Hello everyone. I have a question that I have not found the answer to here.

I am trying to set up my well pump to run off of solar rechargeable batteries in cases of emergencies. If we lose our power, we lose our water.

So...being the cheapskate that I am, I was wondering if it would be possible to run a solar panel to say charge a lead-acid (car) battery, run that to an inverter and then BACK to DC to run the well pump. I'm not the most handy with electrical issues. I know it sounds odd to change it to AC then back to DC, but I don't know how exactly to wire up my breaker panel directly to the batteries.

Do I have you confused?

Any Ideas? or am I just WAY off the mark here??

First I am assuming it is a 240vac well pump. You really have two options. Probably the cheapest thing to do is get a 2000+ watt 12 vdc to 120 vac inverter and then get a 120 vac to 240 vac auto transformers that can handle 2000+ watts. Then put the well pump on a 240vac plug and buy a matching 240v plug to connect up to the inverter / transformer. Then simply move the pump cord from the "wall" or grid outlet to the inverter outlet.

The other option is to get a XW xantrex inverter, they are 120 / 240 right out of the box, but they start about $2500 and the lowest voltage is 24 vdc, typically 48 vdc.

Honestly the cheapest thing to do would be to buy a cheap 120 / 240 vac generator.

The only addition I could make to Brocks suggestion is to get a well water pressure tank so you don't have to run the generator all the time. To complicate things you could add a generator controler xantrex, outback and I'm sure others sell them, when the tank needs more water, the generator is started automatically.

In my well I have two pumps: 220 V and a 12 V Shurflow. The Shurflow is powered by batteries when needed.

I do not recommend using car-type batteries - use deep cycle, marine type.

Note The Shurflow will only pump up 130 ft; in my well that's no problem as the water is usually 4-5 ft from the top of the well casing.

Road Block is right, in my house my well has 2*55 gallon pressure tanks, along with my 80 gallon water tank which provides plenty of water for emergencies. We have actually turned the well breaker off before a storm and forgot about it for over a day because we didn't run out of water. Adding pressure tanks will be a lot cheaper than a high powered inverter for an AC pump, but if you have a dc water pump, an old lead acid battery should work in a pinch for a one time deal. If this is going to be a recouring problem, then use the batteries TerryJ suggested.

I don't mean to eavesdrop or advertise (I truly found your forum while researching well pump power requirements). Just wanted to let you know we make portable solar generators (both 110 and 220) that you might consider. Please visit www.sunrnr.com Thank you, Jenny

Chack this out. http://www.eventhorizonsolar.com/Simple_Pump/water-pump-sp.html

Grundfos well pimp manufacturer offers a solar and wind powered battery run well pump package. The battery is recharged by solar and wind power between cycles. I hope this helps.

That should be well pump.

Due to the power requirements of a 220 volt pump, you'll save a lot of money going with a generator. You could do it solar, but you'll spend a lot of money on a capable inverter.

If you can, pump into a holding tank with the 220, and get a second, lower powered pump you can run off solar to supply your house.

Another option is to use a 3 phase well pump and then use a variable frequency drive (VFD) to run it from 240VAC. Solves some startup power and total power draw problems.

Wondering about this issue myself.

Are there well pumps which are rated for deep well, everyday use that are DC to begin with, in which case you could just run DC all the time in that case.

"Aims" seems to advertise a $459 well specific 240v inverter. Combined with a few batteries, you're looking at a good chunk of change for that option.  But you could hook it up to a cheaper  Honda  generator which has a "12v battery charger" "socket".  Then the rest of the house could run on the 120v 20 amp on the same generator.  The  upside there is fuel economy.

The choices are still the Shurflo 9300 with the two pump configuration that TerryJ has, a Grundfos inverter pump or a largish generator.

I was thinking of looking into the Ames 240v well inverter plus batteries and wondering if sizing a 1/2 hp 240v well pump instead of 1 hp 240v pump would make sense with backup needs in mind. If you can compensate for the slowness of the smaller pump with a larger pressure tank, it should make life easier on batteries/inverter, etc. to draw 1/2 vs 1hp (?)   in terms of a lower power draw over longer period of time.  Haven't even drilled yet so will talk to the well people when that happens.

A 1/2 HP pump will need about 1/2 the size of inverter or generator to start. How big varies - perhaps 3500 watts. Plus you can get them in 120VAC models.