- Wed Feb 15, 2017 5:09 pm
#193435
I have a small farm in New Zealand that is not well supplied with water. I can't afford to drill a well and in this area the deep ground water is very rich in iron...just not the best for drinking/washing clothes etc.
Recently I have access to a beautiful sweet water spring located 600 m from my property. My neighbour allowed me to install a 190 watt solar panel and a small 24 volt shurflo diaphragm pump. I'm using a pair of 12 Volt truck batteries and a cheap controller keep the batteries charged. I ran a line of 20mm Alkathene plastic pipe over the 600 m span. the water almost syphons onto my property but not quite. So I invested in the solar/pump to give it the needed boost.
Problem: The pump rapidly turned on and off because the long supply line caused the pressure to build high enough to trip the pumps pressure switch (about 35PSI). It rapidly cycled on/off. I could tell that this would soon burn out my pump.
Solution:
I installed an Arduino Uno and a Reserve water tank. The water tank has a reed switch with magnetic float to signal when the tank is full. The tank is elevated above the spring head so that it slowly syphons all the way to my farm and it provides just enough water for our needs. the solar pump just tops up the Reserve tank every 10 mins or so as needed.
NEW Problem: We had an earthquake that shook loose a small landslide. The result was a break in the water line causing the Reserve tank to drain and the pump just stayed on pumping water onto the ground. By the time i found it the pump had been running for at least a day or more.
Solution: If I could measure the pressure in the water line I could detect a break in the line because the pressure would go to almost zero. Then sensing this the Uno could turn off the pump until I got it fixed. Else, sooner or later there will be another break in the line and I will probably burn out the pump.
Sorry for the novel, but I thought more info was better than less. I really need to make this water supply reliable. Can anyone suggest a water pressure sensor for this application. Ideally I would be something i could easily install on the existing 20mm (3/4") ID water pipes. The maximum pressure would be about 50 psi. I have 24, 12 and 5 VDC available at the water source. OR is there a better way to turn off the pump when there is a break in the water line? Thanks for your kind attention.
Recently I have access to a beautiful sweet water spring located 600 m from my property. My neighbour allowed me to install a 190 watt solar panel and a small 24 volt shurflo diaphragm pump. I'm using a pair of 12 Volt truck batteries and a cheap controller keep the batteries charged. I ran a line of 20mm Alkathene plastic pipe over the 600 m span. the water almost syphons onto my property but not quite. So I invested in the solar/pump to give it the needed boost.
Problem: The pump rapidly turned on and off because the long supply line caused the pressure to build high enough to trip the pumps pressure switch (about 35PSI). It rapidly cycled on/off. I could tell that this would soon burn out my pump.
Solution:
I installed an Arduino Uno and a Reserve water tank. The water tank has a reed switch with magnetic float to signal when the tank is full. The tank is elevated above the spring head so that it slowly syphons all the way to my farm and it provides just enough water for our needs. the solar pump just tops up the Reserve tank every 10 mins or so as needed.
NEW Problem: We had an earthquake that shook loose a small landslide. The result was a break in the water line causing the Reserve tank to drain and the pump just stayed on pumping water onto the ground. By the time i found it the pump had been running for at least a day or more.
Solution: If I could measure the pressure in the water line I could detect a break in the line because the pressure would go to almost zero. Then sensing this the Uno could turn off the pump until I got it fixed. Else, sooner or later there will be another break in the line and I will probably burn out the pump.
Sorry for the novel, but I thought more info was better than less. I really need to make this water supply reliable. Can anyone suggest a water pressure sensor for this application. Ideally I would be something i could easily install on the existing 20mm (3/4") ID water pipes. The maximum pressure would be about 50 psi. I have 24, 12 and 5 VDC available at the water source. OR is there a better way to turn off the pump when there is a break in the water line? Thanks for your kind attention.
