Tired of accidentally leaving the water on?

[Bruce Burnett]

I use a float valve so when the pressure builds up a pressure switch shuts off solenoid valve to ro unit. This is used as a backup only. Your setup is great for people that don't have room to use a regular float valve.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

The solenoid is great, I've been looking for that for a long time, and the only ones I saw were expensive ones as part of the booster pump, which won't need. Thanks!

Maybe they have one in 3/8th for a CO2 scrubber like brs was talking about.

They absolutely have one for 3/8" tubing.

 

[tonto95]

You can search on Amazon and find many different sizes

 

[EAsalty]

I also experienced numerous costly spills in my garage due to me falling asleep, forgetting my ro/di was on when I left the house (I was gone for quite a while), and forgetting to activate my timer, I finally added the supplied float valve that came with my Spectrapure Maxcap RO/DI with manual flush to my 55g drum and presto! No more spills-

I must admit to being lazy considering adding the float valve was easy to install whereas I drilled one hole, attached the line, and added the float valve to my drum. My spectrapure has an automatic shutoff as well so when the drum fills, the float valve activates the shutoff valve. I also added a tee union, small ball valve, and another line connected to a float valve drilled into the cap of my 5g top off container (used with my Tunze ATO). When the 5g top off is full, the float valve activates the automatic shut off as well so I can fill both at the same time.

After a WC, I just add salt to the 55g, open the ro/di ball valve, and flip the switch on my GFIC power strip to run my powerhead and heater in the 55g and walk away.

Incidentally, I also added a low price water detection sensor and alarm (The Watchdog) for a battery operated back up in the event of a leak. The tee union, small ball value, and watchdog sensor (all from Lowes) cost under 20 dollars.

 

[mquinn1]

I like the idea

 

[Phil Cusimano]

I have a DIY solution that I just implemented to prevent the accidental overfilling of DI water containers. If you're like me, you've left the water on and overfilled the container...more than once! Even if the water is contained by a sink and doesn't make a huge mess, you still end up putting perfectly good deionized water down the drain, not the mention wasting deionizing resin. I don't know about you, but I HATE going through all of that trouble to make high purity water only to waste it!

So, I came up with a simple solution to the problem. The total cost of parts is around $20 if you buy them on Amazon. You will need the following:
1- 12V, 500mA power supply (https://www.amazon.com/KEYWANTS-Sup...1-spons&keywords=12v+500ma+power+supply&psc=1)
1- 12V, 4.8W solenoid valve with 1/4" tubing ends (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016MP1HX0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
1- 12V float switch (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZ09XPD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

The assembly instructions are pretty simple:
1. Clip the end off of the 12v power supply cable. Solder the positive (red) end to one of the leads on the switch.
2. Solder the other lead of the switch to one of the lugs on the solenoid valve.
3. Solder the negative end of the power supply cord (black) to the other lug on the solenoid valve.
4. Rig up a bracket to hold the float switch in the desired water container. Ensure that the float on the switch is below the top of the container to ensure the switch activated before the water overflows. Mount the switch in the container. I used a piece of leftover starboard plastic that I built my filter sock holder from. I would recommend plastic of some sort to avoid contaminating the DI water with metal ions (if considering a metal bracket) or chemicals that may be in wood (if you're a carpenter).
5. Install the solenoid valve in the water supply line going to your RO/DI unit. Pay attention to the flow arrow on the bottom of the valve to ensure proper solenoid orientation.
6. Plug in the power supply and turn the water on. The water should flow through the solenoid but stop when the float on the switch is pushed to the upper stop position.

I used heat shrink tubing to cover the soldered connections. You can use the same, electrical tape, or liquid PVC tape to provide some insulation over the soldered connections. You could also use spade lug connectors on the solenoid valve if you wanted. I preferred to solder since it is more secure (but certainly not pretty!).

When power is lost, the solenoid valve automatically returns to failure (closed) position. Also, note that the maximum working pressure for the solenoid valve is around 120 psig. If you have higher water supply pressure than that, you will need to source a suitable valve.

While this is no substitute for secondary containment, it should help prevent unwanted waste of DI water.

You can experiment with the float switch style and you will need to rig a mounting bracket for you particular DI water container. If you want to get fancy, you can even order a 2.1mm x 5.5mm female pigtail (https://www.amazon.com/SIM-NAT-5-5m...&sr=8-2&keywords=2.1mm+x+5.5mm+female+pigtail) and solder this to the switch and valve, thereby eliminating the need to clip the end off male end of the 12V power supply.

I don't think I know any reef hobbyist who this hasn't happened to, I also HATE waste both RO/DI water and resin, my float switches have failed a few times (despite maintenance). I also have two washing machine pans under my RO/DI water storage contains, while this has contained any overflows they're not very deep. This is a perfect solution as the main shut off to my RO/DI system delight you posted this thread and found an inexpensive solution. FWIW

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I don't think I know any reef hobbyist who this hasn't happened to, I also HATE waste both RO/DI water and resin, my float switches have failed a few times (despite maintenance). I also have two washing machine pans under my RO/DI water storage contains, while this has contained any overflows they're not very deep. This is a perfect solution as the main shut off to my RO/DI system delight you posted this thread and found an inexpensive solution. FWIW

Thanks. For sure, this switch or solenoid can also fail, but the system can be used as an independent backup to the float system you already employ. Hope it helps!

 

[Susan Edwards]

printed out instructions and pictures as I'm having my hubby mount the RODI unit in kitchen on wall. He's an engineer-electronics so should be no problem except time... Meanwhile, will get the hose timer <g>

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

If he comes up with any improvements, please share them! I'm just a lowly chemical engineer

 

[Susan Edwards]

If he comes up with any improvements, please share them! I'm just a lowly chemical engineer

Will do. He's a design engineer so we'll see. Time will be his issue....

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Will do. He's a design engineer so we'll see. Time will be his issue....

My solution is not elegant, but it is functional. It literally took me about 30 minutes to put it together.

 

[Susan Edwards]

My solution is not elegant, but it is functional. It literally took me about 30 minutes to put it together.

I gave him instructions and pics. Thanks and I'll let you know the outcome if and when it happens

 

[ksatterf]

Great information here. I have considered doing this but wasn't sure how to start. I will definitely implement something similar. I had 1 or 2 small accidents before I ran an overflow tube to my sump pit. Eliminated the accidents but not the waste! Thanks.

 

[gtbarsi]

In general this looks good but I recommend not using the float as the switch for the power. While there is not a lot of power being switched, it is enough to cause arching and cause a failure (possibly on). It would be better to use a relay so the float is not at risk for aching, letting the relay handle the switching of the power to the solenoid. There are plenty of simple and relatively low cost automotive relays designed for 12v DC that would work well one example on Amazon can be found here.

Just my $0.02

 

[ReeferBob]

Uhh...... do you guys realize that they actually sell these for use on RO/DI setups a a kit for $25?

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/auto-shut-off-kit-for-reverse-osmosis-systems.html

 

[ReeferBob]

I wrote an information picture on how to set these up as well.

 

[gtbarsi]

Uhh...... do you guys realize that they actually sell these for use on RO/DI setups a a kit for $25?

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/auto-shut-off-kit-for-reverse-osmosis-systems.html

Absolutely!

My original comment was to anyone that wanted a solenoid to cut off water to the RO/DI unit.

I currently use a pressure switch and float shutoff, on my BRS RO/DI filter, it works well. Not only does it prevent my FW barel from overflowing as long as the pressure does not drop in the output line, it should prevent the RO/DI unit from potentially leaking a lot of water if a seal failed anywhere in the unit. I consider this type of mechanical switch an absolute minimum to prevent overflows and leaks. I do like the idea of using a solenoid to shut off the water supply, but that is for additional safety. If I could have everything I would have the RO/DI shut off with the solenoid and have the pressure switch as a backup.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

My issue was that that style of float doesn't work with my water jugs, so I devised a different solution.

 

[gtbarsi]

My issue was that that style of float doesn't work with my water jugs, so I devised a different solution.

My solution to water jugs and 5 gallon buckets, 15 gallon barrels. I eventually made a stand so I could have two stacked and setup a complete mixing station.

This was during initial setup after moving my RO/DI from the bathroom cabinet.
The green bucket was for managing a leak in the RO/DI waste line, that horrible thing never touched tank water.

 

[ksatterf]

Agree very nice! Thanks for the detail on how you did this. Ditto on the getting out of bed in the middle of the night. I just tried a low tech float valve solution from brs. If it doesn't work out I'll be trying to duplicate yours.