How to prevent pumps from coming on at night?

[spendlove]

I have a 5,000 gallon water tank that feeds into the water main going to 3 homes. With that much water it's not necessary that the pump kicks on at night to top off the tank. What is a good method to ensure the pump does not come on after the sun has gone down?

Thank you!

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Water heater timers are used to prevent water heaters coming on during peak hours. I suspect you could use one to only have it power on during daylight hours or even peak solar hours (10am-2pm or so).

 

[DThames]

I have a 5,000 gallon water tank that feeds into the water main going to 3 homes. With that much water it's not necessary that the pump kicks on at night to top off the tank. What is a good method to ensure the pump does not come on after the sun has gone down?

Thank you!

Daylight detector...

Put a normally open relay in series with the pump or the pump control. Put up a small solar panel to be a daylight detector to close the relay.

 

[GLC]

Water heater timers are used to prevent water heaters coming on during peak hours. I suspect you could use one to only have it power on during daylight hours or even peak solar hours (10am-2pm or so).

Correct, I have one on my hot water heater that works very well. Manual trip switches that you can set the desired time to, go on an d off.

Amazon.com : hot water heater timer

 

[WYtreasure]

Yep, water heater timer, Intermatic has worked good & lasted a long time for us.

 

[Checkthisout]

Does your charge controller have a relay that you can program to only come on when the pv voltage is a certain level?

 

[Zil]

Is this a separate system than the "pressure tank" you had problems with in past?
Is this a municipal type water service? Are you regulated by the country where you are located? Would there be a fire service problem if the pumps can't run during the night?

 

[Ironman]

A simple electric eye for a farm yard light is configured to turn on after dark. Wired to a normally closed relay it would be activated by the electric eye to open the relay and your pump is off till daylight.

 

[Warpspeed]

Suggest you buy one of those light sensing switches commonly used with security lighting.
Hours of daylight vary a lot between summer and winter, and even on really dark gloomy days you may not want that pump to start up.

 

[FightThePower]

I have a timer in series with the float switch on my water tank so the well will not run during certain hours. If you want the model I can look it up.