Quote:
Originally Posted by
acrylic51 http:///t/393629/29-gallon-to-120-gallon-upgrade-build/80#post_3509882
I think your correct in your thinking......Making that 6' horizontal run is about equivalent to 1' of head pressure, but with that said the pump doesn't have the "juice" to overcome that, so you best course of action would be to try to pump it upward first......Even after replumbing I think your going to have to toy with the timing. I suspect it will take a tad longer than your original calculation to fill the tank.....
A side note....What would happen if for whatever reason the pump would drain water away from the sump, but unable to return the "said" amount.....I'm assuming the whole time during your water change your return pump is continuously running.....
Correct. The water change occurs with the main pump running. This way the water level changes consistenly. Here are the steps:
1. ATO Powers off
2. Pump from the Sump to the drain starts to pump water out. If the water level is too low already the bottom switch will be closed. If this occurs the pump will fail to start (this is a good thing).
3. Over about 2 minutes the dirty water will pump put to the drain in the amount of 1 gallon. (At this point the pump will only run until the bottom switch closes or time expires for the pump to run. I would think about 3 minutes max, but I'm going to time it and add no more then 15-20 seconds)
4. After 3 minutes have passed (whether it took 3 minutes of pumping or the switch shut down the pump) there will be a 1 minute break where no pumps run.
5. After that minute break the saltwater storage pump will turn on (if for any reason the top float switch is open, meaning the water level is too high or already at the right level to pump will not turn on).
6. One gallon of water will pump into the sump for either ~3 min or until the top float switch opens.
7. ATO turns back on.
Each outlet is then deactivate for the remainder of the day and can't be triggered again by a float switch to activate a pumps as a safety precaution.
Something I didn't think about is if my return pump fails. Currently if this happens sump would pump out a couple gallons, and most likely not pump long enough to trigger the switch however, new water would not pump back in because the top refill switch would already be open. When I do finally get around to starting up my return pump I can then manually run the refill of the water to appropriate level. No risk of flood or completely draining my sump.
The other scenario you bring up is that the sump empties but doesn't refill. The worse case scenario is that the 1 gallon is replaced as RO/DI from the ATO. Obviously not desirable, but also not a hug concern unless it goes untreated for days. I feel I would catch on to this in time. My next purchase will most likely be the .NET module for my controller, so I can have it tell me when a pump fails or a switch didn't trigger when it should have.
Also I'll be running this auto change daily around my bed time. I always check my tank before bed, so most of the time I will be around to see it perform the change. Unless I'm out of town, which is rare.
