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Auto shut off


dapettit

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I have 2 55 gallon barrels. We capture the run off in one and recyle it (watering plants, washing clothes). I need to be able to install a float switch in both barrels to shut either one off before if over flow. I have to many floods! Can this be done with my current ASV?

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I am not sure how you are ever going to balance that out. The waste barrel is always going to fill long before the Ro barrel simply because you are generating 4 to 1 (or more). How about venting the waste barrel outside to the grass or something? That way the ASV will work off the RO barrel and keep it full, while the waste barrel will remain full as well, but any extra will go to the grass.

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So I quess we are saying that the ASV only works on one side not both. If I had a float switch on both barrels; the one on the good water will shut off everything but the one on the waste water will not?

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I am sure you could set it up somehow, but if the waste barrel is set to shut off the system, it will turn it off first. Basically if you started with empty barrels, the waste water barrel would be full at about the point the RO barrel has 12-15 gallons in it. I guess you could have an additional ASV on the waste barrel so that when that barrel gets full the waste water is shunted to another location (drain, or outside) but that is the same as just putting an overflow on the waste barrel and that would be a lot easier. You cannot seperate the flow of the waste vs. Ro (4-1 usually) if that is what you are asking.

Edited by Entropy
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Really about the best thing you can do is just put an overflow tube at the top of your waste water collection. The other sensible solution is just to have your waste water barrel be 5 times larger than your RO barrel. The shut off kills all the water when the RO side fills up. Not sure how it would all shut off if you tried placing a valve on the waste water side as I'd bet all it would do is continue forcing water through the membranes until that side shut off.

Just had another idea while typing. You could shop Ryan Herco for some ideas, or even Grainger. Using an electronic solenoid valve on the incoming (supply tap) water connected to an electronic sensor (like those on electric top offs) placed in your waste water barrel could shunt all the flow in an emergency situation.

So I'm thinking that it would be beneficial to get a 50g tank for your RO and a 250g tank for your waste water with an emergency electronic shunt built in. That is if you have the space. Or at least a 30g RO barrel with a 100g or so waste water barrel with a 1/2" line connected at the top going out to the flower bed for overflow purposes. That way you'd be watering the garden while making clean water and then you'd still have some for the rest of the week.

Took me a few minutes but I found what I was looking for. All it would take is this, http://www.fishbowl-innovations.com/product/solenoid , solenoid_ac_1.jpg ,

spliced with one of these $10 tricks, http://www.fishbowl-innovations.com/product/floatSwitch ,

FAS_float01.jpg

For $60 you could easily add some overflow protection that will shut off your RO completely should it ever sense an overflow condition in your collection barrels. This is exactly how I'll be doing my RO/DI to my tank. I will first rely upon a cheap mechanical floating switch to control the on/off. This will be a redundant switch should the mechanical switch ever get stuck down or open. When my sump reaches a certain level of "overflow" this will automatically shunt the water flow to the RO unit thereby saving my floors.

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  • 8 months later...

You will pull one wire off of the solenoid and tie it to the float switch on one side. You will then put the float switch wire to the solenoid where the other wire was removed. You will then place the shut off valve in front of the RO/DI and place the float within the catch barrel.

I cannot advise from afar as to what method will work best for completing the wiring as I cannot assume what your situation is, IE: distance from outlet, distance from barrel, distance from RO etc.. If you solder, make sure to slip some heat shrink tubing over the wire before you solder, and far enough back to not shrink it prematurely. Once soldered and cooled, move the tubing over the wire and use a lighter or heat source to shrink the tubing and prevent shorts. Another really simple way is to use silicone/grease filled wire nuts as they will prevent water contamination.

Keep in mind that this will only prevent an "accident" and not balance out the 4/1 ratio. I am willing to help you put it all together sometime this week after 6:00 if you'd like.

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Have you experimented with other non-mechanical float sensors? Such as ultrasound or conductivity probe? In my DIY controller build, I'm trying to decide if I want to use two titanium rods to detect conductivity and thereby my "float" detector, or just go with a float switch and have a failsafe in case it gets gummed up.

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