I spent over an hour at HF in Pembroke Pines on Monday looking over their selection of solar/12v water pumps.
The canal out back is fresh enough to use for irrigation (lawn and fruit trees/veggies), but it's, well, kind of slimey at times. We have only had one decent rain all year, and the urban runoff and stagnant water grows a lot of algae and weeds.
The 1 1/2 HP 240v pump I normally use is over 25 years old. If it broke, or we lost power for weeks from a hurricane it would be nice to have a backup besides a bucket on a rope. I have lime, lemon, orange, star fruit, banana, plantain, tomatoes, collards, bell peppers, mango, Barbados cherry, loquat, coconut, macadamia and avocado.
A hydraulic ram won't work, and there is no flow except when it rains hard enough to require opening the flood control.
I have a 5 watt panel to spare and a lawn and garden battery that isn't being used.
HF sells a Pacific Hydrostar bilge pump that uses 1.8 amps and lifts over 10 feet in my test. They claim 13 feet max, but that probably requires clean water and a strong battery. The floating pond pumps only lift a foot or two. That's not quite enough.
The bilge pump doesn't put out a lot of pressure, but it fills a bucket quick enough to not run the battery down.
The green lizard was caught a couple of weeks ago. I suprised her sunning in the back yard and she ran right into the trap. I let a possum go today. He looked ragged after being in the cage all day. I gave the lizard to a neighbor from Trinidad to curry. They call them 'chicken of the tree'. I hope I'm never hungry enough to have to eat possum, though.
I mean animals no harm, except the big lizards. They ate and killed my mulberry tree (leaves, fruit and blossums), and a neighbor's lychee tree. That's just disrespect.
She's small, too, only about 3 feet, including the tail. Her big brothers out here get over 5 feet. The little brown one lives indoors with me and keeps the bugs out of my seedlings.
