Need Low Volume Water Pump - Electronic Circuits Projects Diagrams Free

Noggin · 27th August 2006, 04:22 AM

I have an idea for a project I'd like to build and I need a quiet low volume water pump. I have a friend that just went to college and she has a dehumidifyer in her room, and it fills with water every few hours and she has to empty it manually. So I had the idea to automatically detect the water and pump it out.

I first purchased a pump for an aquarium, but it doesn't seem to work well at all. I couldn't get it to pump water up a 6 inch tube, and this pump will need to raise a small column of water as much as 4 feet. I then thought that maybe a water pump for a liquid cooled PC would work, a quick look on newegg makes it look like I'm going to end up spending a few hundred bucks if I go that route.

Anyone have any ideas on where I can get a low volume pump? And I guess while I'm at it, I should ask if anyone has any ideas on how to detect distilled water reliably too

I was thinking a floater switch would be best, I'm not even sure how deep the water pan is yet.

dknguyen · 27th August 2006, 04:27 AM

I think a floater would be best. You stick the float on the end of a rod with the other end hooked onto a rotary joint fixed to the wall of the tank (or just above it). YOu can use a rotary pot to detect the angle of the rod and hence the height of the float/water.

Not sure about the pump though...

Noggin · 27th August 2006, 04:38 AM

Oooo... a pot, thats even better. I was thinking of trying to get it to trigger a switch. I'm gonna be using a micro to time everything anyways, and it'll have an ADC on board.

A pump used in something like this might work fine.... I just don't know if it would be up to the task of pumping water up a small line the height of a counter.

HarveyH42 · 27th August 2006, 10:00 AM

http://www.allelectronics.com/index.html
http://www.sciplus.com/index.cfm
http://www.goldmine-elec.com/default.htm

Try these for pumps. They usually have several to choose from, 10-20 dollar range. Should note that fountain pumps aren't always self priming, although drilling a small hole can help air escape in some cases.

Had a similar problem a couple of years ago, huricane damaged the roof on my florida room. Wasn't a bad leak, but had to keep emptying the bucket. Had a lot to do, and that roof need to wait. Built the attached circuit to control the pump from my old boat. Worked fine, a little glitchy during thunderstorms. Sometimes it would turn on when the power fluxuated, no big deal, its on a timer...

Should note, I ran this off a breadboard, and messed around some trying to smooth out the power flux issue. This is the starting point, you may need to tweak it a little. Probably get a list of improvements from other readers, I'm not an engineer...

**Nigel Goodwin** · 27th August 2006, 10:11 AM

Don't try and get too complicated - the dehumidifier will already have a float to detect the water level, you could use that. Or, even simpler, most dehumidifiers have a drain connection (or could easily have one added), try and arrange it so it can simply drain by gravity.

Hero999 · 27th August 2006, 10:12 AM

What about an old washing machine pump?

You might be able to pick one up for free at the local tip.

HarveyH42 · 27th August 2006, 10:13 AM

Noticed after posting, my attachment didn't take, fix it. Should mention that I used two separate power supplies, the pump I used was high current, figured it would fry the control circuit.

HarveyH42 · 27th August 2006, 10:17 AM

Windshield washer replacement pumps are only a few dollars, but not sure how quiet...

Analog · 27th August 2006, 11:07 AM

Here's one that'll lift up to 25 ft. for $19.99:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45019

may be overkill though.

Noggin · 27th August 2006, 12:35 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I think I'm gonna go with this pump:
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...?number=G15563

Its small and its cheap. I don't know how large the condensation pan is, but this one might actually fit in there. If it doesn't, then I'll have to hook it up outside of the pan. Hopefully just because its submersible it doesn't mean that it has to be submersed.... and if not, hopefully its also self priming.

Hero999 · 27th August 2006, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noggin

Hopefully just because its submersible it doesn't mean that it has to be submersed.... and if not, hopefully its also self priming.

It probably does need to be submersed becuase there probably isn't a connection for the intake hose and it probably isn't self-priming.

dknguyen · 27th August 2006, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Don't try and get too complicated - the dehumidifier will already have a float to detect the water level, you could use that. Or, even simpler, most dehumidifiers have a drain connection (or could easily have one added), try and arrange it so it can simply drain by gravity.

All the easier to stick a rotary pot. I just know my humidifier has something like that, except it uses it to a roll a cylinder where 1/3 is labelled empty and the other 1/3 is labelled full (the last 1/3 is attached to the rod).

philba · 27th August 2006, 09:55 PM

I solved this almost exact problem. Wish I could have used gravity - I had intended to. I have a room that I maintain at 55F and the guys that installed the drain line ran it up above the intake before they ran it down. of course, it's behind siding so I had to pump the condensate out or rip the siding off the walls and replace it. sigh.

I use 3 stainless steel probes - one to ground the other 2 inputs to comparators. The probes + resistors form a divider which triggers the comparators. when the high probe senses water, it turns the pump relay on, when the low probe senses no water, it turns the pump off. I use a PIC and do a time-out in a couple of minutes to prevent burning out the pump in the case of failure. I also log the time and duration plus flash LEDs in certain circumstances (like time outs and a heart-beat). I decided not to use a float or pot because it's a condensing environment. I used #10 stainless steel bolts for the probes and a hacked up plastic box for the holder so I could adjust the depth. Works pretty well.

ps - is there any way to turn off avatars so I don't have to look at them?

dknguyen · 27th August 2006, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by philba

ps - is there any way to turn off avatars so I don't have to look at them?

User CP>Edit Options>Thread Display Options>Visible Post Elements

Noggin · 28th August 2006, 01:34 AM

Ok well I talked to Devan, I'm gonna go up to see her on Wednesday and take a look at her dehumidifier. The catch pan is about a foot deep, so there will be plenty of room for the pump. I'm going to make the device with an Atmel microcontroller and run for a set time limit. I thought about using probes, but wasn't sure how well they'd work considering that the water would be mostly condensation. Thought about telling her to put some salt in the pan, but decided that ultimately that'd be a bad idea. I'm just gonna go with the floater thats already in there and run for a set time limit.

Next step is to figure out how to get a tube out of the catch pan, she said there's barely any gap.

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27th August 2006, 04:22 AM	(permalink)
Noggin	Need Low Volume Water Pump I have an idea for a project I'd like to build and I need a quiet low volume water pump. I have a friend that just went to college and she has a dehumidifyer in her room, and it fills with water every few hours and she has to empty it manually. So I had the idea to automatically detect the water and pump it out. I first purchased a pump for an aquarium, but it doesn't seem to work well at all. I couldn't get it to pump water up a 6 inch tube, and this pump will need to raise a small column of water as much as 4 feet. I then thought that maybe a water pump for a liquid cooled PC would work, a quick look on newegg makes it look like I'm going to end up spending a few hundred bucks if I go that route. Anyone have any ideas on where I can get a low volume pump? And I guess while I'm at it, I should ask if anyone has any ideas on how to detect distilled water reliably too I was thinking a floater switch would be best, I'm not even sure how deep the water pan is yet. __________________ A rectangular bear is just a polar bear after a coordinate transform. -- I dunno who. A recent study shows that research causes cancer in rats. -- I dunno who said that one either.

27th August 2006, 04:27 AM	(permalink)
dknguyen	I think a floater would be best. You stick the float on the end of a rod with the other end hooked onto a rotary joint fixed to the wall of the tank (or just above it). YOu can use a rotary pot to detect the angle of the rod and hence the height of the float/water. Not sure about the pump though...

27th August 2006, 04:38 AM	(permalink)
Noggin	Oooo... a pot, thats even better. I was thinking of trying to get it to trigger a switch. I'm gonna be using a micro to time everything anyways, and it'll have an ADC on board. A pump used in something like this might work fine.... I just don't know if it would be up to the task of pumping water up a small line the height of a counter. __________________ A rectangular bear is just a polar bear after a coordinate transform. -- I dunno who. A recent study shows that research causes cancer in rats. -- I dunno who said that one either.

27th August 2006, 10:11 AM	(permalink)
Nigel Goodwin	Don't try and get too complicated - the dehumidifier will already have a float to detect the water level, you could use that. Or, even simpler, most dehumidifiers have a drain connection (or could easily have one added), try and arrange it so it can simply drain by gravity. __________________ PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at: http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

27th August 2006, 10:12 AM	(permalink)
Hero999	What about an old washing machine pump? You might be able to pick one up for free at the local tip. __________________ I also post at the following sites: http://www.stop-microsoft.org http://www.heated-debates.com Screen name: Aloone_Jonez And http://www.silicontronics.com, same screen name as here.

27th August 2006, 10:13 AM	(permalink)
HarveyH42	Noticed after posting, my attachment didn't take, fix it. Should mention that I used two separate power supplies, the pump I used was high current, figured it would fry the control circuit.

27th August 2006, 10:17 AM	(permalink)
HarveyH42	Windshield washer replacement pumps are only a few dollars, but not sure how quiet...

27th August 2006, 11:07 AM	(permalink)
Analog	Here's one that'll lift up to 25 ft. for $19.99: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45019 may be overkill though. __________________ "Everything that is done in the world is done by hope." -Martin Luther "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."-Albert Einstein

27th August 2006, 12:35 PM	(permalink)
Noggin	Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I think I'm gonna go with this pump: http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...?number=G15563 Its small and its cheap. I don't know how large the condensation pan is, but this one might actually fit in there. If it doesn't, then I'll have to hook it up outside of the pan. Hopefully just because its submersible it doesn't mean that it has to be submersed.... and if not, hopefully its also self priming. __________________ A rectangular bear is just a polar bear after a coordinate transform. -- I dunno who. A recent study shows that research causes cancer in rats. -- I dunno who said that one either.

27th August 2006, 09:55 PM	(permalink)
philba	I solved this almost exact problem. Wish I could have used gravity - I had intended to. I have a room that I maintain at 55F and the guys that installed the drain line ran it up above the intake before they ran it down. of course, it's behind siding so I had to pump the condensate out or rip the siding off the walls and replace it. sigh. I use 3 stainless steel probes - one to ground the other 2 inputs to comparators. The probes + resistors form a divider which triggers the comparators. when the high probe senses water, it turns the pump relay on, when the low probe senses no water, it turns the pump off. I use a PIC and do a time-out in a couple of minutes to prevent burning out the pump in the case of failure. I also log the time and duration plus flash LEDs in certain circumstances (like time outs and a heart-beat). I decided not to use a float or pot because it's a condensing environment. I used #10 stainless steel bolts for the probes and a hacked up plastic box for the holder so I could adjust the depth. Works pretty well. ps - is there any way to turn off avatars so I don't have to look at them? Last edited by philba; 27th August 2006 at 09:58 PM.

28th August 2006, 01:34 AM	(permalink)
Noggin	Ok well I talked to Devan, I'm gonna go up to see her on Wednesday and take a look at her dehumidifier. The catch pan is about a foot deep, so there will be plenty of room for the pump. I'm going to make the device with an Atmel microcontroller and run for a set time limit. I thought about using probes, but wasn't sure how well they'd work considering that the water would be mostly condensation. Thought about telling her to put some salt in the pan, but decided that ultimately that'd be a bad idea. I'm just gonna go with the floater thats already in there and run for a set time limit. Next step is to figure out how to get a tube out of the catch pan, she said there's barely any gap. __________________ A rectangular bear is just a polar bear after a coordinate transform. -- I dunno who. A recent study shows that research causes cancer in rats. -- I dunno who said that one either.