Farm experience is a useful background for practical people, but it’s a basic requirement for Solar Water Pumps Australia Pty Ltd.

Started by Brenton Diener in 1990, Solar Water Pumps grew out of the family farm near Truro, northeast of Adelaide. Since then, the business has gone from strength to strength and now serves a range of agricultural and industrial customers from Western Australia to New Zealand.

The Diener farm was eventually sold as the pumping business took up more and more time, but the company is still based in nearby Kapunda and employs locals with farming backgrounds – including Brenton’s son, Shane.

“We’re a team of five, all from around Kapunda, Gawler and that,” Shane says. “And Dad still does a lot of the quoting, despite being 73 years old.”

Another agricultural cornerstone of the business is the HARDI pumps it uses. Solar Water Pumps originally used helical rotor pumps but ran into problems if they ran dry – the stator would get damaged and the pump would overheat.

Turning to their farming experience, the Dieners knew HARDI’s grease-lubricated diaphragm pumps were a simple and dependable solution.

“We knew that because HARDI pumps could handle chemicals, they would be okay with dirty water from a dam,” Shane explains. “Plus they can run dry.”

“Even if the diaphragm breaks,” he adds, “the water can still get out so you’re not damaging your bearings in the bottom of the pump. With other brands, you’d damage the bearings.”

HARDI’s dealer network, spanning Australia and New Zealand, is another benefit.

“The beauty is you can buy spare parts for HARDI all over the country with Solar Water Pumps Australia stocking rebuild kits, including in the service vehicles. So the pumps are easy to maintain and simple to rebuild. The farmers like that simplicity.”

Building on the simplicity and reliability of HARDI pumps, Solar Water Pumps has found a varied market. While pastoral farmers still dominate, the current drought has driven diversity on the customer and business side.

For example, the team recently installed two new solar/battery-powered water systems for AGL at the Torrens Island Power Station in Adelaide. The purpose of these systems is to pump storm water from the site into a reed bed. The reed bed acts as a natural water filter and improves the water quality before it then enters the surrounding waterways.

“That set-up has the panels installed away from the pump, plus battery power to keep the pump running during rain or at night.”

Solar Water Pumps designs systems to suit the demand and available water.

“If a farmer only has a couple of hundred sheep and just needs 1500 litres a day, we’ll install something smaller like the HARDI 500,” Shane Diener says. “That way they can use less power, a smaller motor, a single solar panel.”

However, the mainstay is the 85 l/min HARDI 1303 pump. They find it suits most needs without using excessive power. A recent installation at Madura Plains Station on the Nullarbor pumps 75 litres per minute, (4,500 litres per hour, 108,000 litres per day) using a 32-panel array with battery back-up.

In situations like that – where pump reliability is a life-or-death matter – the simple, rugged HARDI pumps have proven to be exactly what Solar Water Pumps Australia and their customers require.