I went with the Yolink and it works great. And it IS wireless. I used a standard sprinkler valve and wireless relay instead of the motorized valve.
Automatic Fill/Level Monitoring
- Thread starter Billy_McSkintos
- Start date
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,961
- Pool Size
- 12300
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- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Standard sprinkler valves are not appropriate for use on the feed line to a pool's auto-filler system. If you'd care to know more about that, I can explain...
Where did you mount your sensor?
Still works perfectly. The sensor device itself is wireless but there is a wire from the device to detect the water. The valve controller is also wireless but I use 12vdc power as I have an outlet right there.
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jark87
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- Jun 5, 2011
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I’d be curious to understand. I’ve had an auto fill that’s a repurposed sprinkler station for 15 years and it seems to work fine. There’s no float, so technically it’s not “auto” fill. During dry spells, I just program that sprinkler station to come on for 10 minutes a couple of times per week, just like the lawn sprinklers. It’s especially helpful if we’re out of town for an extended period. I don’t have to worry about the water getting too low.
wgipe
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- Jul 4, 2020
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I’m in the same boat as Jark and it has worked beautifully for two seasons now. Would love to know why it’s not appropriate. I did use the ASVF version to prevent back flow if that’s what you were eluding to.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,961
- Pool Size
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And that use of a sprinkler value is totally fine, because there is no second valve downstream of the sprinkler valve. Sorry if I misunderstood. Let me explain and you can decide if the warning applies (for either of you in the discussion).
BTW, "working for 15 years" wouldn't reveal the problem, or prove there isn't one.
If you're using the sprinkler valve as a manual fill, or automating that valve, and it's "exit" pipe flows to the pool and just directly dumps water into it, then you're golden. But I thought you mentioned auto-fill. Auto-fill generally refers to a valve that has some sort of sensing, like a float, that determines when the pool is low, and automatically opens to restore the water level until the float returns to its full position. So that is the downstream valve. If you have a second sprinkler type valve in front of that one, between the auto-fill valve and the water source (a well or street), then the upstream valve is under constant high pressure whenever the downstream valve is closed, which is most of the time. The backflow preventing mechanism (anti-siphon) in a sprinkler valve is not rated to be under constant pressure like that. It will eventually fail, if it hasn't already. The valve will still work fine as an on-off valve (which is why your "15-year" rational doesn't mean anything), but it's backflow prevention won't work when needed, like during a backflow event.
The proper valve in that scenario is a pressure-rated backflow prevention valve like this one:
(Yikes, they've almost doubled in price since I bought mine!)
With that valve, you can have a second valve (auto-filler) down stream and it's rated to handle that constant pressure. It even has testing ports that can be used periodically to confirm the backflow prevention is still working (something sprinkler valves cannot be tested for).
If you both only have one valve, you're good. If you have a true auto-filler, then the upstream valve should be pressure-rated.
Again, apologies if I misunderstood your setups.
Mine works fine. I cut the 3/4” PVC pipe after the manual fill valve/back flow preventer combo and installed the sprinkler control valve.
I want to clarify the sensor is wireless from the sensor through the hub to the relay controlling the sprinkler valve. There is a small wire coming out of the bottom of the sensor going into the pool. I mounted it on the backside of the pool in an inconspicuous place.
Here’s my smart fill. I mean look, it’s not super smart. It’s not manga cum laude or anything, it’s just trying to get its GED. But it works!
jark87
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- Jun 5, 2011
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That’s my set up exactly. There’s PVC plumbed into the side of my pool, just below the coping. Nothing in between the sprinkler valve and the exit pipe. Glad to hear that I don’t have some hidden issue that I wasn’t aware of.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,961
- Pool Size
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- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Just to belabor... If the end of the pipe is above the waterline, then theoretically you don't even need an anti-siphon sprinkler valve. Any sort of valve will do. The backflow prevention is achieved by the gap of air between the end of the pipe and the water. Otherwise knows as, you guessed it, an "air gap." A typical home has several air gap backflow preventers that most people never give any thought to. You might have heard that term in reference to your dishwasher. There should be an air gap in its waste line. Toilets have air gap BFPs built in to the valve mechanism in the toilet's tank. When you see the little fill tube clipped to the larger fill pipe, that's the air gap. Water softener waste lines are also supposed to have an air gap when connected to a drain. Etc. Washing machines have air gaps too, that why with some you can hear the water filling.
OK, all that said, if the end of your pool fill pipe is below the surface of your coping, and there is any possibility that the pool could fill full enough to submerge that end, in which case there would no longer be an air gap, then you would need some sort of back flow preventer. For that scenario, a sprinkler valves anti-siphon BFP is perfectly fine, because again, there would be no significant pressure from the pool water pressing against it. Point being, use an anti-siphon sprinkler valve for a fill line just to play it safe.
You might have seen the type of fill outlets that came out of the deck and then had a 90° elbow to a pipe that stuck out over the coping's edge. The water would shoot out and fall and splash into the pool. They served two purposes: (1) you could see and hear the water running, and perhaps that would help you remember it's on and not to over-fill your pool (I would need that, because I always forget about running water!), and (2) that creates the perfect air gap because even an overflowing pool wouldn't defeat the back flow prevention. They probably stopped building them that way because people were tripping over them!
There you go, more than you asked for about pool backflow prevention!
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,961
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
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- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
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- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
If your "sprinkler control valve" is between your pool and your "manual fill valve/back flow preventer combo" then yes, it will "work fine" in terms of turning your fill water on and off, but if the "manual fill valve/back flow preventer combo" is not of the correct pressure-rated type, then that is the exact setup I was warning about. Your "preventer combo" cannot forever withstand the constant water pressure present because of the second, downstream "sprinkler control valve" and will some day fail if it hasn't already. It will likely "work fine" as an on-off valve, but will no longer function as a backflow preventer, and because it can't be tested you'll never know about its failure. That is, not until a backflow event occurs and your pool contaminates your neighborhood's water supply.
FYI, all of the BFP examples I've mentioned are intended to protect your water supply, and that of your surrounding neighbors and fellow citizens, from your home's pool and waste water during a backflow event. I learned all this from my buddy, who used to work for a major city's water company, and he thinks proper backflow preventers will be mandatory on all residential homes at some point. They are already mandatory for most commercial buildings. You've seen these all over, even if you didn't know what they were, in front of stores and businesses, etc. They can be small-ish, just a few feet across, but some of them are quite large. Sometimes they're covered with those green bag-like dealios, or hidden in outdoor cabinets.
Question for your setup, what did you put at the end of the run to jet the water up and in to the pool? Sorry if that’s a dumb question.
Not a dumb question at all. The answer is: nothing. It’s just 1/2” flexible tubing from the sprinkler supply store. The water pressure shoots it over the coping.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,961
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Shh! Don't tell people that bought Pentair Laminars, they'll want their $300 back!!
- Dec 13, 2020
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I was worried about that, too. Toilets in seldom used bathrooms are the same.
Turns out our water authority uses Internet-connected meters, so I can log in any time to check daily usage. And I can sign up to receive emails if they think I have a leak.
Truly helpful government service. Wow.
As it happens, our usage is 3 gallons a day even when we're gone. Something somewhere is slowly leaking. Might be the autofill. Or about twenty other things.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,961
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
You can track down water leaks using your water meter (unless the feature I'm describing was left off your model). On the face of the meter you'll see a flow indicator, sometimes asterisk-shaped, or a triangle. They are super sensitive, and will rotate with the slightest flow, they'll even reveal a slow drip (though you might have to stare at it a while). You can close off all the valves and stops you can get at, while someone watches the indicator, to help find what is leaking. If that doesn't reveal anything, then the next step is more involved, separating your plumbing system into sections to narrow down where the leak is.
But with everything off, if that indicator is not moving, then you don't have a leak, the usage is something else.
Regarding a constantly-flowing-toilet valve failure, yah, that's a concern for me, too. And I had one once, but caught it fairly quickly. My auto-fill vault is right next to my skimmer, so every time I check the skimmer basket I check the auto-fill valve. I haven't come up with anything more sophisticated. I think mine failed due to working on the pipes upstream of it. I probably knocked loose some mineral deposits in the pipes and they got jammed in the valve. I vowed to just replace the valve periodically, a pro-active approach. But the plumbing work was actually connecting my water softener slash whole-house water filter setup to my pool, so the valve is now subjected only to very soft, virtually mineral-free water, so that should also keep it working well.
But with everything off, if that indicator is not moving, then you don't have a leak, the usage is something else.
Regarding a constantly-flowing-toilet valve failure, yah, that's a concern for me, too. And I had one once, but caught it fairly quickly. My auto-fill vault is right next to my skimmer, so every time I check the skimmer basket I check the auto-fill valve. I haven't come up with anything more sophisticated. I think mine failed due to working on the pipes upstream of it. I probably knocked loose some mineral deposits in the pipes and they got jammed in the valve. I vowed to just replace the valve periodically, a pro-active approach. But the plumbing work was actually connecting my water softener slash whole-house water filter setup to my pool, so the valve is now subjected only to very soft, virtually mineral-free water, so that should also keep it working well.