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Thread: Solar Power

  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai hippo's Avatar
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    Solar Power

    Has anyone considered , or is actually using , solar power for running pond pumps and equipment ?

    I must admit , its not something I know much about , so if anyone has any thoughts , it would be much appreciated .


    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
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    Few threads on here about it but one thing that comes up every time is cost of set up for the batterys and storage of power

    Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
    Freddyboy the legend

    "we are water keepers first"

    Johnathan

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    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai hippo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ajm View Post
    Few threads on here about it but one thing that comes up every time is cost of set up for the batterys and storage of power

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    Thanks , Jonathan - I`ll have a browse around the site !

    One thing I need to offset against any initial set up costs is the amount of flak I get from my better half , over running costs of the pond
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    load of rubbish,we payed £6500 for our 4kw system 2 years ago and no way are we getting any of the returns we got told "oh yes sir £300 per year sir" NOT,no storage batteries as they were an extra £5000,but savings wise we get a quarterly return of about £40-£50,we took it out on an interest free finance deal and it costs us £88pm over 6 years,our lass says its the worst thing we ever did,and it was my idea and she never lets me forget it lol,if your heated get an ashp or a gas boiler and heat exchanger,replace pumps with low wattage variable flow ones,instant savings,and replace any floodlights with LED ones,i saved a fortune changing from 150w halogen floods outside to 30w LED,and id say the led are brighter,,,,andi

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    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai hippo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by andikoi View Post
    load of rubbish,we payed £6500 for our 4kw system 2 years ago and no way are we getting any of the returns we got told "oh yes sir £300 per year sir" NOT,no storage batteries as they were an extra £5000,but savings wise we get a quarterly return of about £40-£50,we took it out on an interest free finance deal and it costs us £88pm over 6 years,our lass says its the worst thing we ever did,and it was my idea and she never lets me forget it lol,if your heated get an ashp or a gas boiler and heat exchanger,replace pumps with low wattage variable flow ones,instant savings,and replace any floodlights with LED ones,i saved a fortune changing from 150w halogen floods outside to 30w LED,and id say the led are brighter,,,,andi
    Cheers Andi - Ive just had a look around the forum , and see that theres quite a bit of info . My own initial thoughts were to maybe run a relatively small set-up , just for the pond equipment (not heated , BTW) . I can see I`ll have to do a bit more research on it !
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai Handy Kenny's Avatar
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    Hippo,

    Don't consider that a PVA set will come anywhere near running your pond, especially on a standalone basis. On the best days in the summer with a full 4 Kw system I get circa 20Kw across the whole day but only when the sun shines, so nothing when it is night time. At this time of year I get around 2Kw across the whole day. Oddly enough I have got 3Kw today but it has been pretty bright.

    The output from any PVA system is determined by where you are in the country, the angle of your roof (and hence PVA system) to the sun and how much brightness there actually is, then factor in how clean your panels are. I have actually seen 4Kw come out of my system and it could even be set up better if I could jiggle the house around on its foundations and increase the angle of the roof, but that is only instantaneous once a day since the sun moves around the sky and the panels don't.

    I thought of getting one panel to help run the pond but the output is only around 200 watts max (a full array is 20 panels x 200 watts = 4 Kilowatts). I could pick up a panel and 240 volt inverter for around £160 on eBay.

    Fortunately I recognised early on that the PVA scheme was good and got in on the first deal so I currently earn around £1500 per annum from the electricity produced and save some money if we can use it. The income goes up with the rate of electricity/inflation. The system will have taken 10 years to pay for itself and then we have another 15 years on the government contract which could be seen as pure profit. Didn't bother with batteries, they would cost £10,000 and save me £10,000 over 10 years, so a no brainer there then. The price of batteries has probably dropped since my system was installed but I would think that any savings over the timescales are too little to be really worthwhile.

    Kenny

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    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai hippo's Avatar
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    Thanks for the info , Kenny . Much appreciated .

    Just to re-cap ,and bearing in mind I know next to nothing on the subject , your saying it probably wouldn't be worth it .

    Roughly how much and what equipment would be needed to run a pond lIke mine . I`m not heated and my pumps , UV ect add up to around 500 W. I have two pumps running constantly and air pump and UV intermittently .
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hippo View Post
    Thanks for the info , Kenny . Much appreciated .

    Just to re-cap ,and bearing in mind I know next to nothing on the subject , your saying it probably wouldn't be worth it .

    Roughly how much and what equipment would be needed to run a pond lIke mine . I`m not heated and my pumps , UV ect add up to around 500 W. I have two pumps running constantly and air pump and UV intermittently .
    When you say you run the UV intermittently how do you mean . As I sure I read some where that on and off for a few hours each kills the bulb

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    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai hippo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ajm View Post
    When you say you run the UV intermittently how do you mean . As I sure I read some where that on and off for a few hours each kills the bulb

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    Haven't had any issues so far . I run it on a timer , 6 hours a day during the winter . Just change the bulb in spring .🙂

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    Hippo,

    As I said "Don't consider that a PVA set will come anywhere near running your pond" Your pond runs 24/7 and the PVA only produces electricity when it is bright. Most electricity (and income) is produced in the summer when you need it least. I produced 3.09Kw of electricity today over the whole day which is probably around 300 watts instantaneously so nowhere near enough to run your pond. Your roof also needs to point in the right direction i.e. towards the sun to gain the best advantage, my roof does.

    The best way to think of it is that a full PVA costs around £7-8K and could make a return on investment of around £700-800 PA for 25 years which is paid to you quarterly by the electricity company you sell it to. Any electricity that you make and can use yourself is a bonus as you are paid for how much you generate and not how much you pass back into the grid. So I probably saved around 45 pence on my electricity bill today!

    Kenny

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    Quote Originally Posted by Handy Kenny View Post
    Hippo,

    As I said "Don't consider that a PVA set will come anywhere near running your pond" Your pond runs 24/7 and the PVA only produces electricity when it is bright. Most electricity (and income) is produced in the summer when you need it least. I produced 3.09Kw of electricity today over the whole day which is probably around 300 watts instantaneously so nowhere near enough to run your pond. Your roof also needs to point in the right direction i.e. towards the sun to gain the best advantage, my roof does.

    The best way to think of it is that a full PVA costs around £7-8K and could make a return on investment of around £700-800 PA for 25 years which is paid to you quarterly by the electricity company you sell it to. Any electricity that you make and can use yourself is a bonus as you are paid for how much you generate and not how much you pass back into the grid. So I probably saved around 45 pence on my electricity bill today!

    Kenny
    Cheers , Kenny .
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    so far today ive produced 4.61kwh of electric and with the current rate at £0.05.38p pkwh FIT scheme price that would of given you £0.12p return lol, i have 13 x 300w panels so a max 3.9kw can be produced from them,currently at 1.7kw,but as kenny has said you need constant power to run pond,and in winter forget getting anything close to what you need,i would look at your pumps and see if you can use lower wattage ones,my 2x 20000 pondxpert vario's are at 75% about 15000lph now and only using 91w each,my jeboa dc12000 is at level 4 about 8000lph and only using 70w,as for UV i have a 55w one i leave on all year even though im fully enclosed and just change bulb in march,i also have a jeboa pa100 60w and a hiblow 40 air pump 35w, so 402w in total to run 5000g pond, what pond pumps are you using out of interest??,,,,,,andi

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    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai hippo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by andikoi View Post
    so far today ive produced 4.61kwh of electric and with the current rate at £0.05.38p pkwh FIT scheme price that would of given you £0.12p return lol, i have 13 x 300w panels so a max 3.9kw can be produced from them,currently at 1.7kw,but as kenny has said you need constant power to run pond,and in winter forget getting anything close to what you need,i would look at your pumps and see if you can use lower wattage ones,my 2x 20000 pondxpert vario's are at 75% about 15000lph now and only using 91w each,my jeboa dc12000 is at level 4 about 8000lph and only using 70w,as for UV i have a 55w one i leave on all year even though im fully enclosed and just change bulb in march,i also have a jeboa pa100 60w and a hiblow 40 air pump 35w, so 402w in total to run 5000g pond, what pond pumps are you using out of interest??,,,,,,andi
    Thanks Andi

    My main pump is the Hailea T series 18000 rated at 285W . I also have a T series 6000 on my skimmer line at 65W . Both run constantly . I also have a 55W UV running intermittently , and also an Aqua Eco air pump , which I think is around 75W running as and when req`d - probably about an hour a day during winter .

    Comparing my set-up to yours , I might be able to gain something by replacing my main pump . Its rated at 18000 lph , but probably produces between 10000 and 12000 actual flow , and uses 285 W . Might be worth looking at investing in a better pump perhaps ?
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    these are what i run, https://www.pondxpert.co.uk/variflow-pump-20000/p2928 from here https://kitsukoi.co.uk/collections/p...27920019816531 work spot on and the controller is ok for outside aswel if needed,,,,andi

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    Thanks Andi . Just been having a look around .Your pumps look a lot like these

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jebao-TSP-2...05867922&psc=1

    Wonder if there the same pump ?
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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  30. #16
    there's a guy on Youtube - Devon Koi (?) you might want to check, he has a solar power / battery set up for his pond.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hippo View Post
    Thanks Andi . Just been having a look around .Your pumps look a lot like these

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jebao-TSP-2...05867922&psc=1

    Wonder if there the same pump ?
    Hi colin, I have the Jebao 18000 and a great pump got to have a variable now days.

    They do reckon it is the same pump but different labels.
    John

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    Quote Originally Posted by hippo View Post
    Thanks Andi . Just been having a look around .Your pumps look a lot like these

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jebao-TSP-2...05867922&psc=1

    Wonder if there the same pump ?
    when i bought them it actually said jeboa tsp on outer brown cardboard carton packing box as they come packed in twos lol,,,,,,andi

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    Quote Originally Posted by andikoi View Post
    when i bought them it actually said jeboa tsp on outer brown cardboard carton packing box as they come packed in twos lol,,,,,,andi
    Thanks Andi .

    Ive just ordered one from Amazon !

    Thanks to your suggestion , I did a little digging into my running costs . I worked out , my Hailea pump was costing me around £30 per month (running at 285w) . I reckon this new one will produce the same output , running at around half the power .

    Thats a saving of around £15 , plus I`ll have the flexibility of the variable speed - which will save even more - providing its reliable (my old pump cost £75 less , and had been running for 5 years !)



    Thanks for your input
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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  38. #20
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    nice one mate,your old pump may of cost £75 less but cost you extra £900 over last 5 years lol,so on that note you could buy a new jeboa at £150 every year for next 5 years and you would still save £150,cant lose that way lol,but they are good pumps so you'll be good,my jeboa dc variable was used off a mate who had run it 3 years before me and ive had it 4,and i only give him £40 for it so im well happy,,,,andi

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