A power is off alarm.

[arizonakid]

The bane of all Aquariests.....the power goes off, you're asleep and don't have a clue what is going on. Here's an easy alarm system to put in your bedroom. At your local hardware store buy a "Direct Wired " smoke alarm. Connect to the smoke alarm a two foot piece of old extension cord that has only the male plug on it. After taping up the connections, plug it into a wall socket in an out of the way place in your bedroom. If and when the power goes off, the alarm wil "beep" loud enough to wake you so you can take care of your precious tank(s) without losing any critters during an extended outage. When the power comes back on, the alarm quits beeping and resets.
Remember, DIRECT WIRED, not battery operated. Have a safe and fun summer.

 

[cranberry]

Great idea for all you death sleepers... but can anyone really sleep through a power outage? The quiet is deafening around here when it happens and I spring out of bed like an earthquake is going on.
But I have really good nurse ears.

 

[small triggers]

Or if you are like me,,, (whom on top of this i have a direct wire smoke detectors throughout my house) When my fan/alarm clock/side light, and everything else i have on at night goes out,, im awake. (plus the beeping of the detector, lol)

 

[tito3054]

Thanks for the tip will do

 

[loopy101]

great tip! but what about us deaf sleepers? i would sleep right through the beeping!!!! i hate to admit this but i have 7 alarms clocks just to wake my rear end up at 4 in the morn

 

[outsdr2]

Originally Posted by arizonakid
http:///forum/post/3063590
The bane of all Aquariests.....the power goes off, you're asleep and don't have a clue what is going on. Here's an easy alarm system to put in your bedroom. At your local hardware store buy a "Direct Wired " smoke alarm. Connect to the smoke alarm a two foot piece of old extension cord that has only the male plug on it. After taping up the connections, plug it into a wall socket in an out of the way place in your bedroom. If and when the power goes off, the alarm wil "beep" loud enough to wake you so you can take care of your precious tank(s) without losing any critters during an extended outage. When the power comes back on, the alarm quits beeping and resets.
Remember, DIRECT WIRED, not battery operated. Have a safe and fun summer.
Nice tip! can you elaborate on what your next steps would be in such a scenario?

 

[scsinet]

Not all direct wired smoke alarms beep on a power failure, so you should be sure of what you are buying.

 

[arizonakid]

Originally Posted by outsdr2
http:///forum/post/3063704
Nice tip! can you elaborate on what your next steps would be in such a scenario?
I'm fortunate. I have a generator I can fire up if an outage is calculated to be over an extended period. Having said that, and knowing not everyone has a generator, the first step is to get some battery powered light going, flashlights work well here. (If you fall and break your leg because you can't see, you can't help the fish.) Firstly (the animals can do without fresh oxygen for a few minutes), If you are running a sump/refugium make sure the overflow valve to the sump is closed ( to keep from overflowing), and just to be safe, check that the back flow valve to the main pump is working. then manually turn off the tank master switch so the circulating pump doesn't overflow the tank when the power comes back on. [ I know this shouldn't happen but some folks keep the water in the sump at very high levels]. Ok, Now break out your battery powered air pump(s) you purchased just for this purpose. In large tanks you will want more than one air pump per tank. Put in fresh batteries that you always keep on hand, and get them working to provide oxygen to the tank.
Ok, you're set for several hours. For those folks who live in areas subjected to prolonged outages due to forces of nature a generator is a must. I know there are others on the forum with their own ideas and procedures and I hope they will share them with us. None of us like to lose our pets. Happy hobbying.

 

[nordy]

I live in an area that has regular power outages; don't know why but it's been this way since I moved here 25 years ago. I have a generator and strongly recommend that everybody run thier generator up to normal operating temps once a week or so. This keeps the gas fresh and gives you time to fix it if it don't fire up. I also keep a couple extra 2 1/2 gal gas cans full and ready to go and cycle throught them so the gas doen't get stale.