Water Level Sensor

[Nunners]

Hi guys

It's been a long time since I've been on here - sadly, house moves have prevented any "automation" thoughts!

Anyway... what I'm looking for is a water level sensor that can provide, preferably to a PC or on an IP address, a reading of how high (or low) the water currently is.

The level is actually the brook next to our business, as it is liable to flooding, and whilst the Environment Agency gauges are useful, the nearest one is over 2 miles away!
I've looked at various internet ideas, but haven't found quite the right solution.

Ideally what I'd like is to put a pipe vertically into the edge of the brook and run the sensor in that, thus meaning the sensor isn't affected by outside forces (dirt etc). The sensor would then report back, and I can graph the water level, and setup alerts based on the value coming back when it reaches certain levels.

Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated....

Thanks
Nunners

[Mavis]

I would also be interested in a smaller scale of this. Behind our garage floods and if an outdoor sensor can send me an alert then hubby will think that all my frivolous home automation will be worthwhile!

[paulockenden]

I wonder whether you could modify the fuel gauge from an old car petrol tank? Presume that's just a variable resistor, which it should be easy to measure.

[Mavis]

Hmmm, you have got me thinking now, also motorhomes come with water gauges for fresh and waste water. Sourcing something like that will be the easy bit - making it do what I want will be the hard bit.

[paulockenden]

Raspberry Pis and Arduinos have suitable analogue inputs. Should be relatively easy.

P.

[johnwharrison]

Is it important to know the level, or just that it is above / below a certain level?