Samovar 7.00: the water pump and water valve are enabled on the "Pumps" («Насосы») tab of the configurator; the directives below are needed only for manual setup.
Semi-automatic mode
The point of this method is that it works more like a watchdog, and it works quite well.
Water is supplied from the mains (or from a pressure tank placed above the column).
The water goes to a needle valve and then to a rotameter, which is installed for adjustment and monitoring. A bypass line with another tap and a valve is built around the needle valve.
Set it up as follows:
Turn on the water. Close the needle valve completely. Apply voltage to the valve by force, so that the valve opens, and use the valve's tap to set the flow, for example 10 liters per hour. Remove the voltage - the valve closes.
The bypass line valve is connected to Samovar instead of the pump - to the pump control output (GPIO4 on ESP32 DevKit, GPIO11 on ESP32-S3) through a transistor switch or a relay, as described on the page
Cooling.
In the configurator, on the "Pumps" («Насосы») tab, clear the
"Control water pump or stirrer" («Управлять насосом воды или мешалкой») checkbox and enter
LOW in the
"Water valve control" («Управление клапаном воды») field (or HIGH, if your switch turns on with a high level). The configurator writes this to the Samovar_ini.h file, where the same lines can be edited manually:
//#define USE_WATER_PUMP //использовать управление ШИМ для насоса для воды
must be commented out
and the line:
#define USE_WATER_VALVE LOW //использовать управление клапаном для регулировки напора воды
must be uncommented. While USE_WATER_PUMP is enabled, the USE_WATER_VALVE directive has no effect - in the firmware they are mutually exclusive.
Then start the column and use the needle valve to set the water flow so that the temperature at the dephlegmator outlet is, say, 50°. Bring the column to its working mode, adjusting the flow slightly with the needle valve. That's it - the column is cooled.
If the water temperature goes above the water sensor setpoint, the valve on the bypass line opens and an extra 10 liters per hour goes to cooling; as soon as the temperature drops, the valve closes.
The valve opens when the water temperature rises more than 1 °C above the setpoint, and closes when it falls more than 1 °C below the setpoint. This is how the rectification and distillation modes work. In Beer mode this output is not used - only the relay No. 3 valve opens; in cheesemaking mode the bypass valve is open while the product temperature is more than 1 °C above the target.
In this mode the system can run for quite a long time. But it should not be left unattended for long, and the flow needs to be adjusted periodically with the needle valve.
