Water Meter

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I installed a flow meter on the main line so I can measure exactly how much water gets used. I've used it for two season and it has worked flawlessly. It's easily read, run on a small battery, and is reset with every fill.

I considered a sight gauge, or even some of float gauge. In the end, the flow meter was the easiest, least intrusive, and safest option that did the job. But I think the other solutions would work as well.

In addition, I use a flow meter on the fill hose so I know how much water is going into the tank.

I do exactly this. My tanks geometry is not really conducive to adding sight-tubes, level sensors, dip-sticks etc, and the flow meter works very well.

I have found however that the meter on the fill hose does not exactly tally with the meter at the pump ... last time I measured 105L going into the tank, and only measured 92L leaving before I was sucking air from the tank. I don't know if that is a discrepancy between the two meters, or an error introduced due to the different flow types: continuous high-volume flow from a hose for filling vs individual low-volume pumps from a foot pump while emptying. Since it takes me quite a while to use 200L from both tanks, I don't have a very large dataset yet.

But it is definitely a good way of estimating how much water is left in the tank, even if I don't trust it down to the last litre - and at about $20 per meter plus a couple of hose clamps it's a cheap and easy approach.

[Kelkara]

Another option that I considered, but decided not to do ...

A sight tube does not have to be attached to the tank, it could be attached to the outlet hose at any point ... as long as the lowest point is at or below the base of the tank, and the top is above the tank. You do NEED a valve in this configuration otherwise when the pump operates it will try to suck air down the sight tube.

In principal I could have added a T and valve to my water hose before it entered the pump, and run the sight-tube up from there but that was going to be a lot more complicated than adding a meter after the pump.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Kelkara

...I have found however that the meter on the fill hose does not exactly tally with the meter at the pump ... last time I measured 105L going into the tank, and only measured 92L leaving before I was sucking air from the tank.

Yes, I've seen discrepancies as well. Both meters come with an error bar, or uncertainty range. The one I installed in the water line is a higher quality version than the one I use on the input hose, so I tend to trust it more. The one on the input side is a cheapo garden hose meter. It's error range is larger than the in-boat meter.

For me, it's not really an issue because I almost always fill the tank when I take on water. But it would be best to use the same higher-quality meter on both the input and output sides.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I installed a flow meter on the main line so I can measure exactly how much water gets used. I've used it for two season and it has worked flawlessly. It's easily read, run on a small battery, and is reset with every fill.. .

I think a lot of people would be interested in exactly which equipment you have.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I think a lot of people would be interested in exactly which equipment you have.

I'm away from the boat so can't get the exact device, but it was something like this:




https://www.amazon.ca/Yosoo-Turbine-...2877715&sr=8-6


You can spend way more on these things, but so far this modest-priced device has done the trick.

[Annie in WA]

Simplicity is best, on Tappan Zee we have two water tanks and when one is empty we rebalance from the full tank so each is 1/2 full then when the 1/2 full tank is empty we have 1/4 of our water left and it is time to water up. This won't work on all boats or every situation but it is how we often manage our system on a full time cruising boat.

[Stu Jackson]

If you have two tanks, just use one at a time. When the first one empties, switch tanks and refill the empty one.

[Annie in WA]

Simplicity is best, on Tappan Zee we have two water tanks and when one is empty we rebalance from the full tank so each is 1/2 full then when the 1/2 full tank is empty we have 1/4 of our water left and it is time to water up. This won't work on all boats or every situation but it is how we often manage our system on a full time cruising boat.

[Emmalina]

I have 2 stainless tanks under the cabin floor so i have a dipstick but rarely use it as I let one tank go empty then switch over (normally in the middle of a shower) but I have graded the stick so I can find the exact-ish amount. KISS

[johnn33]

The YBW forum some time ago
https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?thr...k-help.411341/
John

[MsOutdoorsy]

I like the idea of an in-line meter, it lets you know how much you are using, however, if the tank gets a leak, there is no way to monitor how much you actually have left. Definitely make sure there is a stash of safety water.