Ok so I know many people, like me, have struggled with the mechanical float valves. I keep having an issue where water continues to rise and spills out so we keep having to manually turn the water down or off to keep it from happening and it’s a pain in the butt. Today I finished up installing my electric float system. It consists of a $43 12volt stainless steel electric motorized ball valve from US Solid and a $13 12volt electric float valve from Grainger. The motorized ball valve is a simple two wire auto return to off. All I had to do was run a positive red wire from the battery to the float and then back from the second wire on the float to the ball valve and a negative from the ball valve to the negative on the battery. I drilled a standard 7/8” inch hole and installed the float in the proper orientation in the buffer tank and now when the water level reaches its peak the float closes and the motorized ball valve shuts off. Less than $60 including wire and butt connectors. This type of ball valve does not drain the battery.
If anybody is interested in doing it themselves here’s a link to the ball valve: Motorized Ball Valve- 3/4"… Amazon.com
I’ve been reading and seems some people have problems with them not lasting or working right. The one I have isn’t actually a Hudson but after reading about the problems some people have I looked for a new solution. I was inspired by the Schertz box. We’ll see how long it lasts, I plan on installing in a waterproof box soon…
Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. A lot of decisions are made based on someone else’s opinion without really knowing if they know what there doing, in practice and theory. HFV’s are very basic things that actually work really well because of how simple they are. An electric one is just a good conversation around a bbq nothing more.
@Seandz That’s a cool idea I hope it works for you. I have never had a Hudson Valve Fail or the toilet style shut of valve. Can you post some pics of the Hudson valve that you are having trouble with maybe its something simple
The one I got originally was not actually a Hudson valve but a toilet bowl style black ball from the local irrigation company in town. At the time I had no idea about Hudson valves. One of the other reasons I didn’t try it was because it was my understanding that it had to be mounted from the top of the tank and I didn’t want to have the tank completely full as if I forgot to turn the water off before we were done I would have to drain 200 gallons. Attached are some pics of it (and the new electric one). I do have a filter on the garden hose and a banjo filter after the tank before the PW.
