How Do You Size A Solar Pump?

Today’s question is, “How do you size a solar pump?” So, when sizing a solar pump, first we want to gather as much information about the project as possible. There are two key elements we want to look at. The first is the pumping head: that’s how high we need to pump the water, which would include any pressurized water needed.

Second is the volume of water needed. With those two things, we can determine the size of the pump we need: how many watts in a solar pump or how many horsepower in a traditional AC pump. This will help us decide the size, because the higher we have to pump the water, or the more volume we need, the larger and the more powerful pump we’re going to have to use.

The second thing is, looking at the exact application. So I mentioned earlier a pressurized system and there are some considerations for doing a pressurized system. We want to make sure we account for that in the pumping head and so in general, we’re going to go to a larger pump that can produce both a pumping head required and then also produce the pressure at the desired volume of water.

With this application we’re going to look at whether we’re using a submersible pump, say down on a well, or a surface pump if we’re pumping out of a storage tank or lake. There’s also some applications where we might take a submersible pump and put it in a tank, say if we need to produce high pressures and if we’re going up a large hill.

If some of this is confusing, don’t worry. We have a pump sizing team that can help out! Just gather as much information about your project as possible and they’ll help fill in the blanks. You can give them a call at 888-637-4493 Monday-Friday from 8am-4:30pm PST.