The solar pump at the dam has a story. When we first moved in and had a chat with the previous owner, they said to be careful with machinery down by the dam, as there are solar panels and a pump down there. So we pushed through the shoulder-high grass and eventually found a change of level underfoot. Beneath a thick layer of grass that had fallen over everything we eventually located panels, then the electrical control box, and to our surprise, when the grass was off the panels the controller lit up and the pump started to make an odd periodic thumping sound, almost like a ‘Hey! I’m over here!’. So we located and uncovered (literally) the pump.
There things sat for a while as neither of us knew a lot about pumps and we thought it best to leave it all switched off until we primed the pump etc, but when my parents visited in October they were up to the challenge. There followed a long checking process, but after disassembling and checking everything, and priming, we had water pumping. We then had to locate the dam-end (overgrown with water weeds out in the dam) and install a new foot valve, but eventually the water started flowing properly.
Finally we put the panels up onto a frame. They still will need tilting for the best angle but at least they’re off the ground, away from moisture and not overgrown by grass.
The original pipe heads off uphill, apparently to feed into the house system, but it seems to be blocked. It will be a big job to find the route and check the lines, but in the meantime I put a new line on and ran it up to the Mid-levels, where I started a new garden in late October.
That’s been a game changer, as a dry September progressed to a record dry October, and most of November also delivered just a splash combined with hot sunny weather. Soon the ground up at the house was just sucking our precious tank water up. But at the midlevels, every sunny day is a watering day.
The water comes up at around 10 L/min, with enough pressure to run a little rosette sprinkler that throws a few metres, so I can leave it going and get on with stuff rather than stand hand-watering. I suppose it’s about a 30 m lift, maybe more.
As you can see from the photo, the dam is a good size, and like everything here, overgrown, but I’ve cleared a line in, and it’s full of beautiful blue waterlilies.
When we were in the contemplation stage of moving up here I thought a solar pump would be a good idea. Turns out they work well. Ours doesn’t pump well when it’s overcast, but then it’s not needed then. An improvement will be to get a good sized tank for above the plot, so I can have water anytime on gravity feed, and let the pump run on trickle if the day is cloudy.