Anyone here have any experience with pool automation

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careingemt

careingemt

Well-known member
Sep 11, 2013
218
PA
Pool Size
7600
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
Hello,

I'm currently controlling a plug with a raspberry pi to turn on or off the pool pump. I also have a Hayward heater (propane). I'm not exactly sure how a heater works specifically. but I was thinking is it possible to read voltage , ohms from a flow sensor in the heater to monitor if pump is actually moving water or not. Yes i turn on the pump let me give a good example... if i turn on a light it has power at the plug but is the light bulb burned out ? if I'm not home i wouldn't know...

any input would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
 
Heaters typically use pressure switches, not flow switches. You can lookup in the Hayward heater install manual and see what it says.

What data do you want?

If you want to know if your pump is running you can install in your plumbing a flow switch of the type used in a SWG.

If you want to know if your heater is on you can out a temp probe in the PVC pipe at your heater outlet.
 
i only want to know if pump is running or off ...
how can i find a flow switch ... i bought a flow sensor from amazon and it lasted 2 weeks ...
the flow switch for swg can i buy just the switch ... btw can i just get a reading from my pressure switch inside the heater and report back to the rasberry pi via gpio
which can handle 3.3v or 5v

happen to have a link for the swg switch ?
 
Buy some ones dead Pentair IC SWG cell. Look on youtube for videos of how the flow switch is tested. If you plumb the dead cell into your PVC piping then you can connect to the flow switch wires. It is just a two wire on off switch.

Bing “pentair ic40 flow switch replacement”
 

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Looks to me like the pressure switch is in series with other safety switches along the 120v AC circuit. Any open switch interupts power to the ignition module.
 
I was fixing my raypak heater last weekend, it runs 26VAC through a bunch of safety sensor switches. If any one of them is open, then no fire at heater.

So in my raypak, if you see 26VAC at the end of the switches, you know you have flow, among other things.

I was thinking about trying to monitor if the pump was drawing current, or also putting a accelerometer (sp) on the pump to sense vibrations (but my variable flow pump hardly moves, so probably not a good idea).
Adding a flowmeter seems to make sense. For pump running, you just want to see if there is flow, so should be fairly easy.

Randy
 
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