How do you stop a flood?

[WarDaddy]

What can be done to detect water in the cabniet and automatically shutting down pumps?

Is there something out there that you can install that when it gets wet it shuts down the pumps.

Not a float vlave, I don't eant that much water to leak before the cut.

thnaks,

[reef10]

Depending on the situation turning off your pumps may not be the best move.

[Sk8r]

There is an alarm you can get that will sound off if water touches the probes. You can put it an an area, either with probes in the carpet, or taped down in an area prone to flood. Search: water alarm.

[stevedola]

with leaks theres very little you can do except hope and pray that its a slow leak.

with pump malfunctions the best bet is to have a sump large enough to accomodate the added water volume if the pump shuts down, make sure there is still water movement in the tank and a heater.

alot of times it depends upon your setup. Redundancy is a great idea for trying to stop disasters before they happen.

[Bri Guy]

50% chance of flood with water goin up, and 50% for water goin down=100% chance of flood. Shutting down the power will only help you half the time. Make sure you have siphon holes drilled no lower than your overflow level, or have more room in da sump.

[WarDaddy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7376889#post7376889 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reef10
Depending on the situation turning off your pumps may not be the best move.

How do you figure?

Mind you, I have powerheads in the tanks, so water will not go stagnat.

Alarms are only good if you are home when they go off. I am not home at least 50% of the time. Not turning off the pumps will simply give me a flood and an annoying alarm when I get home, Right?

[Reeling Reefer]

If you have plenty of room in the sump for extra water you shouldn't have any real worries about da flood.

[WarDaddy]

I am talking about the water overflowing out of the Display tanks, not sump. I have an overflow blocked by an RBTA, 15 gallons over the top of the display.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7377667#post7377667 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reeling Reefer
If you have plenty of room in the sump for extra water you shouldn't have any real worries about da flood.

[Eugene Ciccimaro]

If you have a pump from the sump to the display, when you turn off the pump, water will back siphon throught the pumps output line into your sump. So, turning off may cause flood in sump. For the flood you mention, I don't know of an alarm that would shut off a pump besides a float switch. Maybe adding a small overflow box (u-tube type) could save you in the future from this type of over flow. Or, as someone mentioned, redunant returns.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7377759#post7377759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Eugene Ciccimaro
If you have a pump from the sump to the display, when you turn off the pump, water will back siphon throught the pumps output line into your sump. So, turning off may cause flood in sump.

If your plumbing is properly designed, this isnt a concern.


I can't think of anything, other than redoing your overflows thats going to prevent a BTA from clogging one.

[festus]

Forgeting the drip loop in a cord hooked up to a powerstrip at the back of my tank and connected to a GFCI outlet seems to do a great job of turning off everything at the slightest presence of water.

No I'm not recommending this approach at all but it has detected some water problems for me in the past. :lol:

A safer solution if you are sure you want to cut the pumps is to install some low voltage water sensors hooked up to a relay that trips when the low voltage side closes.

[affan]

Build dams. Lots and lots of dams! Also, you need to make sure that your Levees are strong enough to withstand a big tidal wave. :smokin:

[rich415]

If your pump chamber in your sump is small enough, it will quickly pump all of the water and run dry. This isn't the best for the pump but could save the rest of the equipment.

I have a 37 gallon display and the pump chamber only holds about 1 1/2 gallans. The water line in the display is low enough to accomodate this amount of excess water.