water tank

[kwired]

And those things are touchy! Took me several days to get one set exactly where it needed to be! Just barely turn the adjustment, tower would overflow, back a touch, and it would be 20’ low! LOL!

I never adjusted any of them, but wondered how touchy they might be. Not much pressure difference in just a couple feet of water height - so they have to be pretty precise I would think to work at all.

Would not be surprised if you aren't seeing more electronic pressure transducers being used today instead of those older pressure switches expected to have that kind of accuracy.

 

[kwired]

A customer tried some submersible 4-20ma pressure transducers in a dairy flush system here. Dropped them into a pipe that extended to the bottom of the tanks. They now use 4-20ma Sonics that measure the actual level vs the pressure. Sediment was a problem. Not an issue for the OP, AFAWK.

I've used vibration rods for light weight solids and see now that they can be used for liquids and on that note I now remember...

OP,

Depending on the what you get the control relay and all settings from Off to On can be set in the head. You would only need to bring power and your two wire control to it. That and read the directions.

You are not supposed to have that kind of sediment in a municipal water system like you have in a dairy waste water system

 

[kwired]

Dairy processing plant I used to work in almost exclusively used conductivity probes for level sensing. B&W controllers were most common. This back in late 80's and into the 90's. Toward the end of that time we started to use some Crouzet 8 pin octal relay types that were pretty effective and much cheaper than the B&W's.

three probes - common which often was just bonded to the tank or piping and the entire tank was the probe upper probe and a lower probe. If contents are turbulent enough you may need insulated probes other than the tip so you get the reading you want to see. B&W can be configured for pump up or pump down application, the Crouzet relays needed to select the correct model for pump up or pump down. Haven't messed with any new ones for some time, maybe possible they now have selector switch for mode, IDK.

 

[hillbilly1]

Dairy processing plant I used to work in almost exclusively used conductivity probes for level sensing. B&W controllers were most common. This back in late 80's and into the 90's. Toward the end of that time we started to use some Crouzet 8 pin octal relay types that were pretty effective and much cheaper than the B&W's.

three probes - common which often was just bonded to the tank or piping and the entire tank was the probe upper probe and a lower probe. If contents are turbulent enough you may need insulated probes other than the tip so you get the reading you want to see. B&W can be configured for pump up or pump down application, the Crouzet relays needed to select the correct model for pump up or pump down. Haven't messed with any new ones for some time, maybe possible they now have selector switch for mode, IDK.

I worked on another water tower that had that type, They drilled a new well below the tower, but the radon count was too high to use, so I had to run the controls three blocks down to the old well. They originally had a float switch that grounded to the tank when it closed, and completed the pump starter circuit. I added a second wire and got rid of that dangerous set up, powered an ice cube relay instead isolating the pump starter. They were replacing the starter coil every time lightning hit the line, now all they had to do was plug in another relay. They were also just cutting on the chemical pumps every morning, and going back at quitting time to turn them off. They never could get the chemical ratio right! I interlocked the chemical pumps with the well pump so they only ran when the pump ran.

 

[ptonsparky]

All radio controlled in our village now. Sewage lift station is the only thing wired. Alarm, High and Off.

 

[hillbilly1]

My son in law is IT director for another city, they have fiber going to all of their lift stations and water towers, water and sewage treatment plants, unlike the old days, they monitor quite a bit of info on everything.

 

[StarCat]

That last post reminded me that I adapted the float ball to activate a micro-switch.

What Larry has said here can be done easily and I have used " tethered " floats to control all kinds of large and small volumes in Surface Water Treatment and Irrigation systems. They can be used to sequence operating controls directly, and are fairly reliable for long periods of time. They do eventually fail sometimes, but not real often.
The best conductivity rod control systems I have used and installed are Warrick which can be gotten from Gems Controls. They are OEM on many Boilers and return systems, and I have used these in field irrigation systems.
The latest thing in Plant Level control are " capacitive " probe types which are pilot duty, single rod devices. These are looking very attractive for vessel level control. The N.O. and N.C. floats can be gotten from a major pump supplier such as Munro. They are the same type that are commonly seen in Barnes Lift stations. All of the above are pretty straight forward to set up. The capacitive controls are available from multiple suppliers. Automation Direct does have them, but these would not be my first pick.

 

[kwired]

You guys don't want to know how many times I have seen livestock watering tanks in isolated pasture that some farmer made up their own assembly for a ball float on a rod that actuates a standard wall toggle switch to control the well that pumps the water. Usually works great but they almost always put the switch in a NEMA 1 handibox and it gets a lot of dirt and water into it over time, they might put some sort of cover over the entire assembly and that at least keeps rain and snow off of it.

 

[StarCat]

You guys don't want to know how many times I have seen livestock watering tanks in isolated pasture that some farmer made up their own assembly for a ball float on a rod that actuates a standard wall toggle switch to control the well that pumps the water. Usually works great but they almost always put the switch in a NEMA 1 handibox and it gets a lot of dirt and water into it over time, they might put some sort of cover over the entire assembly and that at least keeps rain and snow off of it.

The most dangerous of all electrical systems I have dealt with are all in Farm-Ranch settings. The last one I looked at was in Tetonia. It was mega dangerous and the Facility Head was totally unaware. Its not really what people know but what they think they know that becomes dangerous.
People who do not have any common sense or boundaries should not be working with electrical systems. Electrical Engineering should also not be driven by attempting to deal around common sense or profit motives. These are backwards approaches.