Do you use a check valve to prevent floods?

[Ed Hahn]

Do you trust your Check Valve or do you use one? How do you prevent floods in a power outage?

 

[DonW]

Do you trust your Check Valve or do you use one? How do you prevent floods in a power outage?

Ed,
I would'nt trust a check valve. I just leave enough room in the sump for the returns to drain back. Works perfectly and cannot screw up.

Don

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

No I dont use them but it wouldnt hurt. But like Don, I leave enough room to over flow in all but 1 and it will overflow into the sink.

 

[Rico]

I believe that when the supply is 6" under the surface as is yours Ed, then you need to incorporate a vacuum break to stop the reverse siphon and maintain the static water level near the height of the overflow. If you rely on a sump to handle the overflow, it will have to have a large overflow capacity to handle the drain down. Designing a sump with that much overflow capacity will not leave much room for water needed in order for the sump to perform. Additionally if you endup with corals that grow near the surface, they will be exposed to air and die when that power outage hits or when you kill the pumps for maintenance. According to the sump calculator tool with a tank 48" long, 24" wide with 1800gph flow through the sump, you will need a minimum sump volume of 48 gallons. This incorporates the 30 gal reserve needed for when the power goes out.

Rick

 

[john]

drill a small hole at the top of the return line and check it once in awhile to make sure its not plugged

 

[obie66]

I just had a new check valve fail - flood - call in ServiceMaster to repair the carpet and wall flood damage. It was only in 4 days. It is installed completely vertical. My returns come in too far under the water surface to drill a hole and if I point them up, they spray water/waves out of the tank. So I have to come up with a solution. I am thinking of installing 2 check valves in series. That way one backs up the other.

 

[les]

Ed,
I have just finished installing the last of the mods to my tank. I added a vacuum breaker at the top of the supply pipe. I also use a swing check valve, and my sump is large enough to handle my power outage overflow needs. I guess that I'm just paranoid about ruining my new carpet. If I were you, I would also be paranoid of getting Stacy's carpet wet also.

LP

 

[CarlaW]

My sump is large enuf to handle a power outtage, and I drilled a siphon hole in the feed to the refuge. Works great

 

[Ed Hahn]

You are trying to convince me to keep that new check Valve aren't you..My Father in Law and I just checked my power outage condition again. It still working fine without the check valve. The vacuum break above the tank is working perfect. Its hard to look at something that is brand new and never used. I asked Kevin if he wanted to take it in as trade. He said he had a bunch of them, For some reason they are not selling. I can not trade it so I may have to use it.

 

[CarlaW]

I wouldn't use one just because of the horror stories. JMHO

 

[les]

I have used one for years, never had a problem with it. In fact, until recently joining the local reef club hadn't even heard of any problems.