float valve failure...

[Tomatoesonly]

Well, woke up to some serious quantities of water kicking around. My f'n float valve went tits up. It's only 3 months old, at best.
Drained the rez's last night and let it refill. Well it refilled alright.
What the hell keeps these things from sealing properly? I mean a few drips wouldn't have been too bad, but it must have been streaming out of there.
Goddamn, what a pain in the ass.

 

[Buzzsmirk!]

i would try soleniod valves (lawn irrigation) with float switches (boat supplies) to control the valves . u could also time the tank fill time and set that into a timer to shut off your soleniod valve.
i have no practical need for this so i am just theorizin for you.

you could also put two of your float valves in series to have some redundancy
for a more fail safe feelin

good luck!
BUZZ!

 

[Heady NUGs]

Using a timer doesn't really work, because as the plants grow, they use more water, and the roots will also take up more space. Running float switches in series won't work either, because if just one fails, the circuit is open and failing.

 

[The Dopest]

here is what i use now and they are great! lil pricey and could probably be purchased cheaper but they work!

http://www.aquahub.com/store/autotopoffcomp.html

 

[Tomatoesonly]

what exactly is going on in that pic?

 

[The Dopest]

hi Tomoatoesonly, if you look at the white thing on the left, it is the float switch, the right or upper one is the fill valve. i have a 1/4" line runnin from my ice maker to the valve and once the switch sends the signal to open, it fills the reserve back up till the switch shuts it off again. im my case i have only a 5gal reserve and running dwc it drinks alot of water so this way i stay ready.

 

[Guest]

started to put it here but decided to make it a thread.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=605804#post605804

an overflow alarm is as easy as a battery, a buzzer and some wire.
a pair of cut wires dipped in water complete a circuit of the battery and buzzer. the wire pair tied somehow just below the top of your rez and a long wire puts the buzzer in your living room or computer room, bedroom or all.