Hot water tank sensors

Support Product Questions
1

Hi all,
I’m seeking advice about sensor hardware options regarding a project.
The project is to measure the temperature and water level of a hot water tank. This is for a semi-commercial environment where the hot water is heated to 90 degrees Celsius for sanitisation purposes.
I plan to connect sensors to a Raspberry Pi Pico W or ESP32 base microprocessor running ESP-Home to easily integrate into Home Assistant for further data analysis, presentation, automation, etc.
Possible sensors could be…

Questions I have are:

  1. Is one DS18B20 temperature sensor noted better than the other for my use case?
  2. Will these sensors, including the water level sensor, work at 90 degrees Celsius?
  3. Any thoughts on an ultrasonic method to measure tank water level like this option?:
    Weatherproof Ultrasonic Sensor with Separate Probe | Buy in Australia | SEN0208 | DFRobot | Core Electronics as used in this project Water Tank Level Sensor - Tutorial Australia
    or perhaps:
    EPTTECH TLC2206 Tuya Smart Life Mobile APP Wireless WiFi Remote Ultrasonic Real-time Reminder Contactless Outdoor Waterproof IP67 Continuous Accurate Liquid Water Oil Fuel Level Tank Monitor Sensor : Amazon.com.au: Home Improvement
    for easy integration with Home Assistant via Tuya.

Any advice is welcome.

2

Hi @Mark249733

Either of those DS18B20 sensors will be fine to use up to 125°, the maximum operating temp of Liquid Level Sensor for Water Level, Oil Level and Mild-corrosive Liquid Level Monitoring | Buy in Australia | SS314990619 | Core Electronics would be 80°C so it wouldn’t be up to the task of the 90° that you’re expecting.

The Weatherproof Ultrasonic Sensor with Separate Probe | Buy in Australia | SEN0208 | DFRobot | Core Electronics is only rated for operation to 70°C but being that it won’t be submerged in the water the outside temperature may be lower than the expected water temp, but I would highly recommend measuring it before putting the sensor in there.