float switch help

[FishHead1]

I'm looking for a way to rig my sump for automatic top off with kalkwasser solution for evaporated water. I had a Kent float valve that takes too much room in my sump. I have the Kent Aquadose 5 galloon jug. I'm hoping to drop a small pump in the jug and get an electronic float valve.
Can someone please make some suggestions? Thanks for your help.

 

[Rob Klein]

I use a Tsunami presure float switch. nice and compact.

 

[fowlr]

I was actually considering the kent float valve for the same purpose but am worried about size and can't seem to find the dimensions anywhere. Can you post them?

 

[FishHead1]

The Kent Float valve is about 3" wide and sticks out about 6" from the wall of the sump.

 

[Joey1]

I have an ultralife float switch in my 55,20 gallon sump...great product,very accurate,am a little bit concerned though,as it uses a suction cup to hold it in place...anyone ever have one of these come off?mine han't even come close yet,just curious....works like a charm,I bought it as a combo,with a rio 600 for my topoff

Joey

 

[Minh Nguyen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joey:
<STRONG>I have an ultralife float switch in my 55,20 gallon sump...great product,very accurate,am a little bit concerned though,as it uses a suction cup to hold it in place...anyone ever have one of these come off?mine han't even come close yet,just curious....works like a charm,I bought it as a combo,with a rio 600 for my topoff

Joey</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Suction cups to hold float valves are disaster waiting to happend. You got to think what happen when the suction cup fail. If this resulting in continous water being dump into your tank, then you will have a dead tank and a flooded house. You can use silicone to glue the suction cup in place and not worry about it. I would not trust a suction cup to hold my top off valve.

 

[jdeets]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Minh Nguyen:
<STRONG>
Suction cups to hold float valves are disaster waiting to happend. You got to think what happen when the suction cup fail. If this resulting in continous water being dump into your tank, then you will have a dead tank and a flooded house. You can use silicone to glue the suction cup in place and not worry about it. I would not trust a suction cup to hold my top off valve.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This isn't a problem with the reed-type float switches. I have mine rigged up using suction cups. The wire from the reed switch is wrapped around the overflow plumbing above the sump. If the suction cups fail (which they did this week) the switch will hang from the wire. The result is that the water in the sump will be a little lower than normal, but no flood. It only drops down about 1/2" when hanging from the wire.

Just keep this in mind when rigging up your system.

I got a reed-type float switch from David Rumpel. I can't find the url for his site at the moment. It was $40, I think, and I have it rigged up with a MJ900 in the top-off reservoir. It keeps the water level in the sump within 1/8" of the desired level. If I find the URL I'll post it unless someone beats me to it.

 

[jdeets]

Here's the link.
http://aquadevices.50megs.com/order1.htm

There is one available on eBay right now. Do a search for "solid state float switch" on eBay to find it.