WH1080 - rain gauge not working

[cats_five]

The rain gauge has stopped working on my WH1080. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement, please?

[steve]

Have you checked that it isn't clogged up with debris - spider webs etc?

[cats_five]

No. I did pour some water through from a watering can and could see it dripping out of the bottom.

[steve]

Could you hear the gauge tipping? The 'see-saw' can get jammed due to spiders etc. It's worth opening it up to see how it looks.

[cats_five]

I will have to go out with the step ladder. I'll let you know what I find.

[cats_five]

I managed to wiggle a little finger in and poke it up & down quite a bit, and it shows rain for that time. I'll put some more water through today to make sure it's OK. Do you know how many ml from a syringe should make the gauge tip? I couldn't hear it, but there was wind & traffic noise and I didn't take it off. That will be the next stage if it's still not working.

[steve]

The area of the gauge is 55cm and a tip is 0.3 mm, which is 300 ml per sq metre. So one tip, in theory, on average, requires 300*55/10000 = 1.65 ml.

[cats_five]

Thanks. I think I'll have to take it off and really clean it out.

[Old Techo]

Yep.... you need to pull it apart to remove all spider web threads as they are very strong and act like springs.

After that I suggest you silicone some flyscreen material over the bigger holes to keep the little buggers out

[cats_five]

Sorry for taking so long to come back, I have had a lot of other stuff going on in my life. I think I need to replace the gauge and then try to fix the old one at my leisure. I was able to buy a replacement wind vane from Maplins (some kind soul posted me the relevent URL), presumably I can get a rain gauge from them, but I have no idea what the part number is.

<edit>The wonders of Google:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/spare-rain-gaug ... ons-676619

[cats_five]

The diagnosis was spot on - there were several spiders and an earwig in residence, a couple of spider nests, and lots of cobwebs stopping the rocker from rocking. However I managed to break one of the plastic lugs taking it apart, so I think I'd better get another one anyway.

[Mortello1]

Could you hear the gauge tipping? The 'see-saw' can get jammed due to spiders etc. It's worth opening it up to see how it looks.

Sorry for resurrecting this but yes, I can hear the gauge tipping. And yet no rainfall is registering, or even water from a jug. Do I still have to clean the whole thing out? Sounds like I might do more harm than good.

[steve]

If your gauge is tipping but not registering on the console, then it sounds more like something is broken - the switch in the gauge, the cable, etc. Or a poor connection where it plugs into the transmitter, perhaps.

[water01]

Maplins are selling replacement rain gauges for £4.99. http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-replac ... 96gy-n77nf

[Mortello1]

The irony is Thursday was the wettest day of the year and the gauge only started giving problems on Friday! Although for £5 what can you expect I suppose... Thanks guys.