Making diy mister system for $15

[Ethanwest]

I bought a 1 gallon weed sprayer from lawn and garden and drilled a small hole small enough for a Air house to fit snug in and hooked it to a fish tank Air pump and bam auto sprayer.
Now I'm just trying to find out how to stop when I have the air pump to kick off need a way to auto let the pressure out

 

[dshuld]

A solenoid valve is probably what you're going to need. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from the cheaper ebay ones.

 

[nightanole]

Im confused...

You found a magic fish tank air pump that puts out enough cfm and psi to pressurize a 1 gallon weed sprayer in a reasonable amount of time? Air pumps put out a wee bit of air, and god help them if they have to put out a wee bit of air 2ft into a fish tank.

I think you would be better off with a several gallon weed sprayer that you pump yourself every day or 2. I only use 3-5 gallons a week.

As dhuld said, your best bet is to get a lamp timer and a normally closed solenoid valve meant for a reverse osmosis booster pump. You could even get fancy and install the check valve that turns off the pump once it reaches a certain psi.

So my Ideal cheapO system would be :

The biggest weed sprayers you can afford/fit. Fill it 1/3-1/2 with water.
Pump it yourself every day or 2
Rig the sprayer to always be on
Install an inline with sprayer, normally closed 1/4" solenoid valve hooked to a lamp timer


So when the lamp goes off, the valve opens, and it mists. If you get a cheap valve, the valve will fail/leak, and you will have several gallons of water on the floor when you get home.

 

[dshuld]

Im confused...

You found a magic fish tank air pump that puts out enough cfm and psi to pressurize a 1 gallon weed sprayer in a reasonable amount of time? Air pumps put out a wee bit of air, and god help them if they have to put out a wee bit of air 2ft into a fish tank.

I think you would be better off with a several gallon weed sprayer that you pump yourself every day or 2. I only use 3-5 gallons a week.

As dhuld said, your best bet is to get a lamp timer and a normally closed solenoid valve meant for a reverse osmosis booster pump. You could even get fancy and install the check valve that turns off the pump once it reaches a certain psi.

So my Ideal cheapO system would be :

The biggest weed sprayers you can afford/fit. Fill it 1/3-1/2 with water.
Pump it yourself every day or 2
Rig the sprayer to always be on
Install an inline with sprayer, normally closed 1/4" solenoid valve hooked to a lamp timer


So when the lamp goes off, the valve opens, and it mists. If you get a cheap valve, the valve will fail/leak, and you will have several gallons of water on the floor when you get home.

It doesn't necessarily have to be for a booster pump. Any gas-liquid solenoid valve will work fine. The ones I use are from stc, decent low wattage 120v valves with stainless bodies as an option on several models. The only problem is they have a $50 minimum order.

I've tried the cheap ones from ebay and they just get to hot if on for more then a few minutes at a time. In this application they may well be fine but the couple I tried before getting the stc's burnt out in 2 months. By the time you spend $12/ $15 on a 6 watt "cheap" one from ebay with a plated brass body that burns out every 2 or 3 months you might as well have invested in an stc or other similar quality solenoid. Clippard and burkert would also be good ones to look at. Some times you can get a decent deal on used clippard and burkert on ebay but in my application/ use (co2 regulator on planted tanks) I wanted new and stc was my choice. They are around $27/ 28 each if I remember correctly and available in 3 or 4 watt versions.

@Ethanwest the biggest thing to look for is the watts used though. Try to stay in that 2/ 3/ 4 watt range so they run cooler. The 6w no name ebay valves I had failed in the open position btw. Which if your air pump isn't able to compensate for 0 psi and an open valve isn't a huge deal in this case other then your poor cham not getting water during the day when you think it is.