Water tank gauge - which one to buy?

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West Coast

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I have a stainless steel water tank, wedge shaped to fit under the stbd saloon berth, so not uniform shape. Would like to fit a water gauge, any suggestions as to what to fit?

Have seen the in- line type, measuring pressure, are these any good?

Cheers
 
If you're interested, it is possible to get specially-made senders which compensate for oddly-shaped tanks. We had one fitted in the new fuel tank that Tek Tanks made for Kindred Spirit, and it only cost £10 more than the standard linear version. Sadly I don't know what make the sender was, but perhaps worth looking into.

Pete
 
My Sadler came with perhaps the simplest possible type. It is a float on a long wire suspended by a couple of turns on a fixed bearing pin. A short indicator arm continues from the turns, at 90 degrees to the main arm. The whole thing sits just below a small perspex window in the top of the tank. The contents full/empty can be marked on the perspex with a felt tip pen. An excellent little device that has worked perfectly for almost 30 years.
 
Apologies, I realised it was not an easy thing to describe without waving my arms around.

The float is a small plastic bottle, filled with PU foam. The wire is just a stainless welding rod around 1 - 2 mm diameter. the fixed pivot is a bolt through a piece of aluminium angle bolted to the perspex window.
Watertanklevelgauge_zps149215cd.jpg
 
West Coast said:
I have a stainless steel water tank, wedge shaped to fit under the stbd saloon berth, so not uniform shape. Would like to fit a water gauge, any suggestions as to what to fit?

Have seen the in- line type, measuring pressure, are these any good?

Cheers
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Depends on the level of sophistocation and user input you want, ultrasonic senders can be very easily programmed to take account of any tank shape and nothing floating about in the tank, have had really good results with odd fuel & black tanks but not done a water tank yet, I see no reason to suspect they would be any less accurate. On the other hand, a stick poked in the top will give you some idea.
 
West Coast said:
That is the device I had seen - believe based on pressure sensing? Have you found it reasonably accurate and reliable?
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Yes works on pressure. Fill the tank set the full point with an adjustment screw on the sensor, job done. It has only done 1 season but so far so good. I bought the LCD version and each of the 20 increments equates to approx 20 litres, we have a 450 litre tank.
The manual is available on their website.
 
Slipstream 34 said:
Yes works on pressure. Fill the tank set the full point with an adjustment screw on the sensor, job done. It has only done 1 season but so far so good. I bought the LCD version and each of the 20 increments equates to approx 20 litres, we have a 450 litre tank.
The manual is available on their website.
Click to expand...

I've got the fuel gauge version with a small moving coil indicator - albeit an early version from Hendersons. Same as the water gauge, you fill to full and then adjust the indicator to show full on the first fill. Very accurate.
 
Slipstream 34 said:
Yes works on pressure. Fill the tank set the full point with an adjustment screw on the sensor, job done. It has only done 1 season but so far so good. I bought the LCD version and each of the 20 increments equates to approx 20 litres, we have a 450 litre tank.
The manual is available on their website.
Click to expand...

How would a pressure sensing device cope with an irregular shaped tank? But such a tank is a problem for a mechanical device in any event I guess.
 
With a sight glass, (cost, next to nothing) it is easy to fill the tank with, say, 20 litres at a time, marking beside the tube as you go. Simple technology, nothing to go wrong.
 
NormanS said:
With a sight glass, (cost, next to nothing) it is easy to fill the tank with, say, 20 litres at a time, marking beside the tube as you go. Simple technology, nothing to go wrong.
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TBH, would much prefer your suggested route but tank position does not allow that ...
 
Thanks all for the most helpful replies!

I have ordered one of the pressure sensing gauges from MCS boat products - will comment back in due course as to how I get on
 
West Coast said:
Thanks all for the most helpful replies!

I have ordered one of the pressure sensing gauges from MCS boat products - will comment back in due course as to how I get on
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As promised, report back on the MCS pressure gauge - it is very impressive. Works well, seems reasonably accurate and was simple to fit. Great to have an indication of water in the tank.
 
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