Im running a dehumidifier in my remote basement.
I have a sensor for measuring humidity, and I have a current sensor to see if the dehumidifier is running.
Now I`d like to have some sort of logging the ammount of water it extracts from the humid air.
The output from the dehumidifier is the same type as you use for your garden hose.
I have so far narrowed it down to theese options. And I would like some feedback here before I start bying components.
The predicted ammount of water per 24 hours will wary through the year. A guestimate would be between 2 to 15 liters.
Use water flow sensor (like yf-s201). Im not sure if the rotor will be counting the slow paced and minor ammounts of drops dripping out of the dehumidifier.
Use some sort of rain gauge, tipping bucket(?)
Collect the water in a 10 liter tray, with a floater sensor. If the tray is full, send a signal that 10 liter has been collected. Then open a valve to empty the tray. close the valve and repeat.
It would be good to have a better idea how much water is produced in a day. My approach would be to put a bucket in place, empty when needed and keep track of the operation.
A rotating vane flow meter won't work with drips, but if the thing really does produce isolated drips, a drop counter using an optointerrupter would would work. You merely need to calibrate for drop volume.
This is a remote site, with limited access (2-3 times a year). So a bucket which i would need to empty myself would not be an option, unless it could take 500 liters. Maybe I took that too litterally?
A liquid level sensor inside the tray could also be an option. Just read it once a day, upload the measurement. Open the valve to drain the tray.
Im guessing this would do it.
The dray doesnt have a valve pr now. Do you guys know of a small solenoid type valve that could be fitted to a plastic tray withouth making a big "footprint" ? The tray goes inside the dehumidifier.
So a bucket which i would need to empty myself would not be an option, unless it could take 500 liters. Maybe I took that too litterally?
My suggestion was to MEASURE the amount of water produced in a given period, a couple of times in different seaons, so you have a clear idea about what you actually need to do.
What happens to the water removed from the air now? Is it pumped up or so? In that case that may be an avenue for measurements.
Indeed volume is too small for a regular flow meter. Tipping bucket rain sensor should work with this volume (I found those things remarkably expensive when I looked into them not so long ago, starting at USD 150-200 or so!).
Mentis:
Im running a dehumidifier in my remote basement.
I have a sensor for measuring humidity, and I have a current sensor to see if the dehumidifier is running.
Now I`d like to have some sort of logging the ammount of water it extracts from the humid air.
The output from the dehumidifier is the same type as you use for your garden hose.
I have so far narrowed it down to theese options. And I would like some feedback here before I start bying components.
The predicted ammount of water per 24 hours will wary through the year. A guestimate would be between 2 to 15 liters.
Use water flow sensor (like yf-s201). Im not sure if the rotor will be counting the slow paced and minor ammounts of drops dripping out of the dehumidifier.
Use some sort of rain gauge, tipping bucket(?)
Collect the water in a 10 liter tray, with a floater sensor. If the tray is full, send a signal that 10 liter has been collected. Then open a valve to empty the tray. close the valve and repeat.
Thoughts?
Standard liquid flow meters cannot handle such low rates of flow, they are a little turbine in a pipe.
The rain-gauge sounds promising, anything that quantizes the water into portions won't be confused by
ultra slow flows (other than through evaporation from the bucket of course).
Number 3 sounds good. It's nice and simple, and should be reliable in the long term.
All you need is two wires at the top of the container. Wire the two wires to a pin on the Arduino, as you would any switch.
When the container is full, the water touches both wires, and the switch is effectively turned on. The Arduino detects the switch voltage and sends a signal to the relay. The relay activates the solenoid valve to drain the container. You know how much volume is in the container, so you can calculate the total volume used for the day; by counting the number of times the relay was energised that day.
I agree with MarkT the "raingauge" approach should be able to handle the low flow, but most important it is fail safe. If the bucket doesn't tip (maybe it got stuck) water will not collect and overflow. This is mostly in comparison to #3 which if communications is lost the bucket could overflow.
Mentis:
Collect the water in a 10 liter tray, with a floater sensor. If the tray is full, send a signal that 10 liter has been collected. Then open a valve to empty the tray. close the valve and repeat.
If it takes a long time (winter?) to collect 10L the water could get nice and funky. Empty tank with an icemaker solenoid valve like on a refrigerator.
Item 1 is a hall effect sensor. Two litres a day is very small but they come in a range of sizes and there may be one that does the job. Check Swissflow (that's right, they are made in the Netherlands) If you have the space, another option might be to use a 20 litre tank that empties at midnight, thereby measuring the water in a rush.
I managed to get a tiping bucket sensor for free from a manufactor here in north europe. Been having some issues on how to get the arduino to register the reed valves in the sensor, but I think I have a plan there now.
Will post an update here when its complete.
The water will never freese, as its an insulated and heated location. Its just placed in a part of the house that is rented out. So I dont wanna bother the people living there with emptying the tray. Tipping bucket sensor is placed inside the original tray, and I have connected a drain pipe so that it cannot overflow.
Mentis:
I managed to get a tiping bucket sensor for free from a manufactor here in north europe. Been having some issues on how to get the arduino to register the reed valves in the sensor, but I think I have a plan there now.
Will post an update here when its complete.
The water will never freese, as its an insulated and heated location. Its just placed in a part of the house that is rented out. So I dont wanna bother the people living there with emptying the tray. Tipping bucket sensor is placed inside the original tray, and I have connected a drain pipe so that it cannot overflow.
What happens when the electricity is off for several days?
