I have 1.5" plumbing and would like to automate and make a cool IOT controller/monitor system. Not looking to spend $550 bucks for a flow meter though!
Are there any "cheap" flow meters for DIY metering with an Arduino/ESP32?
- Thread starter Gilligan8
- Start date
- Apr 10, 2018
- 5,163
- Pool Size
- 18375
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45
Preferably GPM, but if I can't do that on the cheap go/no go wouldn't be a bad signal to have.
- Apr 10, 2018
- 5,163
- Pool Size
- 18375
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45
A cheap paddle style flow switch for a saltwater generator system would work as a simple flow/no flow sending unit. It's basically an open/closed circuit switch. I can't help you with an actual flow meter.
Katodude
Silver Supporter
- Aug 22, 2017
- 2,603
- Pool Size
- 15000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Something like this might work.
GREDIA G1-1/2" 1.5" Water Flow Sensor Food-Grade Switch Hall Effect Flowmeter Fluid Meter Counter 5-150L/min Amazon.com
A quick search turns up lots of options.
GREDIA G1-1/2" 1.5" Water Flow Sensor Food-Grade Switch Hall Effect Flowmeter Fluid Meter Counter 5-150L/min Amazon.com
A quick search turns up lots of options.
My concern with many of these style is that it will be too restrictive with the turbine inline.
- Apr 10, 2018
- 5,163
- Pool Size
- 18375
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45
I like the idea of seeing how much volume I'm moving for turnover and other nerdy stuff.
I guess it's not really something I "NEED"... just something that would be nice to have if it could be done for a relatively low price.
I would also have other sensors, temp, salinity, ph, and anything else I could put inline that wouldn't be too expensive.
Feel free to get your geek on. I get it. But most of us just equate RPMs to flow and can get it within reason to where we want it.
But those pools fluctuate from needing more filtering in the spring and fall, and much less in the mid season. At those times, it needs what it needs, not an arbitrary #. You can have trees shared with your neighbor and they all blow your way. You need lots, and he needs little. If two neighboring pools are night and day different, the idea that all pools in the land need 3X a day is just silly.
Turnover is a junk stat. If the industry picks a high enough number, they were right for every pool in the land.
But those pools fluctuate from needing more filtering in the spring and fall, and much less in the mid season. At those times, it needs what it needs, not an arbitrary #. You can have trees shared with your neighbor and they all blow your way. You need lots, and he needs little. If two neighboring pools are night and day different, the idea that all pools in the land need 3X a day is just silly.
- Apr 10, 2018
- 5,163
- Pool Size
- 18375
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45
I understand. I haven't seen many flow meters covered here on TFP, likely because it's not critical to proper pool maintenance. Volume would be a nice data point to have but turnover is really irrelevant. Read more here:
www.troublefreepool.com
Have you looked at the nodejs-poolController? Lots of users here, but a bit above my head...
github.com
Best of luck with your project!
Determine Pump Run Time
To figure out how many hours you need to run your pump, you need to know how fast your pump works. You can find this here.
www.troublefreepool.com
Have you looked at the nodejs-poolController? Lots of users here, but a bit above my head...
GitHub - tagyoureit/nodejs-poolController: An application to control pool equipment from various manufacturers.
An application to control pool equipment from various manufacturers. - tagyoureit/nodejs-poolController
github.com
Best of luck with your project!
BMerrill
Gold Supporter
- Mar 8, 2021
- 360
- Pool Size
- 17860
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
Consider the FlowVis. Its not digital, so you have to read it yourself. Around $200.
I have one. Made a chart of flow rate, voltage, and RPM's used. Its more than paid for it self in energy savings.
I have one. Made a chart of flow rate, voltage, and RPM's used. Its more than paid for it self in energy savings.
I know turnover isn't critical... guess it was a shortcut to say "volume". Just be nice to know how much to kind of get an idea of how to tune the system in a way.
I've even thought about this with a camera system that will read the reading for me. LOL
The system already tells you in RPMs. With the flow meter you then need to math GPM back to RPM if you don't have a VSF pump that tells you.
I can tell you my SWG turns on at 700 RPM, skimming works great at 1200 RPM, my heater at the old place turned on at 1000 RPMs, Vacuuming needs 1750 RPM, etc. I have honking filters so I never see a an appreciable flow decrease, but if I did, I'd click up RPMs until the flow was good again if I couldn't clean the filter right away.
For filtering, more volume at any moment also makes more mixing, so I prefer the low RPM for a longer time instead of adding RPMs/flow in the original pump window. Low and slow has been working amazing for 12+ years both at my old house with 80 oaks on an acre, and now wide open on a farm. There was lots of debris blowing in at both, but night and day different in particle size.
Intelliflow VSF will tell you flow and you get a fantastic pump.
I was looking into options for flow monitoring recently because I was interested in measuring the efficiency of my heatpump with Heat Pump Monitoring — OpenEnergyMonitor 0.0.1 documentation (Level 3).
I've not gone ahead but the best option I've found without getting a pump providing flow speeds is a non-invasive ultrasonic flow meter like "TUF-2000M" https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003995961461.html (various people sell them, no idea if this seller is any good) which you can find for ~$190. The ultrasonic sensors get clamped onto the outside of the pipe, the instructions do call for 30x the pipe diameter spacing from the pump to the sensors on a straight run which might be awkward (45" on 1.5" pipe)
I've not gone ahead but the best option I've found without getting a pump providing flow speeds is a non-invasive ultrasonic flow meter like "TUF-2000M" https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003995961461.html (various people sell them, no idea if this seller is any good) which you can find for ~$190. The ultrasonic sensors get clamped onto the outside of the pipe, the instructions do call for 30x the pipe diameter spacing from the pump to the sensors on a straight run which might be awkward (45" on 1.5" pipe)
Yeah, that could be an issue... I barely got 12" of pipe at any given spot on this contraption... they did not lay this out the best for working on any particular part. LOL
No sir. They're certainly not. They're one of the gold standards though, so the 'buy once, cry once' mentality has merit here.
Katodude
Silver Supporter
- Aug 22, 2017
- 2,603
- Pool Size
- 15000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
How accurate is the flow information? I have always controlled my VS pump with RPM. My new Intelliflo3 tells me the GPM now.
