my first power outage

[scottallert]

I was watching saving private ryan at about 9:30 and see a green blueish explosion in my backyard, then the power goes out i run to my tank and turn the valves off but im too late, my 75 gallon lost about 3 gallons onto the floor, my 40 gallon lost about 4 on in my bedroom floor, then we notice a fire in the back yard about 20 feet by 15 so we run out there and put it out.
and didnt get power back until this morning.
so
how do i prevent this from happening again my tanks are siphoned into the sump by pvc.

 

[pezenfuego]

Do you have holes drilled on your returns to prevent back siphon?

 

[beaker457]

I am very new to this site so please disregard this since I am still a n00b when it comes to SW.
Researching a bunch on building my own set up there has been a good amount of talk in back up generators to protect against this kind of thing. But this brings up a question I also had on this topic. If the power goes out and your generator does not immediately kick in you are still in this problem. What is the power draw to keep the basics going in the tank, and would plugging them into a large APC like you would for most computers or servers help for minor power outages or the void between outage and generator kicks in?
--JP

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by Beaker457
http:///forum/post/3016172
I am very new to this site so please disregard this since I am still a n00b when it comes to SW.
Researching a bunch on building my own set up there has been a good amount of talk in back up generators to protect against this kind of thing. But this brings up a question I also had on this topic. If the power goes out and your generator does not immediately kick in you are still in this problem. What is the power draw to keep the basics going in the tank, and would plugging them into a large APC like you would for most computers or servers help for minor power outages or the void between outage and generator kicks in?
--JP
Sumps should be set up so that the possibility of an overflow happening is very minimal...no matter if the electricity goes out or not. My question to the OP is, how did it overflow? Did the water from the return pump create a backsiphon and pull water from the DT back into the sump?

 

[scottallert]

Originally Posted by PEZenfuego
http:///forum/post/3016171
Do you have holes drilled on your returns to prevent back siphon?
no, can you explain this plz
where would i drill the holes

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by scottallert
http:///forum/post/3016210
no, can you explain this plz
where would i drill the holes
I will try to explain it, but truth be told it's kinda hard to type out.
When the pump stops pumping water to the main tank, the water in the pipe going up to the DT will run back down into the sump (because of gravity). This will cause a siphon (ie all the water from the DT will run into the sump.) To fix this you have to make sure that once the pump stops working, air can get into said pipe and prevent backsiphon. By drilling a hole right below the waterline on the return pipe, you will fix this problem. When the water level gets a little lower, that hole will be exposed and air will get into the pipe causing the siphon to break. I hope that makes sense and helps

Once the siphon breaks, the overflow will fill up the sump and everything will stay at a standstill...

 

[geridoc]

Drill a hole in the return just below the water line. Then, when the power goes out water will siphon back until the water level drops to the level of the hole, then will stop.

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by GeriDoc
http:///forum/post/3016219
Drill a hole in the return just below the water line. Then, when the power goes out water will siphon back until the water level drops to the level of the hole, then will stop.
Echo lol.

 

[scottallert]

wow, wish someone would have told me earlier thanks!

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by scottallert
http:///forum/post/3016636
wow, wish someone would have told me earlier thanks!
So is everything working now?

 

[meowzer]

All I know is when I was setting mine up..a little turtle told me to test this...turn pump off and make sure the water from tank does not cause sump to overflow....once it drops below a certain level in my overflow...it stops....and I make sure my sump has enough water in ( or not) so that if this happens it can accommodate the water that will come in from the dt

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3016642
All I know is when I was setting mine up..a little turtle told me to test this...turn pump off and make sure the water from tank does not cause sump to overflow....once it drops below a certain level in my overflow...it stops....and I make sure my sump has enough water in ( or not) so that if this happens it can accommodate the water that will come in from the dt
Yep. However without holes drilled, the water from the DT would flood the sump.

 

[scottallert]

its good now, i have to move my 75 gallon so i am going to put a bigger sump in and drill holes in my pvc next weekend.