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A way of shutting off a pump when water is low. Opposite of normal sump pump switch action.?
I have a 3/4 shallow well pump supplying water from a cistern.
I'd like to have a method of shutting off the pump when the water gets down to about 8" to avoid burning the pump up (it's a cheap pump - I don't think it has thermal protectiion).
The pump is sitting on top of the 1500 gallon cistern. The cistern is about 7 foot deep and about 3.5' wide and 7' long. The only access it through a 100 pound concrete lid which I need to keep on to keep the critters out, or a 4" hole which currently has two 1" PVC pipes coming up through it.
The pump is inside an insulated and heated box. It uses a standard 115 volt cord. There are extra outlets in the box.
The closest thing I can think of would be a regular sump pump float switch that switches off instead of on when the water is low.
It almost has to be water proof, the cistern can be filled to overflowing and initially I thought it would have to be near the bottom.
Existing pump
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem....
My pump older & no thermal cutoff.
Sits on top of 1500 gallon cistern inside a tiny, roofed, insulaterd, heated, wired pump house.
Lifts water from cistern through 4" hole in concrete (meant for filling) & pumps it directly back into the cistern through 2nd 1" PVC & same 4" hole and then out fitting built into cistern wall & into water system.
Only way to check water level is drag off lid or lift entire pump house from base and try to see down 4" hole. Will look for a lid with a hole cast in it.. Lid 4" thick, tapered on all 4 sides & about 100lb. Not easy to make a new one. Installed 30 years ago, but Co MAY still be in business.
Can install manual switch. Need auto power cutoff to pump (not heating) in case it empties and is not noticed. Say again cistern can be TOTALLY 100% full & leaking out through lid. Hauling & dumping from 200 gal water tank not exact. May not stop exactly when planned.
Breaker is located about 100' away on an unlighted pole. Also terrain between
still a a little rough from trenches to lay pipe.
Nothing else of interest in that direction except old house - and old pole. Not worth lighting up.
Pump about 130' away.
Put on coat, boots, take flashlight.
Repeat 1/2 hour later.
Unfortunately not exactly handy.
Not trying to kill every idea - need all ideas, but I have been trying to work this out for literally years. Am on plan D, but have gone through the alphabet 16 times already...
Actually, the breaker is an added feature.
NEC exclusion for emergency fire-fighting equipment - can be wired directly to meter.
Don't want GFI to trip from a couple of drops of water while house is burning down!
Is on GFI at the moment.
6 Answers
- a_blue_grey_mistLv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
You should be able to use two float switches and wire them such that the pump shuts off when the water is low and turns on when the water is high.
There is also a type of long, thin strip that you can place in the cistern that serves the function of float switches, and you can wire your pump to that strip and set it how you want it.
Edit:
The strip is a MultiTrode Liquid Level Sensor that you could use instead of two float switches.
Also, you could install a pressure gauge to the cistern and measure the pressure to determine the rought level of water in the cistern by measuring the level of head and calculating it manually. (This would just be for your general info and not connected to the pump).
- Anonymous5 years ago
Either the float is bad or the switch is sticking or bad. You can unplug the pump, and then check it again in a bit to see if the water is filling up the sump hole. Just plug it back in to pump the water out. You can do this until someone can fix the problem. Hope this helps! Good luck!
- 63vetteLv 71 decade ago
See Blue's answer. There are several varieties of the level indicator (sight glass) with sensors built in to use for pump control/remote indication. This can be wired into your pump control circuit.
- 1 decade ago
you could put the pump on a switch as to turn it off manually or put in two float switches on to turn it on and one to turn it off simple enough submursible pumps are waterproof as long as you keep the cord end from being submerged
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