ATO failure

[Dearth]

My ATO system (JBJ) failed last night the float in the sump quit working correctly it was telling my ATO that the water level dropped and telling it to turn on the pump even though the water level was fine so I had 20 gallons of water added to my tank but was not aware of it until this morning when I stepped in wet carpet. Fortunately only about 8 gallons went into the tank while the rest went on the floor salt went from 1.026 to 1.025 so not a huge change.




I dodged a huge bullet but paid for it in wet rug it was a win/lose for me

[dino]

sorry to hear this. its why I only use a gravity system

[WarDog]

Oh man, that sucks. Hearing this more and more. Sounds like you got off lucky. Good example of the need for backups of backups and failsafes.

[geforce]

where your float sensors are......is there decent water movement? is it in the same compartment as your dosing?

[Frogger]

Originally Posted by dino

sorry to hear this. its why I only use a gravity system

I had my gravity feed system fail as well. The only real answer is to limit the fresh water in your reservoir to 2 to 3 days worth of water max. And have a large enough sump to be able to handle that water if the top off system should fail.

[Dearth]

Originally Posted by geforce

where your float sensors are......is there decent water movement? is it in the same compartment as your dosing?

I have a basic sump system skimmer and return pump in a two tank sump system (skimmer in one tank and return pump in the other) ATO float is in the return pump tank

[gregzz4]

I hate wet floors!
Although I mostly trust my Tunze 3155, I have it plugged into my controller and a float switch in the return section. This will only allow 2 gallons to flow IF the ATO controller sticks 'on'.
The ATO has access to a max of 9g, which in my 115g system would drop my DT from 1.026 to only 1.024. And my sump could handle it all; unless the return pump were to then stop!!

[smokinreefer]

Redundancy and fool proof failsafes are the only way to avoid disaster.

The limiting the amount of water in the reservoir is the safest.

Electronic ato can always fail. Nature of the beast.

Gravity fed can also fail... Something gets stuck on the float, etc.

I've had issues with both methods.

I've only had a near hobby ending experience with my gravity fed. (Mind you it was with a large reservoir going through a kalk reactor)

[adam84]

Just curious are you using a higher output pump with your jbj or did the internal timer in the ato unit fail? The jbj ato has an adjustable timer in it that you can set so it will ony allow the pump to run for so long regardless of what the float switch says

[Dearth]

Originally Posted by adam84

Just curious are you using a higher output pump with your jbj or did the internal timer in the ato unit fail? The jbj ato has an adjustable timer in it that you can set so it will ony allow the pump to run for so long regardless of what the float switch says

The JBJ was second hand when I got it but was in very good condition however the timer function stopped working a couple of months after I got it and until yesterday the floats worked flawlessly (second set of floats for it as the first set failed 2 years ago) I have a a powerful but small pump

Sadly I will have to wait til the new year to buy another ATO system I’ll just have to plug and unplug the ATO as needed no big deal atm