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Finally pulled the trigger on a water flow meter


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#1 gnef

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Posted 07 September 2018 - 08:00 PM

So I've been watching a listing on Amazon for years, the only affordable flow meter, but it was still around $100 to get everything I would need, which is why I didn't pull the trigger, and it was only in Liters.

 

Recently, I decided to look around again, and the same seller released a newer version that can toggle between gallons and liters, and included everything I needed: https://smile.amazon...0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I received it yesterday, and just installed it tonight and did some testing/calibrating for the hall sensor.

 

So far, everything looks to be working well enough. I built it with john guest fittings to use the bev seal ultra tubing I use to go from the water filter to the HLT.

 

Here is the unassembled kit, and my fittings prepared:

44542897851_3f37185559_c.jpg

 

Here it is assembled in place and attached to my water filter:

42734294270_d373139ffa_c.jpg

 

Here I'm calibrating the k value:

44542900021_d04fccdae2_c.jpg

 

I got it to within about 1.5 ounces by weight for a gallon, so I felt pretty good about that.

 

Here is what the display looks like:

42734288630_bed68db629_c.jpg

 

So the whole thing costs around $65, which to me was very reasonable. I am still thinking about replacing the solenoid with a stainless version with female NPT fittings to simplify the setup, but I'm not going to worry about that right now (though I may buy the solenoid soon).

 

The K value can be adjusted the .01 place, but the precision for actual volume didn't seem to reflect that resolution, so after I got it close, I didn't worry about it - I tried adjusting by .03 at a time, and didn't notice a significant difference in weight for a gallon reported by the meter.

 

My one nitpick is that the temperature sensor is threaded M8, and I couldn't find a simple way to get that to work with my 1/2" NPT fittings without drilling a coupling and tapping it M8 myself.

 

With my tests tonight, I'm pretty happy with it so far, and I'll definitely update later if anything fails or drastic changes in my experience. I did keep my water flow rate to .7 gallons per minute. I was tempted to see how it would handle a variety of flow rates with the k value, but I decided it wasn't worth the time, and my GAC 10 carbon filter is really only rated for 1 GPM anyway.

 

So if any of you are interested in a flow meter for your setups, I'd recommend you at least consider this one, as I think it is the only reasonable option at this price point. I haven't brewed with it yet though, so that will be the next test!

 

 



#2 HVB

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Posted 08 September 2018 - 05:10 AM

Interesting. Back when I bought mine digital options were few and expensive so I went with a good old analog one. Has worked great and rated up to 175.

Good luck with yours, cool project.

#3 gnef

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Posted 08 September 2018 - 06:37 AM

Yea, I've been thinking about a flow meter for years, but I could never justify it. Even some of the analog options were expensive, and I can't recall if I saw any analog ones that could control a solenoid.

 

Almost all of the digital ones were designed more for industrial settings and entirely too expensive, way beyond what I could justify for this project. There was only one that I could find that was within reach, and it was still expensive and only in Liters so I never actually bought it, so I was excited when I saw this one come out.




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