Water containers with auto shut off *fill* valve + my diy water mixing station

[richiev]

I diy'ed myself a saltwater mixing station over Christmas break. I'm rather happy with it, so first sharing pics of that .

The setup is a wood frame out of 2x4s plus plywood. The RODI system is setup underneath, attached to the sink. From the DI outlet I have a T. One side feeds off to a long line of tubing with a valve for general usage. The other side leads to the brute for saltwater mixing.

On the brute, I have two float valves installed. One is at around 50% and another near the top. That allows me to either do around 15 gallons of salt or around 30 gallons, depending on what I'm planning. Usually I'll expect to keep 15.

In the brute is a power head and a water heater. Those are attached to a power strip controlled by a smart plug "hey Google, turn on the water mixing station".

The big TODO I could use assistance on is how to best store pure DI water. The RODI system I have (which I actually got free from someone throwing it away) has a small reservoir, but I need to store more. I could throw a Rubbermaid with a float on top of the stand, but I'd prefer to have movable storage containers.

Right now I have a 5 gallon seachem jug I got from Neptune, but it's annoying to manually fill it and try and check it to make sure it's not overflowing. What I'd like is to be able to fill that to near the top, and have it auto shutoff. I just can't fit a mechanical float in there, and not sure how else to do it.

Anyone have any ideas? Do I just need to buy a Rubbermaid tubb type of container to go on top and install a valve for filling containers afterwards? If so, any suggestions on what to use for that? Ideally something I can get locally.

 

[Meshmez]

To start, I would just put the seachem jug in your utility sink, so if it overflows at least it drains. And then set a timer to remind you to turn it off.

For the stand, if it were me, I would at the least add 2x4 supports under the 2x4s the plywood is sitting on.

This way you aren't relying on the screws shear strength to hold the water weight.
Might consider cross pieces under the plywood to prevent bowing, and something to keep the legs square as well.

 

[H2OPlayar]

Agree on the added structural support needed. Water is really heavy and will shear a screw/pull it out of its attachment point. I use a black plastic (maybe Rubbermaid) container from home depot to catch my rodi and I have the xp aqua ro guardian unit ("the marriage saver" is printed on the box) to shutoff the flow when my ro container is full.

 

[richiev]

To start, I would just put the seachem jug in your utility sink, so if it overflows at least it drains. And then set a timer to remind you to turn it off.

For the stand, if it were me, I would at the least add 2x4 supports under the 2x4s the plywood is sitting on.View attachment 34474
This way you aren't relying on the screws shear strength to hold the water weight.
Might consider cross pieces under the plywood to prevent bowing, and something to keep the legs square as well.

Thanks. Regarding the stand, I considered additional supports but I decided to stick with it as is for access reasons. Each support has 4 outdoor lag screws through it, there's additional supports I put in the back that aren't visible, and I'm expecting to normally have up to 15gallon which rounded way up is under 150lbs of weight on the shelf. I might be asking for a future problem, but I'll keep an eye on it and add lag bolts if needed later. I say that knowing all this will certainly go to hell when an earthquake hits, but I guess...

Thanks for the warnings!

Agree on the added structural support needed. Water is really heavy and will shear a screw/pull it out of its attachment point. I use a black plastic (maybe Rubbermaid) container from home depot to catch my rodi and I have the xp aqua ro guardian unit ("the marriage saver" is printed on the box) to shutoff the flow when my ro container is full.

Ah, I thought that required a separate controller. I didn't realize it was effectively an all in one unit. That's very promising and might be exactly what I need, with a little bit of finagling.

Thanks!

 

[svreef]

I used the XP Aqua guardian to automatically refill my ATO reservoir for over a year and now I use it to fill my brute. It’s really great - when you give it power, it opens the solenoid and starts filling, so you can easily automate it.

 

[Turkeysammich]

I’m a fan of the XP Aqua guardian also. That’s what I use also for years. It’s called the marriage saver. Lol.

 

[Patio]

interdigitating multiple screws threads may help with some of the load, in addition to the lag bolts you already have. It is a fairly common technique in orthopedic surgery.