Our goal is always to inform our customers the best we can. We are always willing to help all our fellow DIYers out there even when you don’t purchase anything from us. We’re in this for the long haul and historically we have found that prospects will always come back because of how terrible the quality is of other solar pump brands. Below is our effort to pay if forward and prep you for the install of another brand – so that some of the other components you purchase will be compatible with another system some day.
PIPE
Don’t let anyone convince you of anything less than 3/4” drop pipe for a well. Anything smaller and you’ll have lots of frictional losses – a lot of the cheap plastic pumps have a ½” outlet. We recommend you get plumbing fittings and use couplers up to a ¾” barb (stainless steel is always our recommendation) so you can use poly pipe for a future pump that has a larger range of GPM flow.
WIRE
Prepare for anything in the future and get 3 or 4 strand wire! … Cheap little Amazon pumps come with only 2 wires! Those are the cheaper brushed motors, so we recommend purchasing three-wire, heavy-duty jacketed wire. Best to upgrade now so you have flexibility to use if for any pump in the future.
PANELS
Cheap pumps do NOT come with panels which leaves you guessing a bit as to how to make sure you have compatibility – lots of people call us after they blow one up. We always recommend getting 100W panels – nice building blocks, the legos of solar panels.
Best to get 18V/20V panels for flexibility – can wire in different ways depending on the specs of the solar panels. Don’t forget Y-CONNECTORS so you can wire in parallel if the max voltage of the pump is low.
PUMP
Watch out for pot metal pumps that claim they are Stainless Steel (they are NOT!) or plastic pumps do not stand up to the submerged environment.
“Continuous Duty” — looking to run for more than 5 minute bursts? Some brushed solar pumps can ONLY run for 5 minutes at a time, or else they overheat and destroy themselves! That’s one reason people call us – they are thinking they are meant to run constantly and then they overheat and crack and let water in. RPS only sells CONTINUOUS DUTY PUMPS! We think a pump should be able to run all day… and we test and warranty for years – 30,000 hours vs minutes. Always ensure a pump is Continuous Duty before you buy.
PARTS YOU NEED
Low water SENSORS. You’ll need to figure out a solution to make sure your pump shuts off when the water is low (so you don’t run dry and damage the pump) as well as overflow tank or over pressurize.
WARRANTY & SUPPORT
Be sure to hit that 30 DAY window to install that pump as we’d rather people be able to return it (many do not work on install) If you don’t, then you won’t be able to return the pump – and sometimes they don’t let you anyways. Depends. There are no warranties provided, and there is no support available! Just an overseas email address. Sometimes – lots of times they go out of business and then you’re stuck.
If you have questions, call our knowledgeable team. They won’t pressure you to buy anything (no one is on commission) and we will help you think through some of the variables and plan accordingly!
888-637-4493
