ereikes
01-15-2011, 05:54 PM
For a couple of years I had an ATO consisting of an Aqualifter pump that would pull RODI water out of a rubbermaid container in my closet. It was controlled by my digital aquatics RKL and a magnetic float switch in my sump. I had it setup as a multi-timer to only run about 10 minutes per day with the float switch configured as an alarm to shut it off. I used the timer as a backup in case of a stuck float switch. The water would slowly rise instead of dumping the entire 10G rubbermaid into my sump. I filled the rubbermaid via a plumbed in line from my RODI and a kent float valve.
This setup worked great until my 5 year old and 2 year old were playing in the closet jumping on the rubeer maid and it cracked and dumped the RODI all over the carpet. The aqualifter was starting to have problems and I still had to manually turn on the vale that filled the rubbermaid container. If I forgot to refill the aqualifter would run dry and my salinity would go up.
I decide to try something new with one of those GAP level-loc valves, but to my dismay the company is out of business or re-organizing or something. After about a week of manually filling topoff water (suck!) I decided to build my own :
I purchased a GE solenoid icemaker valve PN WR57X10051 from amazon for about $16. It actually consists of two valves one for watermaker and one for icemaker. I used the red nozzle as it matched my 1/4" tubing. It runs off of 115VAC, but had a duty cycle rating on the side something like 15 seconds on and 5 minutes off. If you run it for very long it starts to get really hot and would probably eventually fail.
I plumbed it into my sump like so : RODI->SolenoidValve->Kent Float valve. I setup my RKL on a multitimer to turn it on for 30 seconds, off for 9.5 minutes and repeat 10 times. The repeat is to allow enough water to flow in per day and the 30 on 9.5 off is to honor the duty cycle requirement. The kent valve is setup about 1" higher than my float valve and acts as a backup should either the mag switch or the solenoid valve fail open. The timer acts as an additional backup in the event the float valve and the float switch were to fail open. I believe this makes it double fault tolerant with the exception of the RKL which could force the solenoid open leaving only the float valve for safety.
I use my RO for drinking water and the RODI no comes directly to my tank. When the valve opens, water comes in through the DI cannister from the buffer tank for drinking water thereby preventing my RO from starting and stopping on every tank fillup.
What do you all think? If anybody tries to make a similar one take note : be sure to have at least double redundancy or you are courting disaster. Every couple of weeks or month or so I check to make sure each of the backups is working right. Also, the 110VAC that wires into the solenoid should be suitably protected. I used silicone and shrink tubing.
Here you can see the kent float valve on the left and the solenoid valve on the left. My mag float switch is in another section of the sump.
http://reikes.org/photo.jpg
This setup worked great until my 5 year old and 2 year old were playing in the closet jumping on the rubeer maid and it cracked and dumped the RODI all over the carpet. The aqualifter was starting to have problems and I still had to manually turn on the vale that filled the rubbermaid container. If I forgot to refill the aqualifter would run dry and my salinity would go up.
I decide to try something new with one of those GAP level-loc valves, but to my dismay the company is out of business or re-organizing or something. After about a week of manually filling topoff water (suck!) I decided to build my own :
I purchased a GE solenoid icemaker valve PN WR57X10051 from amazon for about $16. It actually consists of two valves one for watermaker and one for icemaker. I used the red nozzle as it matched my 1/4" tubing. It runs off of 115VAC, but had a duty cycle rating on the side something like 15 seconds on and 5 minutes off. If you run it for very long it starts to get really hot and would probably eventually fail.
I plumbed it into my sump like so : RODI->SolenoidValve->Kent Float valve. I setup my RKL on a multitimer to turn it on for 30 seconds, off for 9.5 minutes and repeat 10 times. The repeat is to allow enough water to flow in per day and the 30 on 9.5 off is to honor the duty cycle requirement. The kent valve is setup about 1" higher than my float valve and acts as a backup should either the mag switch or the solenoid valve fail open. The timer acts as an additional backup in the event the float valve and the float switch were to fail open. I believe this makes it double fault tolerant with the exception of the RKL which could force the solenoid open leaving only the float valve for safety.
I use my RO for drinking water and the RODI no comes directly to my tank. When the valve opens, water comes in through the DI cannister from the buffer tank for drinking water thereby preventing my RO from starting and stopping on every tank fillup.
What do you all think? If anybody tries to make a similar one take note : be sure to have at least double redundancy or you are courting disaster. Every couple of weeks or month or so I check to make sure each of the backups is working right. Also, the 110VAC that wires into the solenoid should be suitably protected. I used silicone and shrink tubing.
Here you can see the kent float valve on the left and the solenoid valve on the left. My mag float switch is in another section of the sump.
http://reikes.org/photo.jpg