Mech Tank Level Indicator

[garage nut]

So the oil tank level indicator got me thinking...I know I said an Arduino solution will be what I would do, But I have a water tank way up in the corner of my garden. Water and electronics are not friends and being outside the day and night temp difference will cause a lot of condensation on the top.

The solution .....a mechanical one. So you can just add a weight and a float and some small pulleys and have an inverse of the water level on the outside. I did not want that. I wanted to see where the water level is.

The solution...Add an extra weight and a pulley and use a float that you can adjust its weight, but still keep it floating. A Coke bottle in my case.

I think a picture is more explanatory than a lot of words. The indicator is now attached to the extra weight and shows the actual water level.Now you can understand why you must be able to adjust the weight of the float. It must be heavy enough to lift the extra weight. I used some more old number plates and a hole saw to create my small pulleys and an old piece a ali shower door extrusion as the frame for the contraption.



Not really a "TOOL" but a solution to NO problem.

[12bolts]

I dont "get" how this works?
As the "orange" float moves down it shortens up on the line around the "black" pulley. This then makes the "blue" triangle move up?

[nhengineer]

Pretty good Mr. Nut.

[Frank S]

12bolts, what he has done is he used 1 weight 1 float 2 lines 4 pulleys and 1 indicator.
The green line is attached to the orange float which travels over 2 pulleys and down to the black weight. One end of the red line is attached to the weight then travels over 2 pulleys then down to the indicator.
the float goes down the weight goes up the indicator goes down showing the exact level of the fluid in the tank.

[garage nut]

That's it. The black round thing is the weight in the tank. I did not draw actual pulleys, that is where the lines are just square.

I only used 3 pulleys, the green and red line uses the same pulley.

[garage nut]

Quickly went and took some pics. Tank is basically dry. We are in a severe drought at the moment and doing everything to catch as much as possible water. I am now down to going to the surage works and collecting 1000L at a time and pumping it up to these tanks for the garden.

Used a nice shower door ali section, the line runs in the section so if the lid is fitted it does not snag the line.

Pic 1 shows the ali section and 3 pulleys.
Pic 2 Shows the counter weight,
pic 3 is the float right at the bottom....water level
Pic 4 the indicator at the outside ....also showing i am in serious trouble.

[DIYer]

Thanks garage nut! We've added your Tank Level Indicator to our Measuring and Marking category,
as well as to your builder page: garage nut's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Tank Level Indicator by garage nut

tags: measurement