Sump Overflow protection?

[kindbuds2k]

I just set up my sump and its sweet, on the return i put in a ball valve to control the water flow back to the tank, and after the ball valve I have a check valve so if the power goes out, the water wont siffin back in the sump. But what if for some reason the overflow broke siffin? All the water in the sump would end up in the tank and than on the floor! Anyone have any ideas how to keep this from happening. Im not worried about the power going out and the water keep draining into the sump from the overflow, because I left enough room for the water from the tank to drain to the bottom of the overflow. If that makes any sense. But like i said above my main concern is that what if the siffin breaks on the overflow. The pump in the sump wont stop pumping till its draind. Can someone please help me with some input. Thanks.

 

[jjlittle]

Well with the siffin setup you are at risk of failure and water over flow weather it be loss of siffin and pump pumping water to tank and over flowing or if the pump stops and the siffin pumping water in to the sump but there is suppost to be enough area that if the pump stops that the water siffining back in till it get air and wont over flow the sump.So your risk is if you lose siffin and pump keeps pumping the only thing I have heard of is a shut off switch that would shut pump off if water in sump area dropped to a certain point not sure where they sell them though.

 

[acrylic51]

What style overflow are you using???? I've had the power go out on my tank before when using the syphon setup and I allowed myself enough room in my sump to take up the back syphon........Even if the pump would quit working if setup properly your sump should be able to contain back syphoning.......

Do a test and shut the power off to the pump and see how much water back syphons to the sump......if it starts to get near the top of course turn it on, but this will tell you if you have allowed yourself enough room in the sump and then you have to factor in the skimmer back flowing into the sump as well.......Please don't rely on just the check valves....They do and will fail at some point....During shut down and maintenance you could check them by seeing if your getting more back syphoning than normal or the other option would be to purchase the see through (clear) style that you can see actually working when you shut it down, but you can't be there all the time when the power goes out. Also this style check valve is rebuildable as well....
They are a piece of mind, but IMO a false sense of security to a point....Another option would be to drill your return line if it goes up over the top of the tank just below the water line and if the power were to go out it would break syphon at the level the hole is drilled in the return line.......HTH

 

[kindbuds2k]

Ok cool, my other concern is if the overflow were to stop working ... (the syphon) stopped syphoning. The pump in the sump would keep pumping water into the main tank till the sump was drained. And all that water would end up in the main tank and than on the floor. There for creating a big disaster. And i think the overflow was built by my lfs. My question is how would i keep that from happening. Thanks for all the info so far. It is helping me along.

 

[acrylic51]

Yeah if your overflow stopped working you'd get some water spillage on the floor....If your using "J" tubes maybe you can add another just in case??? Depends on the setup really.....In this hobby I don't think anything is full proof???!!!!!????

Actually I think you could get some valve not sure of the name, but it would sense lack of water coming down the drain to the sump and shut the pump down....

Duhhhhhh actually an electrical float valve would work just the same if the water level dropped to a certain level in the sump it would shut the pump down.......

 

[kindbuds2k]

HEACK YEAH!!! That's it, I am going to do that. Where would i find a float valve? And how difficult is it to hook up?

 

[acrylic51]

You could find them on the famous auction site and if you email me I can give you the name of the guy who sells them.......their like $5.00 a piece plus shipping......Pretty simple to wire in.....If you need his email; email me at shwncbb@verizon dot net