I am looking for something that I don’t even know exists. I need a valve that when powered it is open (allowing flow) and closes when the power is removed. This valve has to be about 1” in diameter and water will be flowing through it. It cannot have any brass or copper, the wetted parts should preferably made out of PVC.
This is for the return lines of a 500 gallon fresh water fish tank.
Is there anything out there that would do what I need?
These would be installed somewhere along the two blue arrows coming off of the tank and going back to the sump.
If there is something similar to what I am looking for and it is made of any material other than PVC, I would possibly consider buying, gutting it for the electronics and machining it out of PVC.
This is what I am looking at right now, as they have them in Stainless Steel. Problem is that they can't be operated for over 8 hrs, or the coil burns.
I need 100% duty cycle.
Normally closed valve
something like this?
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/adafruit-industries-llc/997/1528-2003-ND/6827136?utm_adgroup=Pneumatics%2C%20Hydraulics&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping_Industrial%20Automation%20and%20Controls_NEW&utm_term=&utm_content=Pneumatics%2C%20Hydraulics&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6575BRCQARIsAMp-ksMD-j4M6pd_I4yVWDPGG-ixdnA79izawVRFUIlygPlPKGEtVuoGYiUaAhVdEALw_wcB
(I know its only a half inch, but you might be able to find what you are looking for with some time sunk on the site there)
I have shopped with Digikey before for stuff for my racecar (master on/off switch that was DPDT and could take amperage). experience was very good, they even email you if they are going to stop carring what you bought so you can buy spares before they are gone.
Maybe this?
Or maybe a normally closed pinch valve to just close off the tubing, so no risk of contamination by the valve internals?
I have several of those USSolid solenoid valves at the theater for effects. I have them in 120v and 12v, big and small, stainless and brass... you name it. All of them work great with water or air.
Make sure you look at the actual orifice size. a 1/2" valve might have a 1/4" orifice, but US Solid seems to do pretty well with keeping them a bit larger on the inside. Also look at the duty cycle. Some are rated for continuous use, others are rated for short periods.
Pinch valves in that size are generally air-operated and fail-open. A spring-loaded valve that fails-closed would be good and give you the duty cycle you want, but I dont know of any that small. This came up in a search: Pinch Valves but only goes to 1/4".
Mazdax605 said:
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:
Pinch valves in that size are generally air-operated and fail-open. A spring-loaded valve that fails-closed would be good and give you the duty cycle you want, but I dont know of any that small. This came up in a search: Pinch Valves but only goes to 1/4".
Appropriate user name.
Sounds like he's the expert here. With a name like that....
How about a modulating ball valve?
Turbo encabulator (just kidding)
In reply to Slippery (Forum Supporter) :
Are you wanting to prevent draining the tank with a power outage?
Is a sprinkler system solenoid valve robust enough? And/or do you have enough pressure in the lines to open a sprinkler solenoid?
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rain-Bird-3-4-in-FPT-In-Line-Valve-CP075/202078357
Stampie (FS) said:
In reply to Slippery (Forum Supporter) :
Are you wanting to prevent draining the tank with a power outage?
Yes, in theory when the power goes off the sump will only fill up until tbe overflows drain to a certain level. Last year we had a guy redo all the piping and he never glued the pvc over flows, so water keeps seeping off and never stops.
In order to properly fix this I have to completely empty the tank and that's a major pita. Dont want to deal with it at the moment. Looking for a simple solution.
We already had 4 power outages at the office and I am 40 miles away. Let me tell you, 500 gallons will cover A HUGE area ... We have a genset, but due to the CNC machines we have to manually switch the power. This weekend I had to go twice to turn the genset on, don't want to do that anymore, especially with a hurricane warning.
In reply to Slippery (Forum Supporter) :
One issue to look out for is detritus building up and preventing the valve from closing when needed. Even something passive like a check valve will have problems sealing unless cleaned regularly.
Do you just need a check valve to prevent backflow or do you think that with out positively closing a valve siphoning will occur in the normal direction of flow?
Check valves are just dumb material and only allow one way flow.
We use them all the time in high pressure systems on offshore floating production facilities so in a low pressure system like this one would work if it meets the above parameters.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mueller-Streamline-1-in-PVC-Check-Valve-101-605HC/100200991
My only comment is check places like US Plastics or Mar Cor (they have a new name but will still come up in Voogle) that's where we got fitting for water treatment systems
In reply to jharry3 :
The problem with the check valve is that I NEED it to flow through, unless there is no power. When the power goes off, the sump pump stops and water doesn't get pumped from the sump to the tank, only drains down and overflows after roughly 3 hours.
So I don't see how a check valve can work in this situation. I am actually already using a check valve on the pump side to prevent backflow.
I am so tired of this tank flooding the office that If I get another flood from it, I am emptying the thing and filling it with dirt and a couple of snakes.
