Ballast valve

Went to Home Depot today to get a sprinkler valve but all they had was 24v. How do I make that work in my 12v boat? Do they make a 12v valve?

http://www.orbitirrigation.com/support/guides/Manualsearch3.cfm?Brand=02&Type=Valves

Check these guys!

yea all of those are 24v, unless I missed something. So how do I get them to work in my boat?

Sorry about that. I had looked at some 12V ones awhile back and thought that was the site I saved.

I think 12 V will operate it but I think you will have more issues with the water pressure not overcoming the valve pressure to operate. I took a fat sack pump with me to an irrigation place along with a bucket and I could not find a sprinkler valve that worked with the low pressure created from that type of pump. You could also go to Radio shack and get one of the 8 AA battery holders, that adds up to 12 V and you can take that around to test things easily. Good luck with your search and I hope you find something that works.

The 24V valves work with 12v. I have them in my boat.

Just out of curiosity what are you using the sprinkler valves for? I have pretty much the same boat as you and I just used a manual cable actuated gate valve right after the through hull as a shutoff valve. The handle for the valve is just to the left of the drivers seat so I just leave it open until the sacs are full and then push it closed. The only other valves I have are flapper type check valves on all of the fill lines. This is an aerator system though so it might be different if you are going with the self priming pumps.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Electric-Solenoid-Valve-12-Volt-Water-Diesel-B21N_W0QQitemZ300302928934QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_De faultDomain_0?hash=item300302928934

Sprinkler valves suck because they require 15 PSI to open or close properly. They restrict flow and don't seal. Not a very good choice for a valve. These are better

Luke, dropped the same exact (24v) sprinkler from home depot valve in my supra last week.

I debated it for a while. Then just bought one and tested it on my truck bat. outside the depot. Bad test, needs water.

Anyhow, the solenoid on it is not polarity based. As long has it has a current its retracts, and it vacuums and blah blah blah blah. Anyways it works.

I dropped it in line wired with the pump so when i throw the switch for the pump, the valves opens.

Tested it last weekend works beautifully. Also i went one step further and took the spring out. Got a lot more flow that way, i would recommend that.

oh FYI! It only goes one way, if thats cool with your needs that is the cheapest and easiest way.

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/679470.html?1237577739


I am getting 2 of these in a couple weeks. Will let you know how it ends up.

Bought a Orbit sprinkler valve from Lowe's today, hooked it up and it just makes a clicking noise when I flip the switch. Guess I need to add water. Psyclone, thanks for the input will keep them in mind if this valve does'nt work well. Chris I am using the valve to fill rear hard tank (350 lbs.) and bow sac (1000 lbs.) off of the same pump. Need the valve because 350 won't take as long as 1000. Scott keep me posted. Benny will do on the spring makes a lot of sense. Thanks to everyone for their help.

Chris we hit the river often if you ever need a ride just send me a P.M. I'm off four days a week.

BennyBoy - Which valve did you get at HD? Toro, Lawn Genie, Orbit? 1" or 3/4"? Does it leak?

uh, it was the orbit 3/4. no leaks no problems. has great through put. I basically used 3/4 pvc for the nipples to the hose lines. clamped them up.

so i knew there was a cheaper site thanks to all my beer making crap.lol here it is...http://stores.shop.ebay.com/valves4projects__W0QQ_armrsZ1

Thanks, Ben. What fill pumps do you have? I'm still a little skeptical about the flow restriction using these valves. Do you have any fill times before and after adding the valves? I don't mean to second guess you; I'm building a custom ballast system to add a 750 bag to each rear locker (see my design at http://kernaltao.home.comcast.net/~kernaltao/ballast.htm), and I just want to be sure I won't have a significant loss in flow switching from the manual PVC valves to sprinkler valves.

Thats what i did and the flow in the sprinkler valve is not near as good as the manual PVC. I am going to the R.V. store to check what they got, then to Ebay. I will let you know what I come up with.

Carl,

I use the OEM supra Rule 1200 pump. With the valve behind that pump I empty a 500# tank and a 350# ski locker sack in line. I really didn't compare before and after, but i also didn't notice a big difference that Luke did. Plus this section of my ballast system always empties faster than the rest, b/c the other section of my system has much larger sacks.

its such an easy test to do its worth giving a look. good luck

Ben,

Thanks for the info. Yes, I plan on purchasing one of the valves and do some testing to see how much the flow is reduced. I also need to test if this will work with the valve mounted vertically. I may not be able to remove the spring as you did because of this.

Carl, were you able to order those fittings directly from flowrite? I know the elbow ones are on there website for like a $1.47 but I hadn't seen the W743 ones.

You can get those fittings at a lot of different places like wakeside.com, buywake.com, wakemakers.com, etc. I got mine from wakemakers.com.

Right but they are ridiculously marked up though.

Yes, they are, but I don't know where else to get them. I did get them on a group buy discount through malibucrew.com, so that helped a little.

Well, I purchased one of the 3/4" Orbit sprinkler valves yesterday and tested it out. My findings are posted here: http://kernaltao.home.comcast.net/~kernaltao/sprinklervalve.htm. I will continue with some further testing and update the findings.

https://www.flow-rite.com/store/marine/retail/marinestoreretail.html

^ Great Post. these valves look great. In fact it makes me want to redo my system

They need cables or manually actuated.

Great info. Carl. Thanks

Those are interesting valves, but I can't seem to find much info on them. Can they be operated remotely with an electrical feed? If not, they are not worth it. You may as well use a PVC valve.

bjeremi - If you were pointing me to that site for the qwik-lok adapters, I couldn't find the 1" adapters. I think these were specifically manufactured for Barefoot International for their Fly High sacs. Therefore, the only way to get these is through distributors at the jacked up prices.

I just found these sprinkler valves from Irritrol: http://www.irritrol.com/pdf/sellsheet_700.pdf. They have much less flow restriction (as evidenced by the pressure drop) than the Orbit, Toro or Rain Bird valves. I ordered a 1" valve to test it out; I couldn't find a local distributor that carried these. They are quite a bit more expensive, but I figure if I can spend what I did on my boat, I can spend it on these to make my ballast system fully automatic and have quick fill times! I know there are electric ball valves that would have even less restriction, but the best price I could find on a 1" is $284. I'm not willing to spend THAT much.

I have updated my findings with the Irritrol valves. Unfortunately, they create more flow restriction than the Orbit valves! I have abandoned using these type of valves for my ballast design. I will just use manual valves for the time being. If I find a valve that is relatively low in cost and has a limited flow restriction, I will consider it. Also, if I can find space to mount two new fill pumps, I will abandon the manifold all together.

Carl,you might put a Tee fitting on the thru hull and run 2 pumps off that

I'm doing something similar to that (see my design at http://kernaltao.home.comcast.net/~kernaltao/ballast.htm). I have found that even with multiple pumps, there is still a significant flow restriction. These aerator pumps do not put out that much pressure. They are meant for high volume low pressure applications like filling ballast and livewells. You can overcome the flow restriction on a sprinkler valve by having very high pressure (100-150 psi).

(Message edited by kernaltao on April 16, 2009)

I think I just understood what you were saying. To fit the two pumps, put them on a tee. I thought of that as well, but I just don't have room in the bilge area around the engine. There isn't enough room around where the current pumps are, so the only other available area is under the engine, and I don't think there is enough clearance. I'll be going up to where my boat is this weekend, so I will check it out. I figure that I need at least 6" of clearance to mount the pumps on a tee (1.5" for thru hull to stick out, 1.5" for valve, 1.5" for tee & 1.5" for room to just get it all installed).

You guys should use valves suited for gravity feed. You are getting hung up on the design of certain valves without looking at the design application. You don't need a ball valve, just get a 12vdc valve that is suitable for gravity feed applications, i.e. they don't require 15 psi to open. The brass ones I bought on ebay flow like a water buffalo.

I just got mine in this week cant wait to put it on.