Thread: Visual Air Flow Meter

Hello all,
I have several LP-60 air pumps.
I am thinking of adding an air flow meter for visual indication onto my air line.
Does anyone do this? I thought I would ask for any positive or negative experiences before I start.

Is a pressure gauge worth while?

Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by noo

Hello all,
I have several LP-60 air pumps.
I am thinking of adding an air flow meter for visual indication onto my air line.
Does anyone do this? I thought I would ask for any positive or negative experiences before I start.

Is a pressure gauge worth while?

Thanks in advance

Why would you need to know the exact amount of air ? if too much just throttle back using a valve. you can overcomplicate sometimes for no gain .

I don't need to know how much air precisely but it would be very convenient to know each air pump is working adequately with a quick look as I walk past.

My air pumps (6 pumps) are behind my concrete tank walls which are 2.5m high. I have 2 air pumps per central air loop for backup - redundancy and 3 different air loops. Sometimes a pump will be running but not putting out much air due to diaphram split or air leakage and a flow meter would pick that up easily. I'm thinking of six of those clear graduated tubes with a floating ball, not a digital readout screen.

It's a bit like having constant water trickling into the tank - you would have the dribble above water level so it's easy to see if it's not working properly.

I looked high and low but all the off shelf flow meters are narrow bore for higher pressure or low volume gas flow rates.

I've decided the simplest way is to make my own sight flows - a TEE fitting on main airline with a clear 25cm vertical closed end cylinder tube with 2mm hole at top and a 2cm polystryene sphere (or cylinder) that can go up and down.

The ball will rise up and seal the escape hole when air pump is working.