Pump controller

[menehune]

I am designing a pump controller to recycle my washing machine water for irrigation.

I have a Prop1, RC4 and both a 1/5HP "submersible" pump and a 12vdc "deck wash" pump available.  I also have several float switches available to high and low limit pump control.

My decision is which pump to use, the 120vac pump is rated at 5.6A so I can't use the RC4 to turn it on/off.  I am also not certain if it is rated for constant submersion or if it can only tolerate occasional submersion-it is one of those "emergency" sump pumps.  It is rated for debris smaller than 1/4".
The DC pump is rated 12vdc, 12.6A but is a diaphragm type so it requires a filter screen.  I don't want to have to clean the filter screen every month since I am pretty sure "gunk" will build up in the tank.

Any suggestions as to how to get the water out of the tank?

Does anyone know of source for gate valves?  I'm thinking of something that can be servo or prop controlled in the 1" to 1.5" size.  The quick search I did showed industrial valves in the 6" size.  I already tried a simple irrigation sprinkler control valve, but since the tank is not pressurized, it didn't work correctly.

[menehune]

I've got the "simple" stuff done-the plumbing to get the gray water into the tank and a test pump (360GPH) is working as well as the limit switches. 
Now I need to wire them up and finalize the design and controller...keep the 6GPM pump and only run 4 sprinklers or upgrade to a bigger pump and run half the yard's sprinklers?  Timed operation or run as soon as the limit is reached?
The tank is 100 gals or so-about 2 large loads of laundry or 4 "minimum" loads of wash.

[menehune]

I got the controller 95% done.  Bench tests are sucessful, now I just need to do the final install and wireup on the tank and I can do my laundry this weekend :)
I still have one weird situation with the program though.  When the Low water float is down and the High water float is up, the pump relay "clicks" every second as the program is trying to activate it. 
Can I incorporate both the high water and low water sensors into the check_high_water loop?

Code Select Expand

' =========================================================================
'   File...... pump conroller.bs1
'   Purpose... Recycle washing machine water to irrigate lawn
'   Author.... Mike S
'   E-mail.... mcgyver@gmail.com
'   Started... July 20, 2009
'   Updated...
'
'   {$STAMP BS1}
'   {$PBASIC 1.0}
' =========================================================================
' -----[ Program Description ]---------------------------------------------
'Turning a DC pump on and off as a water storage tank is periodically
'filled from a washing machine.  When tank is filled to 3/4 capacity, pump
'turns on and runs until water level drops to low level-approx 2" from tank
'bottom so pump does not run dry.
'Float switch=NO.  float up-closed, float down-open
' -----[ Revision History ]------------------------------------------------
' -----[ I/O Definitions ]-------------------------------------------------
SYMBOL  WaterHigh=PIN7   'setup dn
SYMBOL  WaterLow=PIN6    'setup dn
SYMBOL  Relay1=PIN0      'pump1
SYMBOL  Relay2=PIN1      'future pump 2
' -----[ Constants ]-------------------------------------------------------
SYMBOL  IsLow=0
SYMBOL  IsHi=1
SYMBOL  IsOn=1
SYMBOL  IsOff=0
' -----[ Variables ]-------------------------------------------------------
' -----[ Initialization ]--------------------------------------------------
Reset:
PINS = %00000000        'clear
DIRS = %00000011        'P0, P1 are outputs
' -----[ Program Code ]----------------------------------------------------
Check_High_Trigger:   'if tank is full, turn on pump
  IF WaterHigh = IsLow THEN Check_High_Trigger
  Relay1 = IsOn
  GOTO Pump_On

Pump_On:       'If tank is not empty, keep pumping.
IF WaterLow= IsHi THEN Pump_On
   Relay1 = IsOff      '
   PAUSE 1000

GOTO Check_High_Trigger
' -----[ Subroutines ]-----------------------------------------------------
' -------------------------------------------------------------------------
' -----[ EEPROM Data ]-----------------------------------------------------

[livinlowe]

You can check what's going on, just put some debug statements in.