Water Flow Meter

[Phoney]

Ive been looking into buying an accurate water flow meter to attach to a tap to quickly and accurately get my water volume in without manually measuring and fiddling around.

At the moment to measure my mash water volume I use my fermenter and fill it from the laundry sink, but this is a) time consuming and b ) only accurate to the litre ie: I always find my end batch volumes to be out by a litre or two and im striving for perfection!

There's some nifty little units around - for about the $100 mark, like the one below. Just wondering has anyone got or used one of these before? Or can recommend one?

Just a couple of sites I found quickly:

http://www.besflowmeters.com.au/

http://www.watermeters.com.au/category8_1.htm

Cheers

 

[Brad Sofield]

Hi mate- Yeah I have used them for assorted reasons but not beer brewing. We use them at work for testing flow rates for domestic irrigation design as well as applying precise rates of liquid fertilser at pressure. They really accurate. Thanks for the link and I may get a few more for replacements.

 

[Zwickel]

What about using a level sensor in the mash tun?

set the level sensor to the desired volume and turn on the water, switched over a solenoid valve from a washing machine.

Thats what Im doing.

As soon as the water reaches the sensor, the solenoid valve switches off the water. Its quite easy:




Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Phoney]

Hmm That looks rather complicated & difficult to me ie: that diagram means absolutely nothing to me if you get where im coming from. :huh: I'd really prefer an off-the-shelf product that I can buy straight up and not have to fiddle around with any electronics.

Do you have any pictures of your level sensor contraption?

 

[crozdog]

just bought 1 from waterflowmeters fto measure the output from the new instant hws. Yet to finish the counter / display circuit to display the pulses.

can't wait.....

Ive been looking into buying an accurate water flow meter to attach to a tap to quickly and accurately get my water volume in without manually measuring and fiddling around.

At the moment to measure my mash water volume I use my fermenter and fill it from the laundry sink, but this is a) time consuming and b ) only accurate to the litre ie: I always find my end batch volumes to be out by a litre or two and im striving for perfection!

There's some nifty little units around - for about the $100 mark, like the one below. Just wondering has anyone got or used one of these before? Or can recommend one?

Just a couple of sites I found quickly:

http://www.besflowmeters.com.au/

http://www.watermeters.com.au/category8_1.htm

Cheers

 

[zagadka]

I was also looking at the BES units -- So you can buy them without the digital read out ready to wire to your favourite micro/pc?

 

[Jono_w]

I was also looking at the BES units -- So you can buy them without the digital read out ready to wire to your favourite micro/pc?

I've used these before with a PLC.

Jaycar Flow meter

 

[Zwickel]

Hmm That looks rather complicated & difficult to me ie: that diagram means absolutely nothing to me if you get where im coming from. :huh: I'd really prefer an off-the-shelf product that I can buy straight up and not have to fiddle around with any electronics.

no, it isnt complicated, not at all. Do you know anyone with electronics skills? some handicraft enthusiast can do that for less than 10 A$

Do you have any pictures of your level sensor contraption?

yeah, thats the water solenoid valve:


the black hose delivers water directly from tab:


the level sensor sits top of the lid:


view under the lid:



Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Phoney]

no, it isnt complicated, not at all. Do you know anyone with electronics skills? some handicraft enthusiast can do that for less than 10 A$

I do! I'll run this by him and see what he says. Wow. your setup looks great! :beerbang:

I'll make some inquiries and keep this thread updated

Cheers

 

[pbrosnan]

I do! I'll run this by him and see what he says. Wow. your setup looks great! :beerbang:

I'll make some inquiries and keep this thread updated

Cheers

Hi there,

Good work on finding the meter, I've been after something like this for ages. Did you manage to contact the BES people? I sent and email last night regarding price and availability but was wondering if you might already have had some info from them.

 

[Phoney]

Hi there,

Good work on finding the meter, I've been after something like this for ages. Did you manage to contact the BES people? I sent and email last night regarding price and availability but was wondering if you might already have had some info from them.

I did indeed.

The 20mm one here: http://www.besflowmeters.com.au/BES%20Wate...r%20meters3.htm

Is suitable for attaching to a garden tap and is accurate to the .10 of a litre is $84 ex GST

The GPI LCD economy series water meters (which are a lot sexier) start at about $229 IIRC and you can reset the meter after each fill.

http://www.besflowmeters.com.au/gpi/gpi2.htm

But you can buy them directly from the US manufacturers site for US$141 ($166) Ill find out how much shipping would cost.

http://www.buygpi.com/01n-series-watermeters.aspx

 

[davewaldo]

You say that they are accurate to 0.1L. Is that per litre? Because thats 10%, which would mean you could be 3L out for a 30L mash!

Because its a flow meter, the accuracy should read 0.1L per litre or per 100L or something like that.

 

[benno1973]

Nice looking meter. I asked a similar question a while ago here. Might provide more food for thought...

BTW - I'm obviously pretty lazy, because in 12 months since posting that, I haven't even made a graduated measuring stick!

 

[davewaldo]

A quick search shows that these flow meters have from 3-5% accuracy, plus or minus. So on a 30L mash you could be around 1.2L over or under.

Seems too inaccurate to me.

 

[Batz]

What about using a level sensor in the mash tun?

set the level sensor to the desired volume and turn on the water, switched over a solenoid valve from a washing machine.




Cheers :icon_cheers:

Do you have a link to those sensors Zwickel?

These perhaps?
http://www.liquidlevel.com/products_switch...t_LS-14-180.asp

 

[Phoney]

A quick search shows that these flow meters have from 3-5% accuracy, plus or minus. So on a 30L mash you could be around 1.2L over or under.

Seems too inaccurate to me.

Yes, but the repeatability is accurate to .5%.

Therefore what you'd do is measure an initial volume by filling a fermenter. Now that could be out by 1.2L, but you'd make a note of how many litres it's filled and the next time you go to fill your vessel you know that it will be within 99.5% of that volume that went into your fermenter. Then you could give or take whatever you require with a jug.

Nice looking meter. I asked a similar question a while ago here. Might provide more food for thought...

BTW - I'm obviously pretty lazy, because in 12 months since posting that, I haven't even made a graduated measuring stick!

Excellent! Will look through that link now

EDIT: Sitting a fermenter or cube on bathroom scales, zero the tare, then fill it with the required volume, then tip that into my vessel is an interesting idea, and would cost me nothing. I might give that a go and see how that works :icon_cheers:

 

[benno1973]

Or get a big length of angle iron, a measuring jug and a hacksaw. Pour 1L into your vessel, stick the angle iron in, mark the level of the water, and then hacksaw a small notch on the angle iron at this level. Repeat, litre by litre, maybe hacksawing a bigger notch a 5L increments. You could even get all fancy with an engraver? It'd be accurate enough to get you within 250ml, and considering your evaporation rate will vary every time you brew anyway, you'd have a workable solution for less than $5?

 

[Phoney]

heh, ive tried doing that, but after 30 x 1L jug refills I found I measured it twice and got two very different results by the time I got up to 30L. :unsure:

Now something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/DIGITAL-POSTAL-SHIP...3#ht_3710wt_911

Would be perfect - if only the platform were a little bigger, but a sheet of MDF could fix that - I could sit an urn on top of it permanently and fill straight from a tap / hose. At 80 bucks delivered it seems like the cheapest & most accurate solution too.

 

[benno1973]

What about this? Definitely cheaper, not sure on accuracy though.

 

[Phoney]

I think hanging 30+ litres of scolding hot water from a sky hook could end in tears and burns :lol: