Simple Steps To Construct Your Own Solar Powered Fountain

From the operators of www.GreenLivingRocks.com — providing education regarding how to make a solar panel, panals, and small solar panels.

If you are curious about how solar panels work, or you just want a fun solar project to work on, you can build your own solar fountain in a weekend.  It’s a straightforward undertaking that you can do by yourself or with the family to learn about solar energy.  Here are the fundamentals of what is involved.

First, choose your design.  Do you want tiers, a waterfall, a bubbling stream or a geyser?  It is valuable to look through some pictures or do some web research to select the style, size and shape of your fountain.  You will also need to decide whether you want to be able to move it or you want a permanent installation.

After that, select a pump.  You will need to decide the number of gallons per minute and the vertical lift of the water that your pump will need to handle, based on the volume and height of your fountain’s design.  A tall bulky waterfall fountain will need a more robust pump than a smaller and lower babbling brook design.  Choose a model that is designed to be immersed completely in water and runs on direct (DC) current.

The size of the solar panel you will need will be determined by the energy requirements of the pump you choose and the amount of sunlight your fountain will receive.   Pick out a bigger panel if you are using a powerful pump to move a lot of water with a long vertical drop, or if you fountain will be located in an overcast region or a shady spot.  Smaller solar panels can be used if you want to slow down the pump, or if your fountain will receive lots of direct sunlight each day.

Before you connect the pump and solar panel, or install your fountain permanently, pull together the components (if it has several tiers or basins) and hook up the plumbing. Check it for flow and leaks.  Pour enough water through it, using a bucket or hose, to make sure that it works as planned.

If your test is successful, hook up the pump and the PV panel.  You will discover that your fountain will speed up and slow down depending on how you point your solar panel.  At this point, you can install your fountain in its permanent location and enjoy your hard work.

Should You Install Your Own Solar powered Shingles?

Solar shingles can be a good substitute to installing solar panels on the roof. They are made with bendable thin film pv (photovoltaic) solar cells that are not only lighter weight than solar panels, but will deliver similar solar energy.  If you do not like the idea of a huge solar array installation on your roof, and you are good with a hammer and nails and a measuring tape, you may even be able to do some of the installation yourself.  Here are some details that will help you make your mind up whether you want to install them yourself or hire a pro.

The design of your roof will affect how easy the job will be. The easiest installation environment is a large gable roof with composition shingles.  This design provides sizeable areas of unobstructed roof surface, and the thin film solar shingles can be easily integrated into the composition shingles. Given that thin film shingles produce about half of the electricity of traditional solar panels covering that same area, you should estimate using about twice the surface roof area that a solar panel array would need.

Installing the solar shingles is very comparable to installing traditional composition shingles, and you can even use regular roofing nails.  But solar powered shingles contain wiring that transfers the electricity produced by the solar cells into the electrical system of your house.  For each shingle, you will need to drill a hole through the roof, put in the electrical wire, and then attach it to the rest of the array from underneath the roof.  The holes and wires must be correctly placed, which can make for tedious work if you are installing the PV shingles over a large area.

For this reason, it is crucial to plan ahead and know exactly where you will install the solar shingles.  Also keep in mind that they cannot be cut like composition shingles, so there is much less room for error throughout installation.  But if you are willing to take the time and effort, you will have an eye-catching roof that delivers clean and low-cost solar power to your home.