Water pump run-time limiter

[octal_ip]

I had an unusual problem to solve recently - I have a cabin that's completely off grid and not connected to any public water supply, running on stored tank water only. This is in a fairly arid area, so water is precious and can't be wasted.

One risk that's been sitting in the back of my mind is the chance that some part of the plumbing in the cabin or surrounding garden springs a leak, in which case the water pressure pump would turn on and happily pump the tank dry, potentially wasting thousands of liters of water and eventually damaging the pump.

I couldn't find any cheap or simple device that could limit how long the pump is allowed to continuously run for at any one time. So I wrote some custom firmware for a Sonoff POW Origin (POWR316). It constantly monitors the amount of power used by the pump, and shuts it off after 15 minutes of continuous use. The timer/cut-off is easily reset using the button on the front of the device.

The POWR316 is useful for a lot more than this, of course, however for a very small cost it's completely removed the possibility of a small disaster.

I've uploaded the code to GitHub if anyone else would find this useful:

GitHub - octal-ip/POWR316_Pump_Limiter: A modification to the SonOff POWR316 to limit the amount of time a load can run for

A modification to the SonOff POWR316 to limit the amount of time a load can run for - octal-ip/POWR316_Pump_Limiter

github.com

 

[magnet creek]

Kudos for solving this "problem", before it was an actual problem
Where is the water from the stored water tank coming from? Are you bringing it in? In that case I understand you went as far as figuring out this 15-minute cap. I have a similar situation, but I am pumping water from a creek 600ft down, the creek runs year-round, so a spill would not be the end of the world.
In case you are pumping the water out of a well, aquifers usually hold way more water than you think, unless you are irrigating the size of a county in California for 50 years, it is probably not something to worry about even in arid areas.

 

[octal_ip]

We rely on rain water. The location is at the top of a very rocky mountain range, so wells aren't really much of an option, and there's no other permanent (or even temporary) natural water source for a long way. Plan B would be to have water brought in, so this little device will pay for itself several times over if it stops a leak just once.

 

[Swamprat]

I had an unusual problem to solve recently - I have a cabin that's completely off grid and not connected to any public water supply, running on stored tank water only. This is in a fairly arid area, so water is precious and can't be wasted.

One risk that's been sitting in the back of my mind is the chance that some part of the plumbing in the cabin or surrounding garden springs a leak, in which case the water pressure pump would turn on and happily pump the tank dry, potentially wasting thousands of liters of water and eventually damaging the pump.

I couldn't find any cheap or simple device that could limit how long the pump is allowed to continuously run for at any one time. So I wrote some custom firmware for a Sonoff POW Origin (POWR316). It constantly monitors the amount of power used by the pump, and shuts it off after 15 minutes of continuous use. The timer/cut-off is easily reset using the button on the front of the device.

The POWR316 is useful for a lot more than this, of course, however for a very small cost it's completely removed the possibility of a small disaster.

I've uploaded the code to GitHub if anyone else would find this useful:

GitHub - octal-ip/POWR316_Pump_Limiter: A modification to the SonOff POWR316 to limit the amount of time a load can run for

A modification to the SonOff POWR316 to limit the amount of time a load can run for - octal-ip/POWR316_Pump_Limiter

github.com

I would use a light switch like the old RV's