Water Tank Installation Update (long post)

["Frank Mc Alinden" <frankmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Guys

Thought  some might be interested in how my system has been working and
some enhancements i have made to it....Also one thing i forgot to mention
in my original post was that i incoporated an overflow pipe into my drain
system in case the pump failed ...This consisted of 3 tee pieces and 1
elbow....This was easy to add as i had dug quite a large hole as i was
initially going to install a pit....

Its been approx 6 weeks since it was fully operational and on the whole it
has worked quite well....One issue i was having was that the Drain Float
switch would occasionly stick and not operate the pump when
required....During winter here thats not a problem as we get enough rain to
fill my tank several times....I installed a Mimic Panel so i could see from
my Sunroom when the pump was running....If it was raining and the pump
indicator wasnt lit i would go out to the drain and shake the suction pipe
(the float switch was cabled tied to this) and this
would usually activate the drain switch.....

We havent had rain here in Melbourne for about 3 weeks and i could see my
tank water level was starting to drop ..then last week we had one day were
it rained all day and when i got home my Tank level hadnt changed , checked
the drain and sure enough the float switch had stuck again ...grrrrr.....
so i decided that today i would remove the float switch and use my spare
Water Board to monitor the drain level....

I remove the float switch wiring and installed a 2 pair cable for the drain
sensors but i had to relocate the water board closer (on the valve stand)
to the drain as it appears that cable length to the sensors must be
reasonably short (less than 4 metres) for it to work properly...
This meant i had to run a multicore to power the Water board and also get
feedback to the plc from the Waterboard....I used the 2 pair cable for the
Gate valve Sensor (see below)

I modified the Plunger to incorporate the low level and high  sensors
...see pic...This worked out quite well....but i had to put a plastic
sleeve around the foot valve (check valve) on the suction hose as it was
quite close to the low level jubilee clip...

Mimic Panel
I have added a small mimic panel to show me the status of the pump , Tank
full level, Tank Low level ,system Fault/Fault Reset....System Fault is
just some basic checking of  the water level probes....Theres also a Button
called Manual Mode...

Manual Mode

Currently theres no irrigation to our small vegie Patch so i decided  to
add a button which turns the pump on so we can water the vegie garden as
well as wash the cars ...I installed a Gate valve which a garden hose could
be connected to....When the Manual push button is pressed it starts the
pump and energises one of the irrigation valves....I have incorporated a
timer which stops manual mode after 10 minutes......This works quite well
as it ensures that if for some reason the nozzle comes off the garden hose
we wont loose a full tank of water if no one is around to shut it off.....

Gate Valve Sensor

Several times i have watered the vegie patch and forgot to turn off the
gate valve when finished...and to date it hasnt been a problem as the
garden hose has has a nozzle on at all times ,but if the nozzle had of been
removed i would have lost a lot of water during normal irrigation as the
Gate valve is connected to the manifold  that goes to the irrigation
system...

I had a couple of used industrial prox switches so i used one to monitor
the status of the gate valve and works like this....

To now start Manual Mode the plc must not sense the  Gate Valve closed
sensor (meaning the gate valve must be open)....When the Gate valve is
opened a 30 minute timer is started...if it times out( ie gate valve left
opened)  it flashes the system fault lamp...This lets me know to turn the
gate valve off.....If the gate vale is closed before the 10 minute Manual
timer expires it will automatically shut down the pump and irrigation
valve....The gate valve must also be closed to allow  Irrigation Mode to
work.....
Hopefully these changes will make my system a little more bullet proof....
Heres a link to some pics of the changes...

http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z38/frankmc_2007/Water%20Tank%202/

Frank



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