Solar powered water pumps.

[Toepopper]

My rainy season water traps usually dry up every year around the 4th of July, making it necessary to switch over to pumping water out of a creek. I ran 1100 feet of 1" diamater NSF black PVC pipe up the side of the mountain, from the creek to a water storage tank. For 25 years I used a gasoline engine powered water pump to move water uphill. Then I bought a newly designed high pressure "Surflow" solar powered water pump. This little workhorse is a 24 volt 100 PSI water pump about the size of an automotive starter motor. It is powered by 2 - 24 volt solar panels that are wired directly to the pump. Each morning when the sun comes over the ridge and shines on the panels, the pump starts working, pushing water 190 feet in elevation to the storage tank. It pumps 1.6 gallons per minute. In the late afternoon when the sun dissapears, it stops pumping. What a sweet little invention. This eliminates the chore of gassing up and starting that old infernal combustion pump, and the Surflow pumps enough water each day to keep my tank topped off and the overflow runs down to the fruit trees and waters them for me too. This solar system has worked well for the last 5 summers with no maintanence other than wiping dust off of the solar panels. You can see these pumps and specifications at your local solar power supply.