Worried about ato

[Phildago]

So I ran some tubing from my ro unit under my house and to my sump and have a float valve that controls my ato.

Is this dangerous? I've had it this way for months, and I never really thought much into as far as failure goes, but if the valve ever failed my tank would be a goner.

What are the chances of this failure? Is it reckless to leave like this? How can I simply fix the issue? Would a siphon from my spare ro container be enough pressure to feed my ato?


After looking around, I've seen some solenoid valves that seem like they'd be an excellent option for redundancy if there's a good sensor I could hook up to it.

I could have it setup so that the solenoid valve opens around the same water level as the float valve, only allowing water to flow if both valves are open. If one fails, the other acts as a back up. Does anyone have suggestions on where to start with a solenoid/sensor setup?

How would this work for redundancy?

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[UCF Alum]

Why not get an ATO kit and a water reservoir that has a float valve in it?
That way if your float valve on the water reservoir fails, your tank is still good to go.
I would never trust a cheap float valve in my sump that was connected directly to my RODI.

 

[Phildago]

Why not get an ATO kit and a water reservoir that has a float valve in it?
That way if your float valve on the water reservoir fails, your tank is still good to go.
I would never trust a cheap float valve in my sump that was connected directly to my RODI.

Is that a go to move here? I have all the parts to run a siphon from my storage into the tank, but is it just going to be a waste of time?

 

[UCF Alum]

You could run a siphon, but again, you’re putting full faith in a $5 valve. I would say if your storage tank when full isn’t enough to nuke your tank if it empties itself into your sump you’re good.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Sounds like a major flood hazard to me. I’d rather fill a 44 brute and have my atk run my ATO with all the safety and redundancy built into it.

I do know many reefers do this for convenience though.

 

[ZoWhat]

Failure = 1.000 salinity

I have a 15g container on a float valve. Worse that can happen is 15g gets flushed into my 240g total water volume

 

[ihavecrabs]

Also, unless your source water was really low TDS, I would think stopping and starting your RODI unit would burn through DI resin quick. I run my RO on bypass for 15 min and it drops from 24 tds to 13 before I kick it over to DI.. then again my TDS starts in the thousands

 

[Phildago]

Sounds like a major flood hazard to me. I’d rather fill a 44 brute and have my atk run my ATO with all the safety and redundancy built into it.

I do know many reefers do this for convenience though.

Well I did it because I didn't have the space for storage and didn't really know any better to begin with. But now I'm realizing the flaws in the design and want to act preemptively.

What's an atk? I really want to do this as simply as possible with atleast one layer of redundancy

 

[James77]

It is a disaster waiting to happen. The chances of it happening? Pretty low overall, but that does not mean much once something goes wrong.

My new setup is going to be a Tunze top off, with a separate float switch setup powering the Tunze for a backup. That will feed off a 20 gallon Brute. Something could still go wrong, but highly unlikely.

There are less expensive ATO setups using float valves. I would go with a reputable one. That setup alone feeding off a smaller reservoir of water will be infinitely less risky than what you have now.

 

[Phildago]

Also, unless your source water was really low TDS, I would think stopping and starting your RODI unit would burn through DI resin quick. I run my RO on bypass for 15 min and it drops from 24 tds to 13 before I kick it over to DI.. then again my TDS starts in the thousands

I never had any issues so far. My input is 28, output is always 0. Di resin has lasted me a few months for about a half of canister full.

 

[ZoWhat]

Well I did it because I didn't have the space for storage and didn't really know any better to begin with. But now I'm realizing the flaws in the design and want to act preemptively.

What's an atk? I really want to do this as simply as possible with atleast one layer of redundancy

So you have an Apex?

You could set up alarms to alert you on a PH DROP. I believe RODI has a PH of 7.5.

So if Apex alerts you to anything below 7.7 you could get eyes on it quick ( including trained family members)

 

[Phildago]

So you have an Apex?

You could set up alarms to alert you on a PH DROP. I believe RODI has a PH of 7.5.

So if Apex alerts you to anything below 7.7 you could get eyes on it quick ( including trained family members)

Nope, no apex. I didn't know what was being referred to actually.

I went ahead and orded an xp aqua flood guardian. I figured if I put the solenoid on the line immediately before my float valve and have the sensor slightly above my float valve it could act as a second line of defense heavens forbid my float valve ever failed.