I understand your reasoning, but I don't like the city water feeding directly to the hose(s).
It seems to me to be a waste of money if there's already a full tank of river water because you're guaranteeing spending extra for city water whenever river water isn't available. I'd rather see the hoses fed by tank water (manual start for limited time or volume and manual restart for extended use).
If you use tank water, there's still a chance that you can refill the tank with river water before you need to use tank water again. If river water doesn't become available, you'll have to fill with city water anyway - so you're still no further behind in cost. If river water does become available you have a net savings.
Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're talking about.
because you're guaranteeing spending extra for city water whenever river water isn't available.
We pay a fixed $ amount for City Water that applies up to a certain usage level. We rarely exceed that amount. Now if we anticipated a need for lots of hose water we could wait for River Water to be available.
The complexities (more code, that always exposes risk), cost(another pump, one-way valves, etc.) and risk (draining tank at a bad time, etc.) don't seem worth doing especially when using City Water will likely not cost anything for occasional use.
Now you might think why not just use City Water and to heck with the River Water. The volume the irrigation system uses would quickly exceed the already paid for usage level and it would get expensive. But not so expensive that using City Water when River Water is not available to save grass, shrubs, flowers, veggies would be prohibitive.
Yes, it makes a big difference. I had the impression that city water cost a lot more than river water and so you'd want to minimize using it.
If you're paying for a certain amount of it anyway, then it makes sense to use all of that "allowance".
For sure City Water costs lots more than River Water. River Water is provided by our HOA under our yearly HOA fee. Use of is covered under the yearly fee that would not be reduced if none was used or increased if lots were used. And I regret that I did not think about informing you and @byron about why the hose outlets were installed but the thought never came to mind until we reached this level in our discussions.
No need for regrets. It's always hard to tell at the outset what information is most important, or even relevant. Part of this process is to determine which data is important enough to affect the design and that's exactly what we're doing 🙂
Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're talking about.
Part of this process is to determine which data is important enough to affect the design and that's exactly what we're doing 🙂
And it appears to be nearing a good conclusion. 😀
So V00005, did I type enough 0's well V5 it is then 😀. Just a thought for using this diagram as the basis for the coding to come, if any of the valves are intended to be manually operated then perhaps that should be noted. Also, what voltage is required to switch the valves could be noted (may as well include the power requirement while your at it. The pump operating volts and amps may as well be noted too.
Are the tanks under cover, or do you intend to put them under cover (as least a roof) bearing in mind that the distance sensors, and other electronics bits and pieces don't like to be cooked by the sun.
Surely you should start refilling from river water at (or at least near) the bottom of the tank.
But, even when a small bit of river water can be grabbed, I think it should be put into the tank straight away. And it does not stop 'refilling' until the tank is completely full. So I think the start filling from the river water should be somewhere quite near the top.
Surely you should start refilling from river water at (or at least near) the bottom of the tank.
But, even when a small bit of river water can be grabbed, I think it should be put into the tank straight away. And it does not stop 'refilling' until the tank is completely full. So I think the start filling from the river water should be somewhere quite near the top.
I think we're saying the same thing, but interpreting "start" differently. I think that it should start pumping in river water all the way up from the bottom of the tank, so the "start" level is at the bottom of the tank, the "stop" level is when the overflow starts to run.
Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're talking about.
Surely you should start refilling from river water at (or at least near) the bottom of the tank.
But, even when a small bit of river water can be grabbed, I think it should be put into the tank straight away. And it does not stop 'refilling' until the tank is completely full. So I think the start filling from the river water should be somewhere quite near the top.
I think we're saying the same thing, but interpreting "start" differently. I think that it should start pumping in river water all the way up from the bottom of the tank, so the "start" level is at the bottom of the tank, the "stop" level is when the overflow starts to run.
For sure the start fill will be close to the stop. The reason there is a gap is to keep system from rapid start and stop. That is the sole reason for a gap between start and stop. Probably another detail not effectively passed on, sorry!
If start fill was too close to stop fill it would be continually off and on. This is something that will need tuned. My original thoughts were/are if water level hits start level OR a certain amount of time has passed start filling. This time passed would be adjusted to what seems to work through experience.
The City Water stop and start will also need tuning. Probably a lot more than the River Water.
My status: Waiting for my waterproof ultrasound. First test will be do they work in the tube. Specs Ive seen suggest their angle is wider than the HC-SR04. If the waterproof ultrasound don't work in the tube it will be too bad since there minimum distance prevents them from going in the cap. Possibly could enclose the HC-SR04 in a waterproof box and install a fan in the part of Measuring Stack that is well above top level of tank water.
I am thinking high priority is the Measuring Stack and once Waterproof ultrasound arrives testing will start.
As far as when City water is actually used will be something that needs tuning. There is no sense in grabbing city water when there is nothing that needs immediate watering.
City Water has two levels for the same reason River Water does.
Big thing here is flexibility and everything will need accurate measurements from the Measurement Stack. If I need to go with HC-SR04 it will have to be redundant, likely 3, with a mind to replacing every so often. I believe @will had some good suggestions on how to track what sensor might be going bad so there can be proactive maintenance.
Yes, I think that river water should be turned on any time it's available and it's probably going to take more head scratching to figure when to turn it off than on. I understand the need for a "dead zone" to prevent rapid cycling, however, river water supplies its own pressure so all that needs to be operated is the input valve. So unless it's extremely susceptible to failure, the level at which it opens can be extremely close to the top. It's not wearing out a noisy pump, so it may be expedient to let it cycle.
I agree that city water will take a lot more though, testing and tuning. River water is pretty much a no-brainer - grab it when it's there. But city water will require more strategy.
If the waterproof HC-SR04 sensors won't work in the 4" tube, you could try drilling small hole in each of the tank caps and mounting a sensor in each. The wires could be trailed over to the control system and the capacitive sensors could be installed on the 4" tube (if it's still worth installing).
Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're talking about.
If the waterproof HC-SR04 sensors won't work in the 4" tube, you could try drilling small hole in each of the tank caps and mounting a sensor in each. The wires could be trailed over to the control system and the capacitive sensors could be installed on the 4" tube (if it's still worth installing).
The HC-SR04 sensors are not waterproof so I am assuming that you are talking about Waterproof sensors that were demoed by bill a week or so ago. Correct me if I am wrong.
The particular Waterproof sensor I am looking at has a very long minimum distance. So if used inside the lid will force us to keep maximum water levels much lower. Possibly 12+" 30.5 cm. There is another waterproof sensor Bill demoed that might have a shorter minimum distance, but significantly more expensive. We'll see!
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