DIY - 12v Ball Valves for flooding kill tanks

[ryangler]

I recently welded in a pair of flooding kill tanks connected plumbed to the transom with bungs in the tanks.

to drain the tanks im going to need to be underway for the water to run out which could be a pain when im out by myself, or if its just me and the wife.

I was thinking of rigging up 12v stainless electric ball valves hooked up to the dash switch panel, to make it easier to empty them.

Anybody seen this done before? any reason why this is a bad idea? FYI when the power is off they auto close.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/motorized-ball-valve-G1-Reduce-Port-DN25-2-way-12VDC-CR04-Stainless-steel-/331562361075?hash=item4d32a820f3:g:IDQAAOSweW5VX-dZ

[scottar]

any reason it's a bad idea? ............nothing concrete, just a nagging feeling generated by 20 years of mixing water with electricity. The fact they are from China and cost $20 is just icing on the cake so to speak. If you do it, my recommendation would be to have a second manual valve in the line between the electric one and the transom as well.......just in case.

[ryangler]

I was still going to keep the screw bung fitting in the tank and the bung on board if I needed it.

[inveratta]

I was still going to keep the screw bung fitting in the tank and the bung on board if I needed it.\

what could go wrong? I think plenty..as above suggestion I agree........... a lever control ss ball valve as a back up ..its simple quick and reliable and in place. We use higher pressure electric op valves at work and they can give trouble..and they cost a lot more than $20.

[Mupster]

The odd fish scale may jam up the ball valve too!

[ryangler]

I dont think I explained it properly, the boat has a sealed deck and the tanks are welded in, 6 inches of 32mm tube is welded to the drain hole in the tank with a small bung fitting fitted in the hole/tube, 32mm tube is then wedled to the transom wall and runs to within 8 inches of the tank drain tube, a 12inch piece of poly hd hose will then be used to connect the two and double hose clamped.with sika for good measure (we couldnt run a full piece of 32mm tube because we couldnt get to the back side of tube to weld to the tank once in place) the plan would be to also run the ball valve where the poly tube will be.

I will also carry a universal rubber bung/plug on the boat if one of the float alarms goes off we will put the rubber bung in the transom hole but I dont think the hose will fail. the 10 yr old piece of fuel hose under the deck still looks good apart from being a little yellow.

If the valve fails closed no dramas we will just bail any water in the tank if we need to. If it fails open its only ever going to fill the tank to the height of the hull water line. If it fails open we can just resort to screwing in the bung fitting in the tanks and then bail any water if necessary.

I don't think the valves will be under a lot of preasure. When we put a little water in my mates kill tank its dosnt gush in. The valve body should be a sealed unit, So I cant see how it could leak into the bilge.

[Aussie123]

Go for it.
You will not have any issues except for maybe solenoid failure in the gate valve but you have a way of stopping the water if need be.
As you mentioned, the tank will only fill to the level of the surrounding water level so if your floor is above sea level, it won't flood the decks.
Quality hose and fittings is the biggest thing below deck.

[tunaticer]

NC valve with solenoid to open is what you want.
There isn't anything out of the ordinary with this.
It will have a finite lifetime, buying quality will extend that period.
Suggest get something from SMC, they are specialists in flow controls.

Something like this one VXD262PZ1E google that model number.