monitoring individual water lines

[Zanthic]

is anybody monitoring all the individual water lines in their house? (assuming you have a manifold system of water distribution)
Also, anybody know of a relatively low cost water meter for 1/2" plastic pipe that just has the pulse output and no extra gauge face or electronics?
thanks,

 

[mustangcoupe]

I have a few sensors that I picked up to monitor the hot water to my shower. I have not installed them yet but they are just a flow sensor, I am going to use it to tell me if it is on or not. Just a set of contacts output nothing special

 

[felixrosbergen]

hey coupe,

can you link to the part for those flow sensors?

It woudl indeed be nice to have those on the shower lines so that you can turn the fan on when the shower is running, etc..

 

[beelzerob]

I'm going the humidity sensor route for turning on the fan.

 

[mustangcoupe]

that was my thoughts too mav, I couldn't find a humidity sensor that I liked the looks of, I will add the part info when I get home

 

[js19707]

i'm interested in being able to measure water flow through the PVC pipes for my individual yard sprinkler circuits. my gardener has a penchant for breaking sprinkler and drip irrigation heads, and it would be great to be able to alert on a significant change in flow between runs.

 

[beelzerob]

that was my thoughts too mav, I couldn't find a humidity sensor that I liked the looks of, I will add the part info when I get home

The humidity sensor is a convenience for me, since I already have the Datanab32 for temp sensors.

 

[Zanthic]

is there a method for detecting water flow through a pipe externally? If I measured the manifold pressure and I know the pipe diameter than I just need to know when water is flowing to get an approximate flow rate. I believe there are ways to do this ultrasonically but I'm wondering if there is a novel (ie low cost) method?

 

[opie]

Great idea! My dog will occasionally eat parts of our drip system and it's not always obvious. I will be following this thread with interest.

 

[AnthonyZ]

is there a method for detecting water flow through a pipe externally? If I measured the manifold pressure and I know the pipe diameter than I just need to know when water is flowing to get an approximate flow rate. I believe there are ways to do this ultrasonically but I'm wondering if there is a novel (ie low cost) method?

I'm not positive and I haven't tested it but, I believe I read somewhere that a hall effect sensor mounted externally will detect flow of water inside a pipe. Anyone else able to confirm this?

***Disregard. I think I mixed up the above idea with this***

 

[Ira]

is there a method for detecting water flow through a pipe externally? If I measured the manifold pressure and I know the pipe diameter than I just need to know when water is flowing to get an approximate flow rate. I believe there are ways to do this ultrasonically but I'm wondering if there is a novel (ie low cost) method?

What are you using to monitor water pressue? Every pressure sensor I've found is pretty expensive, about $250+. Since I want to measure pressure in several places, that gets real expensive real fast.

Thanks,
Ira

 

[AnthonyZ]

Ira, I don't kknow if it's helpful but, I have three Wika IS-20-S pressure transmitters (see this and this) that have approx. 2 weeks of use on 'em that I can sell for as little as $125/each. PM if you'd like...

 

[Michael McSharry]

mcsSprinklers irrigation software monitors water use based upon a meter reading and when a zone is active. This allows water flow limits on a zone by zone basis to be setup and the software will shut down the zone when the limit is reached. It also provides notification via email etc when this happens. It also monitors the meter when zones are not on to detect other leaks in the system. It supports up to 8 meters, but for this purpose one is sufficient.

 

[Rupp]

Here's a company that sells meters with the ability to monitor.
http://www.jerman.com/dljmeter.html

 

[AnotherOne]

What are you using to monitor water pressue? Every pressure sensor I've found is pretty expensive, about $250+. Since I want to measure pressure in several places, that gets real expensive real fast.

Get a square-d well pressure controller. They cost about $20 and come in various ranges, I use a 20-40 (on at 20 psi, off at 40 psi). I have one connected to my M1 to monitor my well pressure tanks. If they drop below 20 psi, the relay contact closes which means something bad has happened, like a pump failure.