re: Water pumping.
A lot depends on your situation.
A shallow well (<20 foot lift) is quite doable. A 12 VDC RV pump might well do the trick here. Another alternative would be a standard agricultural windmill to keep a storage tank topped off.
Deep wells usually require 240VAC and lots of startup current. You will encounter basically 2 types of pumps in this situation. 1. Jet pump (A return line assists the pump with the lift) 2. Submersible (Pump is in the well and does a direct lift on the pressure side.) These present more of a challenge. One might consider establishing a storage tank, where a generator supported pump fills it occasionally with gravity and/or a 12VDC RV pump to supply the house.
Thanks for the advice. It is a deep well 170 feet I think and our pump is submersible as you described. Would a solar backup generator be enough to power it?? We are really looking at a non-gas solution and we don’t have room for a storage tank anywhere, house is on a hilltop with very little room around it.
Thanks!!