heavy'. If I had more 120V things I would likely also use an auto-wake-up inverter but the added expense does not suit my use cases - obviously everyone has different needs - not to mention that component costs are dropping all the time so I might do things differently myself if I was building today!
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2016 10:46am
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DC works well when the wire runs are relatively short or only are subjected to low amp loads. Voltage drop calculations are low for our setup. We have a breaker on the DC circuit that doubles as the disconnect. 10 gauge wire was used and helps to differentiate between the AC wires. The 10 gauge is the only orange wire and connection points are well labeled so future service people should not be confused.
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FishHog
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2016 11:52am
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Quoting: razmichael We do as well - more on the side of DC. All lights, ceiling fan, water pump are DC. I have a number of 120 sockets around and if I need to vacuum or use 120 I turn on the inverter (remote switch) and then off when complete. Fairly small system (330w's of panel and 220 amp-hrs of batteries) so very limited use of anything 'heavy'. If I had more 120V things I would likely also use an auto-wake-up inverter but the added expense does not suit my use cases - obviously everyone has different needs - not to mention that component costs are dropping all the time so I might do things differently myself if I was building today!
Exactly what I do as well. Works well for me.
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rachelsdad
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2016 01:36pm
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Wow!!
I tell ya...this place is great!
Simple sensible solutions.
Thanks all!!
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CLguy
Member
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2016 10:44am
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I have a system pretty much as you are intending. I have solar and run 2 Shur Flo 110 volt on demand pumps from a 250 gallon storage tank on the side of my camp. One for the cold water and one for the hot. I wired a 110 plug in from my panel under my camp. The Shur Flo pumps come with just wires and no plug so I just cut the male ends off a couple of old extension cords and connected them to the wires on the pumps. I now just plug the pumps in come spring and unplug them when I drain the system in the fall. I went with 2 separate systems because the hot runs thru an on demand propane hot water heater and I was worried about having pressure problems when the cold water was on at the same time. Hope this helps!
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Atlincabin
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2016 03:55pm - Edited by: Atlincabin
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Worth having a small pressure tank in the system, otherwise whenever you want a glass of water, the pump kicks on. I'm also using the 110V Shurflo pump.
I went with 100% AC through a Magnum inverter for our system, just to simplify the wiring, and there is no mistake in plugging something DC into the wrong plug. There are some very minor standby losses, but solar panels are so cheap these days that it's worth adding an extra one to cover this usage. Of course, it depends on your particular system, size and usage patterns. Years ago (like 30) I built an off-grid house that had a switching system whereby we could use either DC or AC because at that time the inverters were not nearly as reliable as today. These days, I don't particularly worry about my inverter failing, although that is always a possibility....
My two cents.
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Ontario lakeside
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2016 04:58pm
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We run lighting and water pump off 12 volt DC, The fridge will be the only AC load in our final setup.
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BCcabin
Member
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2016 09:11pm
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Quoting: MtnDon Plus our ceiling fan is DC.
What kind of fan would that be?
I've been looking into one for my cabin to distribute the hot air and was wondering if AC or DC would be better.
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darz5150
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# Posted: 27 Nov 2016 10:51pm - Edited by: darz5150
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Quoting: BCcabin What kind of fan would that be?
Amazon has a few ceiling fans available in DC voltage. We have a few different types both ceiling fans and box fans, that we use in our cabin and fifth wheel camper, as well as a smaller tool shed/workshop.
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CLguy
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2016 07:11pm
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Atlincabin you are right! I have a small pressure tank attached to each pump. They come recommended for the Shurflo pump.
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