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Solar pond pumps

BigTom

BigTom

Member
Joined
1 May 2009
Messages
2,281
Location
Edinburgh
Hi all,

I'm looking to do a little water feature for Mum's garden, consisting of three oak half barrels of different sizes in a little cluster, and thought it would be nice to have some flow between them.

Does anyone know if cheapish solar powered pumps would be any good? I don't think it'd need to move a huge amount of water, and the pumping height difference would be about 8". It wouldn't be crucial for filtration or anything, so no need for them to run at night or in bad weather.

Cheers,
Tom
 
I have tried several solar pumps they all claim to do this and that, they don't. To have water flowing from one barrel to another although as you said you will not need a lot of water flowing, it will be more than a solar pump can provide. I will see if i can find a video clip I found on YT that pretty much says it all
 
Found it



If you notice, not only is it a poor flow, it doesn't work unless it is really bright sunshine.

I would use a small mains pump instead
 
Its not THAT bad, (ok, here in the UK, it is) It can be done but as most solar pump kits come with a small solar panel you need to buy a bigger one, there is the "problem" a good solar panel is not cheap.
Also if you look at most solar kits the only difference is the cardboard box it comes in, over the years I have tried a few and all with the same result, unless you want to spend a lot, or move to a sunny country, solar is not good for the UK (Yet)
 
A proper make (Hozelock, 450litres/hour) fountain pumps costs £20 and uses only 10W. That works out 10/1000 * 24 * 365 * £0.15 = £13 a year to have water running 24/7. Something to thing about.
 
Hi all, thanks for the replies. Sorry for not responding in detail, I'm on a really flaky mobile connection. As I feared regarding the eBay pumps, but mains isn't really an option (would require getting a cable through a 3 foot thick granite wall).
 
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