Ideas For Auto Top-Off
 

I plan on installing an auto top-off system in my sump. I use well water so I plan on using a 1/4" line off my kitchen water line for a water source. This will likely run to a float valve in the sump. I have been looking at a Eshopps float valve (it looks fairly well made). Can anyone tell me how much pressure these float valves can handle? Any ideas to improve on my idea?

Thanks.

Id look into some sort of safety. Something so that if that float switch fails or hangs up and decides to fill your tank with an endless supply of freshwater it will stop it.

no filtering?

I'm using a humidifier float valve, not sure the rating but figure it can handle at least wha'st normal residential pressure (~60psi).

I run from my water feed into my RO unit with an auto shutoff, then through a solenoid that opens 15 minutes every 3 hours, into a kent float valve. I wouldn't trust a float valve to hold house pressure long term. Without the solenoid, my float does let some water creep by.

I just use a timer with a slow pump (toms aqualifter)

I would suggest using two electric float valves wired in series with one mounted slightly higher than the other in the sump. Run the float valves in series with a rainbird sprinkler solenoid valve and 24VAC transformer. The current draw on the valve is less than 1A so you don't need a relay. A couple bushings to reduce the 1/2" or 3/4" valve input and output to 1/4" will be needed. Run the transformer on a regular digital timer for added safety so it can only be activated to set amount of time. Whole system should run you around $80 to $100.

The thing with a float valve is... Should extra water flow through, this increases the water level, increasing the pressure shutting off the float. Unless the float breaks right off, they are pretty reliable.

I remember talking to a guy a while back who used a kent abs float directly connected to his RO. Worked fine until his heater suction mount came loose and his heat fell against the float. Apparently it destroyed his entire tank and caused significant water damage in the house, said it was over $10K in damages alone which his insurance did cover but the tank was a total loss.

Realistically any system can fail but it's wise to add some kind of safety system to a direct water connection. A solenoid valve and a timer is fairly cheap and no doubt a good idea.

It's better to put the float in a container and use a top up from that if you can.
And there is the TDS creep issue if your using DI.

Melev has a couple good articles here

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/ml/index.php

http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...thy-of-concern

I would suggest doing away with all mechanical float switches altogether and go with a tunze:mrgreen: