Off-Grid watering solution

[Linz]

I just wanted to share my husband’s solution for our off-grid watering problems. We own almost 400 acres of forest land with springs, creeks and 2 wells, but as of yet no electricity or pumps for the wells. We have a 3000 square foot garden with hot dry summers. Using our creek, a watering bucket, 5/8 poly irrigation tubing, a 2 60 gallon buckets, a 50 gallon drum, a washing machine Y mixer hose and a battery powered garden timer he created a very reliable, automated  watering system. I was hoping it might be helpful to some other folks out there:

http://www.going-rogue.com

[Anonymous]

a little air bubbled out at the bottom of your well will raise the water to the top quite nicely

[Linz]

How exactly do you mean?

[Anonymous]

you slide a small pipe down inside your well casing, on the end of this pipe you add a diffuser that makes the air come out in small bubbles, the top end of the pipe hooks to a small air pump, something like an aquarium aerator
the air bubbles out the diffuser at the bottom and lifts the water on its way to the surface
its truly amazing how much water can be lifted from any depth this way
just make sure your air pump is one of the clean oilless types, sweetwater makes a real nice one used for aquaculture operations

[Anonymous]

also they make a 1gpm wind powered aerator that would do the job nice and cheap…lol

[Linz]

Ahh, I see…Thanks for clarifying

[xtype]

Air lift pumps are definitely a neat idea for filling tanks or aerating ponds. For a wind setup, besides the air pump you will need a compressor, set of blades and a tower. I think most agricultural setups are nearing $2,000 all in. It might not work in the woods or at least you would need a really tall tower to get above the trees. Of course, if you have a wind turbine or solar electric system already, you could always use a DC powered electric compressor and skip the wind tower all together, but then, there are plenty of inexpensive submersible DC well pumps too. If your wells aren’t too deep, a direct solar pump (DC pump and small PV array) is often used for filling stock tanks, where there is no electricity, while the sun is shining.

 

[Anonymous]

the windmill types of air pump just use a simple diaphragm and they work great

[caverdude]

This is interesting, I’ve been looking at ways to pump water up from a pond to a tank in the garden. I wonder if there are any 12v aerator pumps that might work off direct solar.

https://blog.larrydgray.net

[Anonymous]

air will only lift water vertically
so if you have to go laterally best bet is to raise it higher then let it run down a pipe

[Author]

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