DIY Drinking water level indicator

The sensor in a seperate stand pipe looks to be a neat solution to me.

We had a similar arrangement on some scrubbers at work, well it was a totally different sensor but that doesn't alter my point.

When the pump was running there was a pressure drop in the stand pipe so to get a propper reading we had to stop the pump, not a problem for you since your pump will normally be stopped not running as ours was.

The thing is, when the scrubber tank was low level, the liquid in the stand pipe dropped enough so that air was sucked into the pump along with some liquid which is precisely what you are trying to avoid.

A way round this is to fit a valve in the level tube to stop the pump sucking air in when the tank level is getting low. You just open the valve, let the liquid level settle and then take a reading, shut the valve again till next time.
 
Someone on the MOA fitted a meter (with a reset button) on the outlet side of the tank. He resets it when the tank is filled and can easily see how much he has used. Bit of riffmetic required :) Available from RS.
 
As a sugestion, why not see if you can find another sensor that matches the fuel one you "may" already have then just switch between the two to check the levels.


Steve
 
Just plumb a water meter inline on the outlet from the water tank - I got mine from ebay for about £10.

I have a tank that holds 100l so when the tank is full I add 100l to the existing reading, write it down and can then refer to the remaining level in the tank down to the last litre - and it uses no power. Voila!
 
Dip Stick

Small diameter glass fibre (or other flexible material) rod shoved down the filler. Fill tank, shove down rod until it touches bottom, pull out and make a mark on the rod at the water line. If the tank is box shaped then its easy to graduate. If the plastic or GRP is "glossy" buff it matt as I find that shows up the liquid level better.

No tie ins, no pipe cutting. Just dont poke your eye out on the end of the stick.
 
I suppose I could store a 3m dipstick up the side of me mast - but I don't think I'll bother!

Fuel tank is easy, it's translucent & easy to see when I do the engine checks. The water is in an s/s tank in the bows, but I carry 5 gall in a container in the cockpit locker So I have a 5 gal reserve when it runs out. I don't normally have a problem unless 3 generations of female Searushes decide to wash their hair.:rolleyes: Wimmin!
 
Wizard,
Good idea thanks for that, I've a similar problem and was hoping for ideas from that thread and think that that one will work for me.
 
LadyInBed said:
T piece on tank outlet going up to a sight tube at correct height somewhere convenient.
The top of the sight tube can T back to the tank inlet hose or to the tank breather hose (better option).
Click to expand...

That's more or less the arrangement that was supplied with my Etap 30. The transparent tube goes almost up to deck head level, though, and is left open - even simpler!
 
Tank Tender

Why complicate your life with electronics? A sight tube is the most dependable ... no working parts and nothing to corrode. You just need to make sure that it ís not sited too far away from the tank, not downstream of the pump, and the hose run from the tank contain no potential air locks.

Another type of non-electric meter is the pnuematic type like the Tank Tender : http://www.thetanktender.com/
This one is pretty expensive, but I've used similar on ships and yachts. The benefits come when you have several tanks to monitor. You just insert a plastic tube down into each tank and run it back to the meter. The air pump by the meter is used to evacuate the tube and the pressure is read at the meter. A valve is used to select which tank is being monitoerd. Since the meter will only give you a sounding of the tank, you will need sounding tables to give you the correct volume in the tank if the tank has not got vertical walls ...... but then you'd need to do this with an electronic transducer too.
 
TradewindSailor said:
Why complicate your life with electronics? A sight tube is the most dependable ... no working parts and nothing to corrode. You just need to make sure that it ís not sited too far away from the tank, not downstream of the pump, and the hose run from the tank contain no potential air locks.
Click to expand...

Because a sight tube would be either protruding into the saloon just where I want to squeeze in to sit at the table OR would be at the back of a locker that is already pretty full of pots and pans. The first would end up either damaging someone's legs or being damaged so I ended up with bilges full of fresh-water; the second would be useless.

The electronics I have ordered sound a great deal less complex than the pneumatic system!
 
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