Battery Backup Solutions for a Well Pump – The Definitive Guide
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If you are one of the millions of Americans that relies on a well to supply your home or cabin with water, you are probably familiar with well pumps. Basically, a well pump is an electromechanical piece of equipment that gets installed after a well has been drilled.
This vital piece of equipment is needed to pump water from the well into your home. An electric motor drives the impeller or centrifugal pump that keeps the water flowing from the well into your pipes.
Given that your well pump relies on electricity, it only makes sense that a power outage can disrupt your water supply. Without power, your water system would quickly lose pressure. Not only would your home be without water, your water system could even become contaminated if you attempted to open the faucets, take a shower, or flush a toilet!
Depending on the cause of the power outage, you and your family could be left without water for hours, days, or even weeks!
How Can We Help?
To help you keep your home’s water running during all situations, we are going to explain some practical backup solutions you can use to supply power to your well pump! Even when the power goes out, these battery backup solutions will kick in and keep your well running as if there was no power disruption at all.
For those that live off-grid, these same battery backup systems can also work as permanent well pump solution. Just because you do not have access to grid power, you should not have to worry about losing access to well water!
The Power Required to Keep a Well Pump Working
For most people, their submersible well pump will operate at a high voltage. While 120V well pumps are not unheard of, they tend to be found in shallow wells, or older water systems. In many cases, these underpowered 120V well pumps need to be replaced anyways.
If you are running a modern submersible well pump, chances are it operates at 240V, which is why your backup power system will need to be capable of supplying power to your well pump at this voltage.
This explains why many people will use a gasoline generator to keep their well pump operating during blackouts. However, gasoline generators are noisy, messy, and expensive to operate. On the other hand, there are clean energy solutions that will allow you to keep your well running with power stored from the grid, or with solar power!
In the past, most of these backup battery solutions could only operate at 120V; however, there are now plenty of solar power systems and battery backups that can easily handle a 240V well pump.
The Best Battery Backup Solutions for Well Pumps
You will find our top picks for the best battery backup solutions for a well pump below. Each of these systems was chosen because they can supply the 240V power required to keep a modern well pump running.
When you consider the fact that gasoline generators require expensive fuel and often break down and need repairs, a simple solar power system and battery bank is an attractive alternative. Not only will these battery backup kits allow you to operate your well pump with free electricity that does not result in excess noise or emissions, they can easily last for decades.
Many people find that over the lifespan of the system, the money saved by running your well pump and other electrical appliances with free solar power will be enough to cover the entire cost of the system! Put simply, these backup power systems can pay for themselves!
This straightforward solar power kit comes with everything you need to start generating and storing enough clean energy to keep your well pump operating during lengthy blackouts. In fact, it is powerful enough to be a practical off-grid solution for those that live in remote areas that do not have access to a traditional electrical grid.
For one low price, you get three 200W 12V monocrystalline solar panels that each have a 25-year power output warranty! These efficient solar panels are incredibly easy to install and each have a power rating of 200W, which means they can generate the power required to keep a well pump running.
To store the power that the solar panels generate, the kit comes with a high-capacity 12V battery bank. Buyers can choose between an AGM battery, or a more advanced LiFePO4 lithium-ion battery. Both types of battery banks come backed with an impressive 10-year warranty. An efficient 60A MPPT charge controller safely regulates the flow of electricity from your solar panels to your battery bank.
To get the most out of the power your solar panels generate, the kit also includes a powerful 4,000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter. It even includes a 12V Split-Phase 120V/240V Output, so you can easily use your new solar power system to supply power to your well pump, as well as other demanding electrical appliances you may have, like a convection oven, clothing dryer, and more!
On top of all the main components required to keep your well pump running, this complete off-grid kit also comes with all of the wires, solar cables, and connectors required to get your system up and running. It even includes a wiring diagram and setup guide, so it is beginner-friendly and simple enough that any DIY weekend warrior can get it up and running!
For those that prefer the convenience of a portable backup power system, the brand-new EcoFlow Delta PRO is the ideal solution. This all-in-one solar power system acts just like a portable gasoline-powered generator, but it operates on clean and free solar power, rather than electricity generated by burning gasoline.
Compared to buying each of the components separately, this bundle will save you a significant amount of money. It is also incredibly convenient, as you get everything you need in one simple package. You get two of the advanced EcoFlow Delta PROs, which can operate independently, or they can be connected with EcoFlows Voltage Hub (included), which allows you to get 120V or 240V out of the system! Again, this means you can use your portable solar generators to supply power to a 240V well pump.
In addition to the two Delta PRO Solar Generators and all of the wires needed to connect everything together, you also get six high-efficiency 200W monocrystalline solar panels. Given that the Delta PRO’s massive 3,600Wh battery can be fully charged in just 1.8 hours, six 200W solar panels is enough to keep your two Delta PROs running at full capacity!
The Delta PRO itself is incredibly versatile. It has 12 built-in output ports and it can be charged with solar power, AC power, DC power, or a combination of two sources at the same time! It is also Wi-Fi enabled, so you can control and monitor it with EcoFlow’s user-friendly smart app.
When you are not using them to keep your well pump running, these portable solar generators can be used to supply power to just about any electronic device or appliance you can think of! Simply put, the Delta PRO is an outstanding piece of equipment and this affordable kit comes with two of them, as well as all of the solar panels required to keep them charged up with free and renewable solar power!
If you are looking for an off-grid solar power system that is easy to assemble and available at an affordable price, the HBK-6 Off-Grid Solar Kit is another outstanding option.
This straightforward solar kit comes with everything you need to start generating and storing solar electricity. It comes with a high-capacity LiFePO4 battery power wall, which has an impressive 10.5kWh storage capacity and a life cycle rating of 5,000 cycles. In other words, it stores more than enough power to keep your well pump operating and it will continue to last for many years. In fact, the lithium-ion batteries are backed by an impressive 10-year warranty.
To generate the power your well pump will operate on, the kit uses six 335W high-efficiency monocrystalline solar panels. With a power rating of 335W, these panels can generate a significant amount of power any time the sun is shining. The panels are all made in the USA and a 25-year power output warranty acts as a testament to their durability and overall quality!
The system runs off of an all-in-one solar inverter and charger. This means you get the latest MPPT charger technology and a powerful 6,000W inverter that can operate at 120V or 240V. Another thing we really like about this kit is the fact that it is expandable and stackable, which means you can easily increase the storage capacity and output power with a few simple upgrades.
It is always good to know that you can improve your system down the road with upgrades, rather than needing to fully replace your entire backup power system if you power needs change. If, for example, you were using this solar power system simply for backup power during blackouts, but you later realized that you would prefer to go fully off-grid, you would be able to add more batteries, solar panels, and potentially upgrade your inverter to achieve this aim.
Overall, this is an outstanding backup system for a well pump, but it is versatile enough to be a practical source of power for a wide range of applications.
Final Words
If you are tired of dealing with the noise, hassle, and cost of using a gasoline generator for your well pump, a solar powered battery backup is an excellent alternative. These systems are much easier to install than you would expect. The fact they convert sunlight into useable electricity also means that they can pay for themselves over their lifespan.
Stop depending on the electrical grid to supply water to your home and make the switch to solar today!
