Simple Float Valve Install - Keep those tomatoes growing!

[deep_roots]

Simple method of installing a float valve reservoir, along with parts list. Top off hydroponics systems or refill your self-watering buckets.

[JRinPA]

I've been using those style float valves for years. They work...with a couple caveats.


I use mine with the float sticking out of the bottom inch of a 5 gal bucket to keep a rain gutter grow system filled. The bucket sits astride the end of the rain gutter. So I fill the bucket with rain barrel water, and the float sticks into the rain gutter on a rain gutter grow system. Adjust the float with the wingnut to keep the water level where the wicks can reach, but not so high that it overflows the rain gutter.


The two problem I run into are simple to fix. I've had the same original float mechanisms for years.



First problem, the white float itself usually breaks off within a year or two. From cold temperature impacts usually. (I even had one broken off in the package, when I went to replace a broken one with an extra new one). The short plastic arms remain intact. The float valve function be restored to working order with some solid extruded polystyrene foam (the pink or blue stuff), roughly shaped and attached to the remaining plastic arm with zip ties. You could use different foams, but these will work well and not shed little pieces.



I have repaired cheap bilge pumps similarly when their floats crack.


The second issue with these float valves is algae and dirt. In the warm weather, my rain barrels grow some green. I try to strain it, but eventually the green algae will build up in the tiny pass hole and clog it. By August a nice long pipe cleaner worked back and forth through that little hole is needed every week or two to keep them working.