Timer Switch for Water Pump

[houseband]

another question for our resident DIYers.

i live in an area in Sampaloc where the water pressure leaves a lot to be desired. we have an electric water pump that pumps water to a water tank located in the third floor of our townhouse.

the thing is, every midnight or that time thereof, i have to go out of the house, into the garage to turn the water pump of. the townhouse was constructed in such a way that the switch is located outside of the house.

i have to turn off the switch regularly to prevent the pump from running continuously in the middle of the night when the water pressure might be too low. aside from wasting electricity, the pump will be overworked and might be damaged.

rewiring the whole scheme might be too expensive and inconvenient since holes have to be bored through the walls to let the wiring from the pump to our first floor kitchen. aside from that, i still have to turn it off at night and turn it on in the early morning.

mayroon bang automatic timer switch for high wattage appliances like water pumps? it will be cool not to do these chores every night...

my time is spent better in doing something else (at night), don't you think... hehehehe

salamat ulit mga bros.... :)

[manggyver]

try installing a level switch, funtion like the flush of the toilet...once it reaches the level you want, it automatically set-off the power

[houseband]

actually the pressure tank has a pressure switch, when the pressure is reached, the pump automatically switches off.

the problem is, sometimes, water pressure falls very low at night, no water comes in and the pumps just keep on humming until it becomes very hot and might be damaged. if this happens at night, no one might be awake to turn the pump off.

i guess this will also be the problem with the level switch, if no water flows in to push the level up.... the pump will just keep on pumping air. someone is really needed to turn the power off.

[manggyver]

ohh, i forgot to address the low pressure..there is also a pressure driven switch which will turn-on your power once it reaches the pressure you want. i will still check if both water level and pressure (dual variables) in tandem, can trigger power on/off

[houseband]

thanks manggyver... these are things to be considered. will have to study the matter further :)

[2diy4]

Of course you can use a timer, and most timers can handle the load of a 1/2 hp water pump. The other course to investigate are water pump controllers that use "fuzzy logic" to determine water pressure in and out and shuts off the pump when the pump is no longer drawing water. They advertised these devices some years ago, I forgot the brand.

[stealthy]

i think there is a 24-hour electro-mechanical timer switch that can be purchased locally. you just need to set it in the actual time and place the on-off switch triggers on your desired time settings. i think you can have multiple on-off settings. i'm not sure though of the load capacity of this timer switch. usually, it's being used as on-off switch for lighting display fixtures of commercial establishments.

if the load capacity is not enough maybe relays could be a solution.

i think one of the electrical hardware stores in the T. Alonzo St. area have these timer switches.

i hope this helps... :)

[2diy4]

I have one of those timers. I'll try to look for it and see if its capacity will allow its use for water pumps, which I will assume are 1/2 hp.

[junn2006]

i saw one at ace last week. naka sale sya. am not sure if that is the timer switch you are looking for.

[NightRock]

Why don't you put a suction pressure switch and Level control which is interlock with the pump start/stop. You don't need to put a timer since you don't know when you will have a healty suction pressure.

[junn2006]

passed by ace kanina. their time on sale has a wattage of 3000watts.

di ko sure if this is enough for you.

[Hot Daddiy]

3000 watts is good enough for a 1/2 hp pump.

[chieffy]

you can buy a 24 hour plug in timer switch...merong mura nito sa 168 mall...cheaper solution ito...

pwede ka rin naman bumili ng sensor (arnd 4k) which will automatically cut off the power supply to your water pump once it detects that there is no water coming out of the pipe...medyo matrabaho ito dahil sa wiring at kailangan mo pa ikabit yung sensor sa pipe...
merong mga ganitong device sa mga shops na nag specialize sa water pumps and tanks

[bbn]

I bought two at Handyman for I think it was P200 each. They are probably not 3000 watt rated. I've been using them to control some yard lights for about a year now, so far their A-OK I sometimes even get the time from them :).

[tatoski]

Yeah! a cheap timer, dial type with pins you push in on the hours for on and off will do. But this kind is driven by AC current and timer is affected by power outages. A more expensive programmable timer (digital) will be better. I used a digital timer once to turn on and off lights of the house when we went for a long vacation.

[tatoski]

Oh I forgot to say that the digital timer has small back-up battery to power the timer during brownouts to keep good time. Thanks

[stealthy]

it's been a while but for those interested in a good quality timer switch with battery back-up i found one in one of the electrical supply stores in T. Alonzo St. Manila. the name of the store is Triton Electrical Supply.

they are selling the Camsco timer switch with battery back-up for Php1980 (1920, last price daw).

it has several switch-type on-off triggers , i think in 20 or 30 mins. interval (i'm not very sure because i haven't bought one yet :) ). capacity is 15 amps. they say it's made in Taiwan.

i compared it with the Panasonic brand they are also selling. although it also has a back-up battery, it only has around 4 on-off triggers (push-pin type) and sells for Php2500.

by the way, both are electro-mechanical timer switches and not digital ones.

i hope this helps :)

[Jason_10]

i was able to buy a digital timer for 300++ bucks. you can program it to turn on at specific time or day. i used it on our water dispenser. its rated at 3000watts.

[jasonub]

remember that 1 hp is .746 kw or about 746 watts.

make sure ok yang switch or it may cause it to overheat and burn

[VtEC]

diba naadjust naman mga pressure switch to your desired pressure naman?para dina kailangan pang bantayan ang pump nyo.