Electric Solenoid Valves

[Wake My Day]

I was hoping to make some changes to my ballast setup. I currently have 1100 pound sacs in each corner for surfing supplied by their own pumps and through holes. I want to speed up the filling by transferring water from one side to the other instead of just filling one and emptying the other. Has anyone used electric solenoid valves for directing water. They seem to be only 40 or so dollars on eBay. It is not very accessable area to install a three way valve. Any insight into these valves would be appreciated.

[Gabrielwakesetter]

I was hoping to make some changes to my ballast setup. I currently have 1100 pound sacs in each corner for surfing supplied by their own pumps and through holes. I want to speed up the filling by transferring water from one side to the other instead of just filling one and emptying the other. Has anyone used electric solenoid valves for directing water. They seem to be only 40 or so dollars on eBay. It is not very accessable area to install a three way valve. Any insight into these valves would be appreciated.

I will be interested to know how it went!!!

[cowwboy]

What type of valves? Globe, gate, ball?

[a92harley92]

You might check with Slurpee. He hasn't been on in a while, but he's used the solenoid valves.

Slurpee's ballast system

More info here

[Ronnie]

Slurpee is my neighbor and riding buddy. I'll point him to this thread and he can respond between changing diapers. They just had a new baby!

[Slurpee]

Howdy WMD (have you considered the initials in your name? ),

Ronnie texted me. Here's the link to my thread on my ballast install saga.

Being an electrical engineer I couldn't resist using electric solenoid valves so this isn't the only way you could get things done.

I got all my valves from valves4projects on ebay. I reccomend that for any valve that is going to be in standing water or is going to be at the bottom of the loop or preventing standing backflow you go with the higher end stainless valves.

The only maintenance I've had with these valves is about once a season on average I need to unscrew the solenoid mount (the valve body can stay in place) and give the springs, plunger, and rubber seal a real good cleaning because there is just a wee bit of rust build up from the spring. So install these so you can get access to them (or improve the spring material yourself).

I used them to control flow through the aerator pumps (to prevent siphoning and auto-filling only) and also to seal the vent line closed when draining to draw a vacuum on the bag and help with draining. Mostly because the aerator Rule1100 pumps failed slowly over the years I moved to reversible pumps last year. They don't need valves to prevent water from leaking through so I removed all my valves except those in the vent lines. I still use valves to draw a vacuum on the bag when it's draining. The catch is I had to put a diode in line with the power to the relays from my dash switches so that the valve only opened with power that was applied to the pump for filling.

I think you'd find it pretty simple to plumb the valves to make your pump move water one way and the other. I've seen manifolds like that on this board. You'll have to draw out your circuit diagram for getting the power to them. It's easy enough to get a bus bar barrier terminal setup to wire to, but how do you want to switch everything? One 2-throw switch? Multiple switches so you can set it up from the driver's dash or other convenient location? It might be cheaper and easier with a bunch of ball valves from a hardware store if you'll have easy access to the plumbing in all uses. I personally went with a dedicated pump for each bag and a surf bag pump with a long length of hose so I could run it to any non-plumbed in bag to fill for extra ballast in the cabin.

When it's all said and done though it takes about the same amount of time for a pump to move water in and out or sideways. So maybe another pump to fill the other side while you drain is a good option?

[Slurpee]

Slurpee is my neighbor and riding buddy. I'll point him to this thread and he can respond between changing diapers. They just had a new baby!

It's not the diaper changes. Those are fast and I've seen worse messes floating in my bilge. it's the feeding that's a time sink. I'll post a pic when I get him in his first life vest in the boat. Meanwhile, for those who are interested I'll do a minor hijack and introduce my future driver Landon Cade Smith born 1/27 at 20.5" and 6lbs 11oz. And he already loves his baths so I think I bred myself a boat buddy!

[Wake My Day]

Thanks for the reply Slurpee, great information. On a lighter note, I never noticed the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" before. Very Interesting......

Edited February 12, 2012 by Wake My Day

[scott_fx]

instead of adding a bunch of solenoid vavles and switches etc. why dont you just add one single reversible pump between the two bags (still leaving the fill/empty pumps for each bag. then you can transfer from one side to the other while also utilizing the dedicated sac pumps.

to clearify:

left ballast is full, right empty.

-turn on fill pump on right ballast

-turn on empty pump on left ballast

-turn on transfer pump to flow from left to right. (i guess you'd need flow switches on this as well to ensure you wont ruin the impeller)

Edited February 14, 2012 by scott_fx