osmolator pump alternatives?
 

has anyone got any? love the system but the pump has a hard time making a few feet of head. would love to hear alternative measures if you have any.

Any larger submersible powerhead to overcome the head height. I ran a pump into a couple of irrigation drippers. That prevented the pump from pushing too much water into the system too fast. Even if a float switch stuck on, the pump just couldn't push that much water through the drippers.

The pump could be stuck on for days before you begin to notice that the water level is increasing.

do the irrigation pumps work off 12v power? i believe the tunze pumps do.
edit: they're actually are 9v pumps.

ok, i re-read your post, i misunderstood what you said about the drippers.
so my problem still lies in replacing a pump that works from a 9v system...hhmmm

Build a relay circuit with the 9VDC signal as the control for a 120VAC circuit. Then you can have the osmolator trigger any 120VAC pump. I believe that should work...

Yes, sorry I left of the important bit of info...in my case, it was a 12V relay. If the osmolator runs on 9V, it is a pretty easy and inexpensive build if you know someone with a little electrical knowledge.

unfortunately not...bump for any other idea's :)

http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/productimages/sk1668.jpg
relays and switches are easy.
The way a relay works is you connect your osmolator's 9VDC + and - to the two "throw" terminals (the top two terminals in the picture). What that means is your 9VDC current (when on) will "throw" the switch, or turn the switch inside the relay on and then power your AC pump.

There will be another 4 terminals that you connect your AC power and pump to.

I'll explain using the picture above where you would connect all the wires:
if you look at that picture you'd hook your 9VDC the "top" two terminals of that relay.

Your AC power wire (from the wall) has two wires, and your AC powered pump has two wires. Notice on the bottom of the relay there are two sets of terminals.

You connect one AC Wall wire to a the top pole on the left-handed set, and the other AC Wall wire to the top pole on the right handed set. You then Connect one pump wire to the bottom pole on the left handed set, and the other pump wire to the bottom pole of the right-handed set.

So then everything would work as follows:
your osmolator switch reads a low water level. It sends 9VDC through it's +/- wires to power the 9VDC pump that'd normally be there. Instead it hits the relay and your relay then turns on the AC power of the AC pump.

It's pretty wordy the entire thing but it's really not that hard to understand if you have one in your hands to look at.

Sean, thanks alot for the in depth explanation. i believe i could confidently built that, i'll inform you of any success or failure!

np. if you need help send a pm