Best Gauges for Water? Fuel? Holding?

[Lancerbye]

Another vote for Tank Tender. I have it monitoring 4 tanks, 2 fuel,1 water and 1 waste. It was on the boat as original equipment since 1981. I added the line for the waste tank in 2010. This is a bullet proof system.

[YPSILANTI]

Im going to give you very good advice. Im a South African. Our exchange rate dives every time our president opens his mouth so our Rand / $ is now at 0.069 $ for our one Rand, or you can obtain Rands 14.4 for only one US $. I priced imported guages and they are expensive for us. I then did local research. I am a pilot. My aircraft is fitted with a South African MGL Avionics guage. Its top quality. These guys are now exporting to aircraft manufacturers all over the worl. The King Air aircraft now has these products installed as standard so they are tops. Ive just fitted two of these into my Cat, one for water and one for my two fuel tanks. They are acurate to the extreme as one calibrates according to your tank, so the quantity is exact. The best part is the price. You will bebefit from our exchange rate. One guage will cost around $ 150 plus shipping. You wont obtain a better, cheaper and more acurate latest technology guage. You can use any probe, I used a Vetus 0.8meter probe in my water tank. The syetem is wonderful. I completed the installation a few months ago. Speak to Renier by phone. Good luck.
Regards
Mike
scroll doen to the FF3 fuel management system guage:
Velocity Singles

[zboss]

Originally Posted by YPSILANTI

Im going to give you very good advice. Im a South African. Our exchange rate dives every time our president opens his mouth so our Rand / $ is now at 0.069 $ for our one Rand, or you can obtain Rands 14.4 for only one US $. I priced imported guages and they are expensive for us. I then did local research. I am a pilot. My aircraft is fitted with a South African MGL Avionics guage. Its top quality. These guys are now exporting to aircraft manufacturers all over the worl. The King Air aircraft now has these products installed as standard so they are tops. Ive just fitted two of these into my Cat, one for water and one for my two fuel tanks. They are acurate to the extreme as one calibrates according to your tank, so the quantity is exact. The best part is the price. You will bebefit from our exchange rate. One guage will cost around $ 150 plus shipping. You wont obtain a better, cheaper and more acurate latest technology guage. You can use any probe, I used a Vetus 0.8meter probe in my water tank. The syetem is wonderful. I completed the installation a few months ago. Speak to Renier by phone. Good luck.
Regards
Mike
scroll doen to the FF3 fuel management system guage:
Velocity Singles

Screw the gauge! At that exchange rate I'll fly to SA and buy a new catamaran!


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[peghall]

I presume the WEMA sensors would work well in sewage as well.

They do until the sender gets clogged up with the animal fats in waste, which takes about a year if you're a liveaboard, 2-3 years if you're just a weekend warrior. Removing the sender to soak it in a strong solution of detergent and water and scrubbing with a brush is the only way to clean it.

This isn't only true of Wema senders...all internal waste tank senders become clogged, requiring removal and cleaning by hand. That's the main advantage of the SCAD (which, btw, is a private label version of the Profile system Profile Tank Monitors)...the senders go on the outside of any tank that isn't metal. The metal tank senders are internal, but sealed in a PVC tube that prevents 'em from ever coming in contact with the tank contents, so they can never clog.

Peggie
http://www.amazon.com/New-Get-Rid-Bo...dp/1892399784/
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by peghall

I presume the WEMA sensors would work well in sewage as well.

They do until the sender gets clogged up with the animal fats in waste, which takes about a year if you're a liveaboard, 2-3 years if you're just a weekend warrior. Removing the sender to soak it in a strong solution of detergent and water and scrubbing with a brush is the only way to clean it.

This isn't only true of Wema senders...all internal waste tank senders become clogged, requiring removal and cleaning by hand. That's the main advantage of the SCAD (which, btw, is a private label version of the Profile system Profile Tank Monitors)...the senders go on the outside of any tank that isn't metal. The metal tank senders are internal, but sealed in a PVC tube that prevents 'em from ever coming in contact with the tank contents, so they can never clog.

Peggie
http://www.amazon.com/New-Get-Rid-Bo...dp/1892399784/
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

Do we have any data on how well the Maretron ultrasonic tank senders are working? This seems to be a pretty logical solution for people with N2K networks, but I've been hearing conflicting reports as to their reliability.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by peghall

I presume the WEMA sensors would work well in sewage as well.

They do until the sender gets clogged up with the animal fats in waste, which takes about a year if you're a liveaboard, 2-3 years if you're just a weekend warrior. Removing the sender to soak it in a strong solution of detergent and water and scrubbing with a brush is the only way to clean it.

FWIW, ours lasted much longer than that before needing cleaning. I installed the replacement in 2007, and didn't have to deal with it again until last year... well... should actually have done it the year before, so make it 2007-2014 with no problems.

During that time period, I used either KO or (later) Noflex as tank treatment, but don't know if those had any direct effect. Never had odors anyway, so never really knew if the treatments were doing anything or not.

Sure enough, the eventual clog on that holding tank sensor was uric scale. Easy to clean in a mild-ish dilution of muriatic acid. No brushing necessary, although it did need some hose blasting to get some of the now-loose bits out of the tube.

-Chris

[zboss]

Originally Posted by peghall

I presume the WEMA sensors would work well in sewage as well.

They do until the sender gets clogged up with the animal fats in waste, which takes about a year if you're a liveaboard, 2-3 years if you're just a weekend warrior. Removing the sender to soak it in a strong solution of detergent and water and scrubbing with a brush is the only way to clean it.

This isn't only true of Wema senders...all internal waste tank senders become clogged, requiring removal and cleaning by hand.

Hi Peggy,

I defer to your expertise but this has not been our experience. I've never met another owner of a tank tender that had this issue with their black water tank.

Ours is going on 2 years and I've never had to touch it. And let me tell you... My poop stinks!


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[peghall]

That's because the Tank Tender use air pressure in a tube...no effluent rises in the tube to clog it up. Most other senders are simply exposed rods with a float on the end. When the float is pushed up by rising contents it makes contact with a piece above it, completing the circuit that turns on each light on the panel. As the float on each rod is reached the longer probes remain immersed in the effluent becoming coated by the fats in it.

[captstu]

The SCAD holding tank monitors are top rated by people who never use a holding tank. I purchased one, installed it, and was thrilled that it worked thru two full/empty cycles. Then, nothing. Back it went to the factory for repairs - uncomfortable people to deal with - it came back a few weeks later and never worked again.

I suspect these are perfect if you always go on shore. In the meantime, I'm looking for a replacement that takes up more space, as I cut a whole to hold the SCAD unit.

Terrible design, the circuit board is out in the open with no water proofing - and it corroded into worthless very quickly. The warranty is equally worthless - they just told me it worked perfectly in the lab and left me with a non-working unit.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by peghall

I presume the WEMA sensors would work well in sewage as well.

They do until the sender gets clogged up with the animal fats in waste, which takes about a year if you're a liveaboard, 2-3 years if you're just a weekend warrior. Removing the sender to soak it in a strong solution of detergent and water and scrubbing with a brush is the only way to clean it.

This isn't only true of Wema senders...all internal waste tank senders become clogged, requiring removal and cleaning by hand. That's the main advantage of the SCAD (which, btw, is a private label version of the Profile system Profile Tank Monitors)...the senders go on the outside of any tank that isn't metal. The metal tank senders are internal, but sealed in a PVC tube that prevents 'em from ever coming in contact with the tank contents, so they can never clog.

Peggie
http://www.amazon.com/New-Get-Rid-Bo...dp/1892399784/
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

Being a person who designed a competing product for the OEM RV market, I have a some opinion on these devices.

These devices are based on Capacitive touch sensors (the same sensors that run your cell phone screen). They basically sense the "capacity" potential of the tank (using the tank wall as the insulator). Or, in the case of the PVC pipe version sensor, it uses the PVC as the insulator (required for metal tanks).

They work fantastic.... UNTIL the tank builds up a layer of fat (loads of fat in human poop). If the programmer did not take this into account, then the sensors will slowly drift and mark the tank full before it is.

I know nothing of the brand you posted, so I can't comment on how well they work. However, I'm concerned they don't post the price on their website. It leads me to believe they are horrendously overpriced. Just some food for thought, the chip doing the sensing sells for $0.50 in quantity! The device I designed had about $26 (USD) in parts for 3 tanks.

[captstu]

The SCAD sensors are capacitive and offer an easy scheme to re-calibrate the if they ever get to be a bit off. What they do not offer is reasonable factory support. Mine failed in 6 weeks - I wouldn't mind buying the needed parts, but the technician at the other end of the emails was just nasty - said I should send back the device, which I did, and said that after testing it worked - so the problem must be mine.

Now I sit with a non-working device - sometimes the light doesn't go on when I push the button - and no idea how to fix it.

The circuit board can't possibly work in the real world of a head/shower. It is mounted inside a locker so it doesn't get directly wet, but after all, heads are usually showers on a boat so there is lots of humidity.

These devices are not designed to tolerate even dampness. Customer service is just designed to anger anyone foolish enough to buy one and install it by cutting into the boat to mount it as instructed.

I guess I'll just wait until my holding tank overflows.

Peggy, I respect your recommendation - but have you ever looked at the circuit board with open connections and figured how it would work for more than a week?

[peghall]

Yours is not a typical story....that system is one of the most reliable on the market. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the SCAD tank monitors are a private label version of the Profile Tank Monitors Profile Tank Monitors Dennis Ferriello is Profile's CEO...I've known him for 20+ years. If you give him a call, he'll make it right. 432-656-0042

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by peghall

Most other senders are simply exposed rods with a float on the end. When the float is pushed up by rising contents it makes contact with a piece above it, completing the circuit that turns on each light on the panel. As the float on each rod is reached the longer probes remain immersed in the effluent becoming coated by the fats in it.

Yep. For other readers:

Our WEMA sensers are perforated tubes, with the float in the middle.

No other pieces, though. I think I understand resistance (Ohms) changes as the float rises and falls... and the resistance measurement at any given point is what the gauge translates/displays.

The float can get temporarily stuck, presumably from some bit of effluent (solid, paper, etc.). Not so good. Helps to keep some mental track about how often the head has been flushed... just as a sanity check for back-up. Well... to protect from back-up, more likely. The temporary "stuck" is usually just a one-off, pump-out and rise usually fixes it.

The more permanent stuck is after uric crystals have built up enough to pretty much permanently capture the float. At that point, it needs to be removed, cleaned, replaced.

-Chris

[jkindredpdx]

You said simple and reliable. This may not be easily viewable on your boat, but I used a tee and clear tubing. Sedna - Hallberg Rassy 35 : Fresh Water Gauge

[rourkeh]

I have a Blue Seas Systems Vessel Systems Monitor VSM 422 which monitors all of my electrical functions and has ultra sonic tank sensors for tank monitoring. No moving parts, very accurate even under way. Very good system.