Lorentz solar pump

[frosty]

Has anyone had experience using one ? are they as good as they say ?

we are seriously considering installing a solar pumping system on our 120m deep bore

frosty

[christopher]

I have heard great things about them, low maintenance, tolerant of silt and grit, low energy usage, etc, very suitable for deep bore water array direct.

I have not installed them, or used them, but they have a great reputation. They use a differetn pumping mechanism than diaphragm pumps.

Kansas Wind Power sells them in the US http://www.kansaswindpower.net/pumps,_submersible.htm as do many other retailers and wholesalers.

We use a Sun Pump, about half the price: http://store.altenergystore.com/Solar-W ... umps/c688/ (http://store.altenergystore.com/Solar-Water-Pumps/Submersible-Pumps/Sun-Pumps/c688/)

Alternate Energy Store also carries the Lorentz, but the sun pumps are about half the price.

The Lorentz Pump was originally designed by Windy Dankoff, who is a really nice guy. He helped s cooperative of cacao farmers out by deeply discounting some pumps a few years ago. The company got bought out by Conergy, a German company, and their customer service dropped off pretty badly (I was a Dankoff dealer, and Conergy screwed up my deal pretty badly...)

[frosty]

Hi Chris

the Sun pumps look good but wont do anything near our depth ....... and they are probably about 1/8th the price of a Lorentz here !

interesting story about Dankoff :D Conergy do operate in australia but they dont do Lorentz pumps :? - BW Solar here in WA are the importers

Conergy have some very interesting Slow pumps that we are considering to pump rainwater up to an overhead tank then run the house on gravity

we have done a lot of thinking lately and decided it is getting near "crunch time" so although it is a rather scary thing to do we are withdrawing hubby's superannuation and putting it into self sufficiency ..........

we have already put in a 2.5kw grid feed system - would have prefered stand alone but our state govt give a 50% rebate for a grid feed system - we also get a pretty good deal on buy back with the Smart power time of use system ........ the daily peak rate is up to nearly 25 c per kw while the offpeak rate is only 7.22c /kw .......

our system is making about 13 units a day now ( summer )

we are still using our little 350w 12v system for some of the house power trying to export as much as possible

and still hoping that now with a new federal govt we may get a proper feed in rate like Germany of arround 50c per kw

frosty

BTW you would happen to know anything about how to stop the grid feed inverter interfering with the radio ? our regulator on the12v system does the same thing too but the regulator doesnt interfer until the batteries are charged at about 10am

the grid feed inverter ( Sunny Boy we call him sunny :lol: ) "gets up" early and has just started at 7am DST (6am ) and all we hear on the radio is boing! boing! boing! :lol:

[christopher]

Wow, Frosty! Sounds like you have moved UPTOWN! Big System! Grid Tied! I am impressed. 2.5kw is a lot of panels. Nice!

The Boing situation has a solution.... only listen at night :lol: !

Well, good luck with the Lorentz. I am sure that if you put the money up for it, it will be money well spent.

[frosty]

HI Chris

the grid feed system is 12 x 210 w - 48v Sunpower panels 8) we started with the idea of a 1kw system using the fed govt rebate which is capped at $8000 but then we found out that the state govt has a scheme that pays 50% of the value of systems in country shires. It is a very good deal 8) we are obligated to grid feed for 5 years then after that the panels are ours to do what we want :wink:

we only listen to the radio in the mornings :lol:

we get Perth station until 6am then they go to local which has often interesting rural reports and rural news - sometimes they have interesting stuff but due to Sunny we cant hear them

I have been told there is some kind of suppressor but cant find out any more :cry: ah well ........

frosty

frosty

[ppp]

I don't have experience with inverters, but on a much smaller scale I get interference from computers and the like. Distance seems to be the key.. Any chance you could use a radio which alows you to plug in an aerial? You could place it away from you inverter (say on a pole on the other side of the house).

Actually, one more idea.. what about a faraday cage - ie a conducting cage around your inverter would stop the magnetic fields which are causing the interference..
You could try chicken mesh or foil.. ?

[frosty]

Hi PPP

we did try an ariel out the indow and event tried connecting iot to the TV antenna and although it improved a bit it was still too noisy to listen

the faraday cage is definately an idea worth researching :D thanks

Hi chris

hope you dont mind me picking your brains a bit more :lol: the pump suppliers reccommend Unisolar panels ....... they claim they are 20% better when it is HOT ......... I know they are better with low light and partial shade but have you ever heard of them being better in heat ?

frosty