Hi Everyone,
I have a whole home soft water system for my house and want to know when the system regenerates.
The system is not electric and works based on the amount of water used to determine when to perform a regen. Basically, it uses brine water from the small tank on the left to “wash” the resin pellets in the two hour-glass shaped tanks. The half painted black tube running from the system into the gutter downspout is the outlet tube for the regen water.
I have a Smartthings v3 US hub and was thinking about installing the probes from an Aeotec water sensor 7 pro into the outlet tube to let me know when the system was actively in a regen.
Are there other solutions anyone can think of?
That could work. Might also get notifications when it rains.
Maybe an inline water meter although I’ll admit I don’t know if I’ve seen a workable device.
Could also try to sense the temp change on the discharge line or vibration on the valve.
Both could be done with a Aeotec multi sensor. Not sure how you would protect from the weather.
A Virtual switch would also help.
Currently I’m using a power monitoring plug to trigger the virtual switch if the wattage geos up. At 5:00 am. If the virtual switch is triggered I get notification and reset the switch.
Good luck. Sounds like a fun project.
I’ve thought about the rain/weather and considering to install the tube and sensor inside a Cantex box and attach it to the side of the house.
Thank you for the ideas!
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Solved!
I ended up using the Aeotec Water Sensor 7. They changed the probes to shorter ones, so I used stainless steel screws as probes into the hose.
The existing 3/8" hose from the water softener was constantly giving me a “wet” signal on the Aeotec. I surmise that there was still a little bit of water sitting in the hose that was creating the connection. Once I installed the screws to the 1/2" hose, it only acknowledges the “wet” condition when the softener is actively in regen.
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