Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Have found that the floats that come with submersible pumps are hopeless. I did some investigations through a guy at work and he put me on to these. They are very reliable apparently, and control very well. They are available with either a double encapsulated mercury switch or a mechanical switch. Two floats, low and high are fixed and control very precisely.

I have been round and round with float switches. Some are pure trash. I personally like the type you show. All need observation and testing of your specific application. IMO.

Depends on what you are after really. I've found them to be very reliable, performing for years, controlling the pumping in my system without any problems at all.

i think they mean variance in quality

Thats exactly what I mean, variance in quality.

some are vary good.

some are vary bad.

My main problem is that I am trying to maintain a pretty tight volume level in my sumps. the float switches just don't behave that well almost like the 'ball' inside doesn't roll as though it gets held up some how.

I have a sump pump that became unreliable. Thought the switch was bad but it didn't have enough tether (I guess thats you call the wire attached to it) length. So when the water got low it would flop down. And the pump would run dry. To remedy I just unscrewed the bracket holding the wire to the pump and attached it to a board. Now it works fine. The wire had wrapped around the pump. But now it has more freedom of movement and it was easier to adjust to the exact level needed.

hope this helps.

I don't understand all of it, does thsi mean that you have plugged it separately from the pump?
I think that float switches work well with fast water heigth variations, we use them on the farm for water regulation and since the levels move very slowly we have to kick them quite often to make sure the ball is not blocked.

Now that I reread it. I don't understand it either.

Okay. Let me try again.

1. The float switch stopped working.

2. I moved the float switch

3. The float switch began working again.

The moral of the story- Float switches sometimes need adjustment to work properly.

If not clear I will try a "thousand words" aka- to show a picture.

I think the attached float switch works the same. The 10m cable looks pretty hardcore (like submersible pump quaility) The manual says it is cabled straight to AC. Is this correct or do I have to go through a low-voltage relay?
I know nothing about float switches but I want to use it to prevent my pumps running dry.

Straight to AC, but wait for another advice of oour electric specialists here.
Try to block the yellow bit and maybe you'll have to increase the weight too with bolts. I have used them on the farm really well.

I have a very basic float switch question. I am sure the answer is simple, but I know nothing about them.
Joel has his ebara pump with float switch on a timer. Does this mean it pumps during the entire 15 minutes of the on phase, irrespective of position of the float switch?
Does it also mean that, the float switch kicks in automatically even when the pump is programmed for the off mode?
As I say, I don't quite understand and help would be appreciated.

twintragic2, It's a 99.99%chance the timer is wired in so that the timer controls pumping time ONLY if float switchis UP,it's like an extra bit of run-dry safety.
Timer says lets pump for 15 minutes, power applied to float s/w then to pump.
If float switch is "floating" , timer power flows through float switch and pump runs. Pump will stop if EITHER 15 minutes on timer finishes and it stops sending power OR float switch isn't floating ( lack of water) so no power on motor.
Hope that expains it clear enough.

I didn't think Joel used a timer on his system. The float switch on the pump in sump ensures that sump does not overflow and the float switch on the pump in tank turns pump on to put water into beds once the tank gets to a certain level (meaning most of the water has returned from the beds). I may be wrong.

that explains it vb. I was thinking it was a single pump set up.

Chappo, thanks. They are just something I struggle with. (Took me ages to get the loop siphon thing, in the end I just made one to see if it worked!)