I am currently refurbishing the 30 year old sumps in our auxiliary building sub-grade areas. The current setup is a 4 ft. diameter & 4 ft. deep well with two Gould Model 3171 Vertical Submerged Bearing Sump pumps. These came standard with a Square-D mechanical alternator switch operated by a float / rod assembly. The high level alarm is triggered by a Magnetrol Series T20 float switch using snap switches (mercury is prohibited in the area).
We are replacing the Square-D setup with a Magnetrol Echotel Model 3P1 Pump Controller Ultrasonic Transmitter for level indication and pump actuation and alternation. The problem is with the T20 high level alarms. We have been experiencing failures of the switch to actuate. It appears that the mechanism gets out of adjustment and needs to be corrected by a set screw that adjusts the throw of the magnet / lever action against the microswitch. This wouldn't bother me so much except we had two failures of independent switches in the field and one failure of a new one i pulled out of the warehouse to play around with to determine the failure mechanism.
The problem is finding a replacement to these that doesn't require any power (i.e. tuning fork, thermal dispersion, etc.). I found that Solartron Mobrey makes a switch also based on interacting magnets actuating snap switches but it seems that their configuration may be more robust than the Magnetrol setup. I am also looking at the Innovative Components Model HTS-2000 High Temp / Slurry Switch that uses a magnet and a reed switch. This setup looks very reliable but i have no experience with reed switch setups.
Any comments, suggestions or experiences?
We are replacing the Square-D setup with a Magnetrol Echotel Model 3P1 Pump Controller Ultrasonic Transmitter for level indication and pump actuation and alternation. The problem is with the T20 high level alarms. We have been experiencing failures of the switch to actuate. It appears that the mechanism gets out of adjustment and needs to be corrected by a set screw that adjusts the throw of the magnet / lever action against the microswitch. This wouldn't bother me so much except we had two failures of independent switches in the field and one failure of a new one i pulled out of the warehouse to play around with to determine the failure mechanism.
The problem is finding a replacement to these that doesn't require any power (i.e. tuning fork, thermal dispersion, etc.). I found that Solartron Mobrey makes a switch also based on interacting magnets actuating snap switches but it seems that their configuration may be more robust than the Magnetrol setup. I am also looking at the Innovative Components Model HTS-2000 High Temp / Slurry Switch that uses a magnet and a reed switch. This setup looks very reliable but i have no experience with reed switch setups.
Any comments, suggestions or experiences?
