COST CONSIDERATIONS
Always choose not to use any kind of solar powered unit if line power is available. Plain and simple its just cheaper and takes up alot less space. If you tried to supply New York City with solar power you would need to line the East Coast with solar panels from Maine to Florida.;
What is workable today, affordable today, maintainable today, and practical today is a solar powered aerator system that charges one 12 volt car battery while running an air compressor 24/7. That in a nutshell is the SolAerator by PEC.
Larger solar powered units beyond our aeration kits are not practical at this point in time and will not be practical until a cheaper solar panel or battery has been developed. For now, just use more SolAerators or go with line power.
DO NOT even consider a daytime only or wind powered only aerator operation. 99.9% of fish kills occur during no sun and no wind hours of late evening and very early morning because thats when ponds need aeration the most.
Mixing
You can mix and destratify water at any depth with our air lift floating SolAerator draft tubes. Simply attach the SolAerator airline from any unit, extend the expandable draft tube to the desired mix depth, and anchor the float into position.
Oxygen Transfer
The best you can prepare for in a body of water is to provide survivable areas of high dissolved oxygen. The more aerators you use the higher the oxygen levels maintained. Their is no advantage to violently aerating to the point of disturbing the settling characteristics of the pond. You only increase solids suspension, turbidity, and oxygen demand. Use the SolAerator float provided with each unit or buy a draft tube accessory for maximum oxygen transfer with minimum solids suspension.
Installation Costs
Our solar bubbler is self contained, meets all electrical codes, and mounts easily on any standard 2x6" board or garden fence post tree or concrete stabilized post for under $50.00. This includes acquisition of a plastic battery box, anti-theft battery cablelock, and a 12 volt car battery from the local hardware store.
All our competitors installation costs using a similar battery backup capability strategy range from $5000.00 to $15,000.00 and does not include meeting any local electrical codes. Want to build your own? Simply go to SOLARAIRPUMP.
Maintenance Costs
Independent of power and safety considerations, compressed air type bubbler aeration has half the maintenance costs of any type of mechanical aeration in open water applications. Both our solar and line power units offer replaceable linear diaphragm type compressors that are permanently lubricated. When comparing & maintenance labor costs, we are better. If you use anyone elses plan on buying new air compressors several times each year.
Since 2001 our *annual pump repair kit and total maintenance costs average less than $35.00/year/unit.
Science Experiments Are Expensive!
Want to conduct a science experiment? Think you can hook up several solar panels a 12 volt pump, charge a battery, and run a pump for more than 5 hours a day.....not gonna happen! Think an inverter or solar charger will help? Nope, it will just cost you more experimental money, burn up every 6-12 months (you will learn what the term "unwarrantable" means via the manufacturer), and leave less energy available for the pump to run. Think anyone who offers you 3-6 month warranty on a DC pump expects it to run longer? Nope, be prepared to buy +$300 pumps 2-3 times a year. Think a 5010 Thompson air pump powered by a 15 watt solar panel is going to pump air more than acouple of hours a day or deeper than a few feet in the water. Not even close.
If you buy a fixed angle 100 watt solar panel and do nothing but charge a battery you might store +450 watts on a sunny day. Thats enough power operate 100 watt light bulb for about 5 hours . And one kilowatt of energy, the same as 25 square meters (269 square feet) of traditional solar panels, will give your nearly enough energy for an average person to operate a washing machine and drier for a couple of hours each day at an installation cost in excess of $10,000.00
Add more online components that use power while you are trying to store power, like pumps and inverters. and solar chargers, and one way diodes, and then you need an electrical engineers degree or a ton of cash or both.
If you buy one of our aeration systems and then modify it, your modified system is not warrantable.
WE DO NOT SELL INVERTERS OR PUMPS OR ANY OTHER PARTS OUTSIDE OUR AERATION SYSTEMS DESIGNS.
Safety
The safety and liability considerations of electrical power to water alone suggest you should restrict public access. If public access is not restricted we DO NOT recommend you consider solar powered units in excess of 5 amps or 12 volts or any line power units, for any unattended water aeration, for any reason.
Other safety and liability considerations of the solar bubbler focus on and are listed on the battery you purchase locally.
Springfield, IL. 62702
toll free: 888-261-4726
voice/fax 866-422-0018
One year warranty on all electrical parts.
Two year motor repair/replacement warranty at our cost. (NOT 6 months like everyone else)
One year warranty on all parts at our cost.
Annual pump diaphragm replacement recommended at your cost.
5 year depreciated replacement on non-electrical parts at your cost.
