Looking for some feedback about waterflow meters that people are using. Looking for a way to scale up my nutrient mixing setup and want to start keep a reservoir going but will need to know how many gallons of water have been pumped into the res to then base my nutrient mix off of.
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I looked into them but decided to just time it. 30g from my faucet takes 10minutes. Can divide by whatever I need. The PPM 0.5scale shows I’m within 30ppm (full dose feed) everytime. If that helps you at all…
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This is how I ended up doing things as well. Read too much BS about flow meter’s being inaccurate or failing. I hooked up my RO to fill a 1 gallon jug and timed it myself and then just multiply that by how many gallons I needed in the old brute trash can reservoir. lol
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Good to know, I’ve been checking out the cheap ~$20 on the 'zon for a while wondering if they were worth a shot. Back to filling 5g buckets up I guess 
Timing a gallon is a good idea , ill have to compare to what i’ve been pulling.
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Cheapest this meter place sells but they say it’s accurate:
Or a nice step up, that first link sells these also:
I had to do a ton of water metering as a bread baker, you can’t be measuring 100-1000 gallons a day efficiently by hand. In smaller batches we’d just use a postal scale and five gallon buckets or Cambro containers, but for the big mixers there’s always a digital flow meter with either a manual knob for temperature mix or it controls it for you, the nicer ones compensate for the colder earlier flow by running hotter to make the average hit the set temperature. The ones that don’t do that you just shoot a few gallons of water down the drain until it’s warm. Large bakeries also have a massive water chiller installed inline for the mixer water feeds, I could pull 38F water by the drum.
I was partial to the Baxters and Baktecs if anyone’s building their no-budget-limit grow cave!
My monster baby I miss him
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This was my absolute favorite unit I ever used, Baxter makes superb equipment, but for $10K it better be! That Baktec is even more, but it’s the most accurate one I know of.
$3000 for the replacement sensor alone:
A couple more actually reasonable suggestions:
This one will actually regulate flow and stop it for you once the reservoir is full:
And this is a nicer manual meter compatible with remote monitoring upgrades
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Pretty interesting stuff. I didn’t know these devices existed. Unsurprised they do, especially in baking but just have never been exposed to it.
Just spent 20 minutes looking at water mixing and dosing equipment for commercial bakeries. Learn something new every day.
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I have a save a drop brand flow meter attached to a garden hose for that. Was only 20 bucks I think. Can’t really speak to the accuracy as I’ve never checked. Package claimed plus or minus 3% I believe. Used it for a couple rdwc grows.
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Maybe a floater valve instead?
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Process machinery is a fascinating and nearly endless rabbit hole in our modern industrial world, but you probably know about that even better than me
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I’m not recommending this model in particular, just the idea.
This mounted in the res would give a constant level reading.
What are you planning on using for a control and readout? You would need to calibrate the output to equal the level but once set you could calculate usage based on level.
https://www.amazon.com/FLYPIG-FUEL-FLOAT-SENSOR-SENDING/dp/B07PYQ39L7/ref=mp_s_a_1_19_maf_2?crid=3KR66NLMRY4XU&keywords=float+level+sensor&qid=1708183832&sprefix=float+le%2Caps%2C265&sr=8-19
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By the way if anyone is interested in that Fill-O-Meter from MoreBeer! this review is very helpful to calibrate for gallons. It’s possible that the firmware has been updated and this is no longer a problem but I’ll put it here for legacy support. The manufacturer KegLand is Australian and MB carries the device in the USA along with a few other brewers supply houses. In general it’s a great vendor for a lot of things, brewing is a fun hobby and they have stuff for sodas and ginger beers etc too. A lot of the equipment is great cost effective gear for growers too! I find the reviews on brewing sites to be some of the most helpful with technical and experience tips:
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