Timer for Water Pump and Extra Radio Switch

DUKCSUN · 10-09-2010, 09:10 PM

Hey team,

I'm looking for an elegant solution to a simple problem. Like I suspect most others, we have two switches right under our sink; one for the water pump and the other for the "extra radio" so we can run the radio off the house battery.

While (thankfully) we have never forgotten to turn off the radio button and run down the batteries we have , on occasion, walked off and left the water pump on. This has occasionally resulted in returning with the water pump running nonstop. It seems no matter how air tight your system is eventually the water pump will just start running dry and won't stop. And yes, it gets smokin' hot and I have no idea why it hasn't burned out or started a fire. Hence my question...

Does anyone know of a way to put both of these switches on a timer? Ideally it would be a situation where you hit the button on and it stays on for x minutes and then it automagically turns off. To reset you simply turn the switch off and back on. And if you remember to turn it off then that's great and no harn/no foul. For the radio button I would like to be able to fall asleep listening to the radio without the specter of it running all night.

I've tried an exhaustive search of the net looking for such an item and outside of Radio-Shack type hobbyist circuit boards or 7 day irrigation-type timers I haven't been able to find anything.

Any thoughts out there?

Scalf77 · 10-10-2010, 09:41 AM

You could try something like thishttp://www.homesecuritystore.com/p-4...er-module.aspx Probably need to change to momentary push button switch to trigger. The product manual has a couple of suggested circuits.

-greg

Ford_6L_E350 · 10-10-2010, 01:54 PM

You could go the hardware store and get a simple 30 minute timer. Turn it to set the amount of time (max 30 minutes) and it will tick, tick, tick until the time is gone and it shuts off.

You can see one half way down this page at McMaster-Carr:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#timer-switches/=97v38l

Mike

DUKCSUN · 10-10-2010, 03:33 PM

Greg,

I saw that one which might work. I would have to buy a project box to mount it in under the cabinet which shouldn't be too difficult. Seems flexible enough to do about anything. I'd rather not switch to a pushbutton to accomplish it but that might be required. I'm also trying to gauge how much draw it would pull under normal circumstances.

jage · 10-10-2010, 09:33 PM

On the smokin hot pump- you need to replace your T valve, it's grey plastic and the littlest bit of freeze will ruin it. Once it doesn't seal all the way your system will "leak" into itself via the pump- and I've had the same thing, red hot pump and figured it was fried after a few hours but mine also pulled through. After the 2nd plastic valve I went with brass- a little bit of a squeeze to fit, but hasn't gotten ruined in about 6x the amount of time I'd gone through the 2 plastic ones...

Roonie · 10-10-2010, 09:48 PM

Mine did this resently. It ran non-stop and was smoking hot. I ordered the new valve kit for my water pump off Shurflo website. Turns out my pump is a different brand than what is listed in the Sportsmobile manual and valve number that I used from my manual. I ended up taking pump off and adjusting the top screws which made it stop running and solved the problem. May try this if you have two top adjustment screws on it like mine did. Otherwise I was going to just replace the pump.

DUKCSUN · 10-11-2010, 08:22 AM

Jage,

I've already replaced those and went to brass. It took a lot longer time before it drained into itself but alas, it still did.

Ugh

jage · 10-12-2010, 02:52 PM

For your pump to run continuously, there has to be a continuous flow of water, which means a broken or not completely closed valve, faucet or shower. If your system is sealed and in the middle of the night for no reason the pump runs for a few seconds, that's normal in my experience.

Jeffrey · 10-12-2010, 02:58 PM

THAT's what I thought. Unless there's demand for flow, the pump is not pumping. I've left mine on overnight, and had no problems because it was not pumping.

Roonie · 10-12-2010, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jage

For your pump to run continuously, there has to be a continuous flow of water, which means a broken or not completely closed valve, faucet or shower. If your system is sealed and in the middle of the night for no reason the pump runs for a few seconds, that's normal in my experience.

mine just ran non-stop with everything shut off, no water anywhere. I did extensive research on my model of pump and apparently it is a problem seen by others. My particular model has an adjustment screw on top and when out of adjustment or too sensitive it will run non-stop. I loosened it up a lot and it has fixed the problem (which is also what the internet recommended so it must be true). The pump still works like it did but it is a little slower to turn on and pressurize and it turns off right away which is what I want! Before it would turn on when it felt a demand like a faucet open up and never shut off!! I had to use the water pump switch to make the thing stop. Now I leave the switch on and I don't worry about it.

The Sportsmobile manual suggests replacing the diaphragm/valve kit in the pump when this happens. I bought the replacement for $20 and it turns out mine doesn't use the valve kit that is listed for my van in the Sportsmobile manual. Now I have an extra Shurflo valve kit for model 2088 that is useless to me.