Water tank flow monitor?

[nrhmaine]

I’ve got an 11g water tank mounted under the floor of the galley.


Because it’s a very flat tank 48”x 24”x 3” tall) it’s difficult to monitor the level of water in the tank in traditional ways, so I’ve been thinking about using flow monitoring. Ideally this would be a self-contained flow monitor with digital display that shows gallons dispensed, and has a reset button to press when you fill the tank.

I bought a cheap flow monitor designed to remind you when it’s time to change your water filter. IDENTER Filter Monitor Flowmeter Digital LCD Display Water Liquid Control Flow Sensor 3/8" NPT Liter/Gallon Counting Down https://a.co/d/5UNvFVU
It’s workable, but a bit clumsy (only counts down from increments of 100; hard to reset; will start beeping if you ignore it for too many fill-ups)

Does anyone have a better idea for how I can monitor tank level or water remaining? All simple ideas will be entertained! (no, I don’t have a multifunction Cerbo display, capable of monitoring various sorts of remote monitoring sensors)

Thanks, Nate


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[Tom&Shelly]

Does anyone have a better idea for how I can monitor tank level or water remaining? All simple ideas will be entertained! (no, I don’t have a multifunction Cerbo display, capable of monitoring various sorts of remote monitoring sensors)

Thanks, Nate

I haven't done this, and have never heard of it being done before. But, it seems like an electronic scale with a piezo-electric sensor could be built under the tank. Don't try a mechanical sensor. I just noticed the drawer in our galley that holds the dutch ovens got stoved in (ha-didn't intend the pun until I typed it!) by all the driving on bumpy roads that Shelly did last Summer! That would surely cause a mechanical scale to fail. In fact, if you did this, and recorded the accelerations while driving on bumpy roads, you would have a record of some sort of what the poor teardrop is subjected to! But in camp, it should read the weight of the water in the tank. But, as I say, I haven't heard of anyone doing this before, so it would be an experiment.

Incidentally, you say simple ideas, so I won't suggest the method used by high performance military aircraft to measure fuel in the tank. They put two probes in the tank and measure the electrical capacitance. Nothing like energized probes in a tank of JP-7! Never heard of an aircraft blowing up from that though. If you are electronically inclined, I guess this could be done with a water tank as well. Details left to the imagination of the reader!

Tom

[nrhmaine]

Thanks Tom. This are both interesting ideas. My tank is bolted down pretty tight, so I think using weight might be difficult.

The most challenging part of my request here is that I’m not particularly electronically-inclined. So if the solution is electronic, it needs to be fairly off-the-shelf.

That said, if anyone has a military surplus jet fuel tank monitor available, I’ll see what I can do!


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[tony.latham]

What about something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Turbine-Digital-Flowmeter-Kerosene-Gasoline/dp/B0B4WC95DQ/ref=zg_bs_3206433011_sccl_3/134-0179367-3669144?th=1



Tony

[nrhmaine]

That looks more like what I need Tony.

It’s a much bigger orifice, so I wonder about low flow accuracy, but I’ll try to find minimum flow specs.

Thanks


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[nrhmaine]

The monitor Tony linked has a much better interface for this purpose. You can choose between gallons pints, quarts or liters, and you press one button to set the count to zero, and then it just counts up from there until you reset it again. I’ve plumbed a dummy set up and it was fairly accurate. My faucet is right at the very bottom of the flow rate that works for this monitor. If I turn, the faucet fully on the monitor works well. If I try to crack the faucet, the monitor does not record the flow. All in all I think it’s worth a shot, and I will plumb it into my system when I get to that stage.


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[Onajourney]

I have been eyeing this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Topargee-Surface ... e904010ad0

[nrhmaine]

Thanks - that looks like just the thing. Pricy though!


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