Kerick Valve MA052 PVC Mini Float Valve, Tank Mount, Adjustable Arm, 1.5 gpm at 60 psi, 1/2" NPT Male

Quality float valve, barely distinguishable from the Chinese copies but I trust the brand that actual plumbers use. Replaced the cracked valve in our backyard water feature that's fed by our lawn & garden irrigation system. Just had to put a little silicone grease on the threads and screw it in by hand.

This thing is much smaller than I had pictured in my mind. The whole assembly is barely longer than my open hand, so it can fit into tight spaces for a fountain project, or in a sump to maintain water level in a swimming pool. The description here at Amazon.com is nonsense, giving its length as 1 inch: The actual overall length is about 7.5 inches, or 6.5 inches from the mounting flange to the tip of the float, worst case. (See the second vendor-supplied image with the valve photographed against an inch grid for a better understanding of its actual size.) With allowance for installation and adjustment, the valve could be squeezed into a space as small as 8 inches by 2 inches. If installed in a bulkhead, the mounting surface should be flat and no thicker than about 0.25 inch, to allow enough thread protrusion on the outside to attach a threaded pipe fitting. Bulkhead mounting is optional: The male pipe thread on the valve is slightly tapered and can be screwed into any female pipe thread fitting, using Teflon tape on the threads for a watertight sealI gauged the valve orifice with a drill rod at 0.094 inch (3/32 inch) diameter, which accounts for the low flow rate specification. You may not want to fill a swimming pool with it from scratch, but for a typical backyard pool it will allow more than enough water to flow to compensate for evaporation loss. The float arm pivots on a stainless steel cotter pin, so it could easily be disassembled, should the need arise, although at the low cost of the assembly it may be more economical to replace it entirely. Depending on the placement of the valve, the float can be adjusted over a liquid level range of at least 4 inches, possibly as much as 6 inches, by loosening the stainless steel wing nut.One of these valves was successfully used to maintain the water level in a neighbor's swimming pool last summer during a month-long absence. See the customer photo that I posted, showing the minimalist installation with a few pieces of PVC plastic plumbing, an ordinary brick and a garden hose. The only problem I encountered was the hose of the automatic pool sweep once getting hung up on the valve, keeping it open continuously. Because of the restricted flow, no flooding occurred by the time I discovered the problem the next day. If I use it next summer again, I'll mount the valve with some sort of bumper or "fence" around it to keep the pool sweep hose clear, and I'll replace the leaky plastic hose fitting with a sturdier brass fitting.

It does not come with a way to connect it to the hose so once you buy that connection so you can hook it up it works great on my pond.

My supply pipe coming out of the pool, flush on the wall tiles is 1/2". So I buy a 1/2" barb fitting male NPT, 70 cents lowe's. Soften the barb fitting on a trial scrap 1/2" pipe to reduce the barb diameter, or you can sand the barb with drill chuck to the id of barb fitting, around .010 bigger over the 1/2" pipe ID. (Do Not Drill the pool pipe ID to make it bigger, you need a smooth weld when you apply a primer and glue on pipe for water pressure application integrity, wait about 2 hrs. Connect a 1/2" elbow then the kerick valve, so the whole unit is parallel to the wall of the pool for less obstruction. I have it installed for about a 2 weeks now, set about halfway or middle of the mouth of the skimmer, with stable height the whole two weeks. Usually my pool go down 1/2" every 2 days, then I fill it up, about 30-45 minutes with timer, until the middle of mouth of skimmer. The water ball valve on the faucet is set on the low opening to avoid overfill just in case this kerrick valve malfunction. The thread on this is not a standard 1/2" NPT, but that 2 turn is enough, with the help of a provided nut, no leak, so no problem for me.

Used this in a 5 gallon bucket for automatic refillable waterer for quail cage

I guess it's rated a 1 gallon per minute, but I don't think they do even half that. In my negative edge pool, I am evaporating water faster than these can refill. I have to add about 30 gallons of water per day here in Arizona, and these fall behind quickly and cannot catch up.

Easy to install, durable, no leakage.

This worked so good that I bought a second one! I got this valve to use in a self filling self watering container I made to grow vegetables in on my patio. I have had such bad luck with vegetable gardening in the past that I wanted to take the human watering element out of the equation and build my own self watering container garden (akin to a commercial earthbox). I wanted to also make it self filling so that I didn't have to worry about adding water and having an overflow hole, so I put in this valve, added a hose bib adapter and connected it to a faucet timer (just in case I had some blow out, I didn't want to just leave it turned on all the time). Now the timer comes on once a day and the valve fills the reservoir until the float shuts it off to keep the water level topped off.I planted two tomato plants and they are going crazy with more tomatoes than I have ever had from my previous in ground gardening. I have the container for the second valve, but haven't installed it yet. Hopefully I can finish it up to have even more vegetables this winter.