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I was getting tired of pulling out the tank once or twice a week to refill it, so I came up with a fairly simple solution. When the low-water indicator light up, I just say "Hey Google, activate refill" and then go back to my business.

WARNING: this is a human activated sequence and as such is prone to ERROR. If you activate refill before tank light is on, you may get a big puddle on the counter and the floor! A water sensor can be added to detect over fill and shut off the water valve.

First, I installed a tube that hangs on top of the tank in a way that it does not obstruct tank in/out path. The tube comes out through one of the existing holes at the bottom. Here is how:




Refill in action. Note that I am restricting the flow with a valve as otherwise it is too strong and water splashes all around.


These are the pats involved: blue tube is connected to the house water supply. Water then goes through a valve (partially open in order to restrict the flow a bit), and then through the solenoid that controls on/of flow. This is a 24DC normally closed solenoid so I got a 24DC power adapter (1A). The adapter is connected to a smart plug that one can program and integrate wit Google Assistant or Alexa. All parts were purchased from Amazon with total cost around $40.


A few more details. I restricted the flow so that tank fills to about 4/5th of capacity in 1.5 minutes and then created a program (a scene) sequence for the socket that controls the solenoid and gave it a name, "Refill" in my case. The sequence does following: (ON, 1.5 minutes timeout, OFF).

I have used this for three refills already I found it very satisfying. I will still have to pull out the tank once a month or so to recharge/change the water softener filter and to clean the tank but that is quite manageable.

Am I doing something wrong? I'm using filtered water but if I don't clean my tank every week or so, it starts to get that slimy feeling so I end up washing it every couple refills. It's not like I'm not using the water/letting it sit stagnant as I run low on water every 3-4 days.

I did a bit of reading about this and the slimy stuff appears to be caused by bacteria which cannot be removed with the usual household cleaners or with hot water - rubbing was the only way they said. I recall them saying that dark places promote the growth. I also want to know if there is a better way of preventing or cleaning this.

I've been covering my tank with plastic wrap for years and it stops any slimy buildup. I still clean my tank once per week, but it's always slime-free!

What a clever set-up for your refill. Nice job!

Pretty cool and simple! You might be able to add a simple float sensor in series with your valve so that it will kill the refill power in case it overfills. In reality a fully automated setup with low and high levels sensors is super simple, but I'm not really sure if there's any cheap/easy devices to control everything. Maybe use that 24vdc adapter to power a simple relay that will activate the solenoid when the low level sensor engages.

Love this., brilliant. Bravo