Battery back up for heaters?

[bo0sted2g]

I see a few options for battery backups to keep the pumps running for 30-40 hours without power.

For some reason I don't see any products that are compatible with running a heater (other than a generator or power inverter) Are there any products that would allow the heater to be run without human start up?

I'll consider myself lucky last night our power went out for about an hour and my tank dropped 2 degrees in an hour, but if it was out for longer with a steady temperature drop I don't see the point in being able to circulate water for 30+ hours with no way to keep the temp somewhat elevated. Needless to say I'm in the market for a battery back up after dodging that bullet last night, but it has me questioning the value of being able to circulate 60 degree water for 30 hours.....
Granted that 95% percent of the time I will be within an hour from home but i'm not sure my job is just going to let me leave to tend to my fish tank.

What do you guys do during prolonged outages of power? I know you can heat and float bottles of hot water repeatedly but what are the options for when this occurs when you are not home?

Thanks in advance!

 

[HotRocks]

Heaters are one of your strongest drawing electrical devices on your tank. I have a 200w plugged in to my backup just in case. Now granted my backup will only run for about 3 hours in the event of power loss. That is one powerhead, heater, and return pump. This is ample time for me to get a generator running in the event of a loss longer than a couple of hours. My tank is 200gal total system. So the 200w heater is really not even enough to heat, but I figure its better than nothing and allows temp to drop very slow while I set up a generator. My backup sends me an email upon loss occurring. My wife is home most of the time anyway, and unless I'm on vacation I am never more than an hr away.

 

[Neo Jeo]

This year im getting a generator. Its really the only way to heat your tank. Im also going to hook it up to my furnace.

 

[bo0sted2g]

Heaters are one of your strongest drawing electrical devices on your tank. I have a 200w plugged in to my backup just in case. Now granted my backup will only run for about 3 hours in the event of power loss. That is one powerhead, heater, and return pump. This is ample time for me to get a generator running in the event of a loss longer than a couple of hours. My tank is 200gal total system. So the 200w heater is really not even enough to heat, but I figure its better than nothing and allows temp to drop very slow while I set up a generator. My backup sends me an email upon loss occurring. My wife is home most of the time anyway, and unless I'm on vacation I am never more than an hr away.

What are you using as your "Backup"?

 

[kswan]

I have an old UPS that I plan to upgrade with 2 deep cycle batteries for additional capacity. I'm going to use my apex to detect a power loss and shut off everything except the return pump. A heater will also kick on after some amount of temp loss. Had a 4 hour outage this weekend that lit a fire for me to get this done.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I have an old UPS that I plan to upgrade with 2 deep cycle batteries for additional capacity. I'm going to use my apex to detect a power loss and shut off everything except the return pump. A heater will also kick on after some amount of temp loss. Had a 4 hour outage this weekend that lit a fire for me to get this done.

Depending on where you plan on putting the batteries, I'd highly recommend looking at getting a pair of blue top Optima batteries. They are a bit more expensive than traditional deep cycle units, but are spill proof and can be mounted virtually in any position. You will not have to worry about venting them or acid spillage with them compared to traditional led acid batteries. A pair of these wired into a UPS along with a small 1-1.5 KW 2 cycle generator (average cost is $135) that will power your life support system as long as you need. I have a 1KW 2 cycle that will run about 8 hours on .5 gallon tank. So if you have say a 5 gallon gas can and some oil for the mix you have nearly a week's worth of run time off the generator alone. Add the extra batteries and you can probably get 8-10 days before you need to start freaking out about power.

Another option is get a 4 stroke unit that is either a dual or tri-fuel system that will run off of propane or natural gas. With one of these you can have a line run for house gas (if you have that) and run it indefinitely.

 

[kswan]

The Optimas are a good suggestion. I'll probably stick with standard batteries for my application since I already have one for use in my sump pump battery backup. The second battery will go in series to make 24V for my UPS. While still having 12V available for the sump. Install is in the basement under the tank. I'll post a thread when I get the build started.

 

[O'l Salty]

I fill containers with hot water and float them in the sump. Not so practical for days and days without electricity but it works well in a pinch.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I fill containers with hot water and float them in the sump. Not so practical for days and days without electricity but it works well in a pinch.

That will work fairly well for a bit.

Another thing is filling a cooler with ice and run a coil of hose off your return side manifold (if you have one) an bury it in the cooler and have it dump back into the sump. It will take some close monitoring on adjusting the manifold valve to keep the temp stable, but in the event that say your a/c goes out in mid summer and the house temp climbs too much this will work as a poor man's chiller. Better than watching your prized tank's temp creep up and past 80F (27c)