Float Switches who uses them?

[newday3000]

Who else uses float switches (sump pump control device) to prevent a leak to a water fall or filter from emptying the pond water?

I just put in a simple float switch in a 3000G pond in case a filter or water fall leak happens. I have had raccoons mess with my small pond water fall 4 times and drain the pond. I can't afford the liability with 3000G of water into the neighbours yards.

It works really well and was simple to install, just plug pump power cord into the float switch connector and then plug into power and float the switch in the pond with a short teather on the cord so that I can shut off the pump if the water level drops 1".

 

[koiguy1969]

clever idea there nd3000 !!

 

[DrDave]

I had a float switch with an auto fill until a water hyacinth stuck it on and while we were at work the tap water kept running all day. We came home to a pond of dead fish.

So make sure your float switches are protected from floating obstacles.

 

[koikeepr]

1"! on super hot summer day you could lose an inch in a day or two. I would let it go farther than that or you will have your pump turning off all the time.

But no, I don't use a float switch personally. That's a reason why I don't have a submersible pump...you don't have those kinds of problems with an external pump. I have a check valve in place so that even if my pump goes dead (knock on wood it won't. LOL!) my filter barrel only fills to pond level and that's it.

 

[newday3000]

1" is 80 Gallons I guess 2" or 160 G of water isn't that much to deal with. Adjusting level is simple, I just allow a bit more teather length and push more cord into the pond. It's more like insurance from a complete disaster but I've already had issues with raccoons moving water hyacinth into the outflow of my water fall and backed up the water like a beaver damn until it over flowed the 60Gallon water fall pond.

Just wondering why external filter matters, if your waterfall or filter spring a leak and your pump is working fine then it will empty your pond onto the ground. Float swithes work with submersible or external pumps to ensure pond level doesn't drop drastically and shuts off the pump at the desired drop in water level.

 

[DrCase]

I see the need
but i have been a slacker to install
I need one

 

[DrDave]

The next time I install one it, will be a redundant system. In this system, 2 float switches must be engaged at the same time to energize the solenoid for the water fill.

There are many ways water can leave a pond even with built in pumps. Every time I have lost water, it could be traced back to waterfall related problems.

 

[koikeepr]

1" is 80 Gallons I guess 2" or 160 G of water isn't that much to deal with. Adjusting level is simple, I just allow a bit more teather length and push more cord into the pond. It's more like insurance from a complete disaster but I've already had issues with raccoons moving water hyacinth into the outflow of my water fall and backed up the water like a beaver damn until it over flowed the 60Gallon water fall pond.

Just wondering why external filter matters, if your waterfall or filter spring a leak and your pump is working fine then it will empty your pond onto the ground. Float swithes work with submersible or external pumps to ensure pond level doesn't drop drastically and shuts off the pump at the desired drop in water level.

i said external pump....not filter. Externals are not in the water, so you don't have the issues of the clogs, backing up, etc. There's no way for my pump to empty the pond as it is outside the pond, not inside. It's behind my filter barrel, and there's a check valve before that...so there's no logical way for it to empty. Since the top of my barrel fiter is a few inches above water level it can't go higher. Water finds it's own natural level, so as long as the filter top is a few inches above it, it can never overflow based on natural theories of water.

Pretty nifty, huh.

That's one of the things that drove me to an external. I had the submersible halve the water in my pump a few too many times for my liking. Now I don't have that worry.

 

[newday3000]

I was thinking you have plumbing or a waterfall that might allow water out of the system or joints that may leak on the way to the filter or back from the filter.

Since I've had a pond emptied by the pump, I thought a float switch was worth it and a leak springing up anywhere (plumbing, waterfall, filter....) in the system won't matter as the float switch will detect it.

I was curious how many people use them since they are cheap and easy to install.

 

[charrold]

I was planing on using a standard swamp cooler check valve with a float for my auto fill - saddle tap to my hose bib for the source and run the plastic line down to the pond. I got an "L" bracket to secure it through and place between two of my wall stones to hold it in place.

A little ghetto, but it only cost me $25 for all the parts. Haven't put it in yet (coming to a pond near you in 2010!), but it is a simple solution to the evap issues I have here with both the fact that our air is super dry and the 30' of waterfall that drops me an inch or so every hour when it runs on the warmer days. (Turbidity + Hot Stone + large surface area = rain somewhere else cause they took all my water) it did not help that my edges settled in a few spots on the stream and I was leaking water too, but those are all fixed (knock wood)

My only "nice to have" that this does not is that I wish the water could enter into the system via the filters and not directly to the pond, but I fill it with the hose as it is now and none of the fish complain so a trickle here and there will be OK for them.

 

[DrDave]

Could you please post a photo of your swamp cooler check valve? I am curious as to what it looks like.

 

[charrold]

Here it is - labeled up for your viewing pleasure!

That's it. The whole assembly here is 5$ at Home Depot. The tubing was another 10, the saddle tap was another 5 and the "L" Bracket was also 5. I already had the Rustoleum I painted the "L" bracket with to protect it from corroding in the water.

 

[koiguy1969]

toilet valve...

 

[charrold]

I wanted to use the floaty kind with the black drum float, but no good way to mount it into the pond and supply line to it was also a small fiasco. It is a lot like the toilet float, except that the small diameter inlet allows for using the flexible line and saddle tap which is super easy to set up.

 

[DrDave]

Cool, I like the idea that it is easily attatched with an L bracket. I have never seen this kind before. Who makes it?