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Solar pump facts Please be aware of the following solar pump facts There are a variety of brands of solar pumps available here are some facts 1) Solar pumps do need bright sunlight to actually work. 2) The bigger the solar panel the better. 3) When running, the pumped water should not land / touch the solar panel (This reduces their efficiency by lime scale / algae build up) 4) Solar pumps are mostly for domestic fountains, ponds and or waterfalls only. Solar pumps were not designed to operate biological filters, swimming pool filtration, bore holes, lake aeration, commercial fountains, irrigation etc. This is because most solar pumps are simply not up to the job. (Most solar pumps are 3, 6 or 12 volts. Mains pumps are 230 volts) 5) Due to the very narrow width of most solar fountain jets (Average solar pump jet width is 0.2mm. Average commercial fountain jets start at 1.0mm and are usually in multiples) You can not see the solar pump jet from more than a few feet away because they are so small.
6) No one has yet been able to make a cheap reasonable "Floating lake fountain that is solar" This is mainly because the cost of solar panels is very high, and to reduce voltage drop, the solar panels will need to be mounted on the float, this means a bigger float and the panels must be totally water proof (most are just water resistant) 7) In particular with solar equipment you get what you pay for. Remember when comparing, it must be like for like. Not as most people do like with similar. Most solar pumps only come with one single jet of water, some have seven jets, ours has TWENTY FIVE 8) Solar pumps can not run 24 / 7 You can get "back up battery packs" to run a solar pump when there is no sun, but what will charge the batteries? You need more / bigger solar panels to charge the batteries, then in winter months as there is less light you need even more / bigger solar panels and batteries to run the pump as there is less daylight. Or to put it another way, how long does a garden solar light stay lit for in winter? (not very long ) 9) Solar pumps are available but even for a reasonable jet height a mains operated pump is cheaper, can run in the dark if required, is bigger and better. 10) Disagree? see here |
