After flooding my utility room yet again, I decided that something had to be done. I had tried a manual float switch in the past, but didn't work because one of my resin canisters had a persistent leak under pressure that I couldn't get rid of. So, putting my best redneck thinking hat on, I set about putting a stop to the water on the floor that seems to happen all too often. I dug around in the shop, and found something to work with......
I had a water valve for a maytag dishwasher (these operate on 110v), a dishwasher supply line with various adapters (the maytag valve uses a 3/4" water hose connection), and 1/2"FIP x 3/8"cmp water shutoff, as well as various sized hoses, barbed fittings and compression fittings. Oh, and a little electrical magic.
Here's the final result:
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The braided line on the right is coming from a water shutoff that I tee'd into the cold water line on the water heater, the reinforced nylon line coming out the bottom goes to my ro/di system.
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Here's a better look. I need to clean up the electrical wiring on the right side of the image. This dishwasher valve is actually a solenoid, it runs off of 110v. I simply wired in a float switch (like we use for ato setups) on one leg of the power supply. When the float raises, the current is interrupted and the solenoid closes, shutting off the water. I cut the end off of the cord and crimped on connectors that matched the ones on the dishwasher valve, the other end simply plugs into a wall receptacle.
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I then built this bracket to hold my float switch in my water barrel. It hangs over the lip and the nylon screw tightens down to hold it in place.
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And because I like redundant systems, I installed a new manual inline shutoff close to the ro/di.
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The whole thing kinda has a "messy Marvin" look about it, but at least now I won't find out how hard 5 gallons of water is to clean up off the floor (again). Now I can put my bracket on my water barrel, turn on the ro/di system, and if I forget about it, once the water raises the valve.......poof, the water is shut off. So now I can do other things besides babysit my filtration system.
I had a water valve for a maytag dishwasher (these operate on 110v), a dishwasher supply line with various adapters (the maytag valve uses a 3/4" water hose connection), and 1/2"FIP x 3/8"cmp water shutoff, as well as various sized hoses, barbed fittings and compression fittings. Oh, and a little electrical magic.
Here's the final result:
The braided line on the right is coming from a water shutoff that I tee'd into the cold water line on the water heater, the reinforced nylon line coming out the bottom goes to my ro/di system.
Here's a better look. I need to clean up the electrical wiring on the right side of the image. This dishwasher valve is actually a solenoid, it runs off of 110v. I simply wired in a float switch (like we use for ato setups) on one leg of the power supply. When the float raises, the current is interrupted and the solenoid closes, shutting off the water. I cut the end off of the cord and crimped on connectors that matched the ones on the dishwasher valve, the other end simply plugs into a wall receptacle.
I then built this bracket to hold my float switch in my water barrel. It hangs over the lip and the nylon screw tightens down to hold it in place.
And because I like redundant systems, I installed a new manual inline shutoff close to the ro/di.
The whole thing kinda has a "messy Marvin" look about it, but at least now I won't find out how hard 5 gallons of water is to clean up off the floor (again). Now I can put my bracket on my water barrel, turn on the ro/di system, and if I forget about it, once the water raises the valve.......poof, the water is shut off. So now I can do other things besides babysit my filtration system.
