Freddy0144
Active Member
Lesson 1: So I woke up to a tray full of water and about three towels worth on the floor. I am like what the heck is going on! I decided to let the new ATO container fill over night (mistake #1) . What I did not realize was the shut off in the valve was not shutting completely. (I tested this will manual activation and mouth air pressure and was able to stop the flow.) .
After replacing the valve with another one I had around, I spent some time looking at the issue and realized the cotter pin or split pin that allows the valve to articulate was binding the moving part not allowing it to close fully, I ran a drill bit through the hole the cotter pin goes through and it moves nice now. I just need to test it before I put it back in to service.
Then I was looking at the sump while I was cleaning up the water and noticed the sump had more water in it than when I went to bed. Now I am really puzzled. The ATO was turned off so I had no Idea how the extra water ended up in the sump... A quick salinity check revealed that I did loose a point of Salinity going from 1.026 to 1.025. Not the end of the earth but a close call that I dont want repeated.
Lesson 2: So again I am watching the sump while I I drain the extra water and notice the freshwater siphoning out the supply line from the ATO container into the sump and I realized that even though I did not start a siphon, it happen because the drain line was at the same level as the pump in the ATO container. So I rerouted the line making sure that the area that it drains into is the highest point of the line so there can be no siphon.
Lesson 3: The Tray! when I purchased this tank it came with the tray that sits in the stand, I did not think about it at the time. Honestly when I was building the tank I thought what a pain, literally, that tray poked me and hurt while plumbing the tank. So after getting everything done I kind of thought it was cool it caught the little spills I make all the time. This time the tray caught about 4 gallons of water and prevented it from going on my floor. I highly recommend a tray for under the tank, and that with some type of alarm would save tons of headaches. (there are lot of other ones out there besides Apex)
So recapping, Check the ATO container supply shut off valves and make sure they shut off every time. 2nd make sure that your ATO can not siphon from the ATO container to the sump. Lastly put a catch tray in the sump and ATO areas and keep your electronics off the bottom of the tray.
There were no electronics damaged during the course of this incident as they were all sitting above the tray by design.
After replacing the valve with another one I had around, I spent some time looking at the issue and realized the cotter pin or split pin that allows the valve to articulate was binding the moving part not allowing it to close fully, I ran a drill bit through the hole the cotter pin goes through and it moves nice now. I just need to test it before I put it back in to service.
Then I was looking at the sump while I was cleaning up the water and noticed the sump had more water in it than when I went to bed. Now I am really puzzled. The ATO was turned off so I had no Idea how the extra water ended up in the sump... A quick salinity check revealed that I did loose a point of Salinity going from 1.026 to 1.025. Not the end of the earth but a close call that I dont want repeated.
Lesson 2: So again I am watching the sump while I I drain the extra water and notice the freshwater siphoning out the supply line from the ATO container into the sump and I realized that even though I did not start a siphon, it happen because the drain line was at the same level as the pump in the ATO container. So I rerouted the line making sure that the area that it drains into is the highest point of the line so there can be no siphon.
Lesson 3: The Tray! when I purchased this tank it came with the tray that sits in the stand, I did not think about it at the time. Honestly when I was building the tank I thought what a pain, literally, that tray poked me and hurt while plumbing the tank. So after getting everything done I kind of thought it was cool it caught the little spills I make all the time. This time the tray caught about 4 gallons of water and prevented it from going on my floor. I highly recommend a tray for under the tank, and that with some type of alarm would save tons of headaches. (there are lot of other ones out there besides Apex)
So recapping, Check the ATO container supply shut off valves and make sure they shut off every time. 2nd make sure that your ATO can not siphon from the ATO container to the sump. Lastly put a catch tray in the sump and ATO areas and keep your electronics off the bottom of the tray.
There were no electronics damaged during the course of this incident as they were all sitting above the tray by design.
