RO/DI Solenoid

[RichReef]

I tried out kalk a little while back and I used the drip method because it was the cheapest way. I didn't want to invest if it had a negative effect on my system. Well it did great so I invested in an Avast Marine kalk reactor. Mixing those jugs everyday was worse than manual dosing.

My sump is in my basement and my ATO is pretty high up. I use a 5 gallon Eshopps. I gravity feed my ATO using a float valve. So I teed off of that to feed the kalk reactor. Everything is working great.

My issue is I need a solenoid to cut the kalk feed off in case of a power outage.

Any recommendations? I imagine I need a normally closed switch that opens with power. That way if the power goes out it will close the switch. Another issue is it has to be safe. Most of the ones I have seen are metal.

 

[cilyjr]

I use this on my ro system
Beduan 110V 1/4" Inlet Water Solenoid Valve Normally Closed for RO Reverse Osmosis Pure System https://a.co/d/42h2UkC

 

[cilyjr]

Wait, you are gravity feeding kalkwasser through a reactor to your tank?
I wanna see!

 

[RichReef]

This is where it splits. One to the ATO and the other to reactor.

This is the valve and where it enters the reactor.

Reactor.

Reactor output to sump.

Float for the ATO.

 

[RichReef]

Wait, you are gravity feeding kalkwasser through a reactor to your tank?
I wanna see!

There it is.

 

[dschuffert]

I use this on my ro system
Beduan 110V 1/4" Inlet Water Solenoid Valve Normally Closed for RO Reverse Osmosis Pure System https://a.co/d/42h2UkC

This looks like a good recommendation from cilyjr. The link has a 12V, 24V, or 110V normally closed 1/4" solenoid. This caught my attention!

 

[cilyjr]

This is the valve and where it enters the reactor.

Your system is slowly dripping kalkwasser 24/7 through a partially closed fall valve?

Interesting. I never occurred to me to even try something like that. When I went to the reactor I put it on a dosing pump so I can control exactly how much goes into my tank

 

[cilyjr]

This looks like a good recommendation from cilyjr. The link has a 12V, 24V, or 110V normally closed 1/4" solenoid. This caught my attention!

I've used two or three of these over the years. It's worked fine with no problems. If it buzzes a little bit when it is open then change the mounting a little bit and it should stop.

 

[RichReef]

Your system is slowly dripping kalkwasser 24/7 through a partially closed fall valve?

Interesting. I never occurred to me to even try something like that. When I went to the reactor I put it on a dosing pump so I can control exactly how much goes into my tank

I don't trust dosing pumps or electric ATOs anymore. I've had both and multiple brands give me issues over the years. I actually have some anxiety adding a solenoid. But I am a mechanic by trade and I have serious trust issues with electronics. The amount of failures I see daily is over the top and it's not like this stuff is junk or poorly built. Stuff just goes bad.

At this point this set up is working very well. I was on vacation last week. When I left my ALK was 8.7 and when I got home yesterday it was 8.4 over 8 days. I had my neighbor's kid feed and look at the critical things but no dosing.

A power outage while not home would be really bad though.

 

[cilyjr]

I just had a thought. Check to make sure that solenoid is good for continuous duty

 

[bishoptf]

Here is my 2 cents, stay away from solenoids since they can heat up and do to that tend not to last, YMMV. Instead of solenoids I would look at actuated ball valves, probably more expensive but I am using one on my Skimmer for PH control. The advantages are they do not heat up and have a lot of different versions, I think you mentioned you wanted it to close when power was removed and they have a unit that works just like that. Basically when power is removed the ball valve closes off and with power once its actuated the power usage is nil and no heat, thereby it should last a long time.

Here is the one I am using from amazon - they have them in stainless also, but I do not think they make one fully plastic...

 

[RichReef]

Here is my 2 cents, stay away from solenoids since they can heat up and do to that tend not to last, YMMV. Instead of solenoids I would look at actuated ball valves, probably more expensive but I am using one on my Skimmer for PH control. The advantages are they do not heat up and have a lot of different versions, I think you mentioned you wanted it to close when power was removed and they have a unit that works just like that. Basically when power is removed the ball valve closes off and with power once its actuated the power usage is nil and no heat, thereby it should last a long time.

Here is the one I am using from amazon - they have them in stainless also, but I do not think they make one fully plastic...

I don't mind stainless or brass. I am running RO/DI through it not SW. But this is exactly what I am looking for. Thank you very much for the advice and recommendation. I did find a continuous duty solenoid but they wanted 145 bucks for it. This seems much better anyways.

 

[bishoptf]

I don't mind stainless or brass. I am running RO/DI through it not SW. But this is exactly what I am looking for. Thank you very much for the advice and recommendation. I did find a continuous duty solenoid but they wanted 145 bucks for it. This seems much better anyways.

No problem, I think you will find that these are more reliable and work much better for what you intend to do. One thing to note is they have a bunch of different versions so you just need to make sure you get the one that will work for what you are trying to do.

 

[TubesFab]

please remove

 

[PetitReef]

I don't mind stainless or brass. I am running RO/DI through it not SW. But this is exactly what I am looking for. Thank you very much for the advice and recommendation. I did find a continuous duty solenoid but they wanted 145 bucks for it. This seems much better anyways.

just a quick correction regarding brass solenoid on RO/DI for the one using the search like I did.
Never Ever use brass on your SW or your RODI after the membrane. I made the mistake to add a brass solenoid that contol my ATO.
it took as little as 5 days for seeing my coral dying, first one being my euphylia.

changed the solenoid for a plastic one, cuprasorb, water change and hoping my other corals who are not looking happy will recover :/