Battery Backup for 270

[BradB]

I have a 270 gallon, with a Red Dragon return on a UPS. Today, the power went out for 2 hours do to "Adverse Weather" (aka light snow). This proved my UPS on my return will run at least 2 hours. But it got me thinking about how to handle longer outages.

I have SPS and a lot of head between the display and sump and want more flow than the red dragon. I currently have a few dirt cheap powerheads in the tank I planned on replacing with a closed loop. The one issue I don't like about Red Dragons is there is no good way to run them off DC power. So the best solution is probably a different DC pump for a closed loop with a battery backup. Any suggestions?

Another solution is to buy a Vortech and Vortech backup. I am not thrilled with relying on powerheads for this, as they do not last long, require maintenance, and power outages always seem to happen at the worst possible time. For the cost, the closed loop seems a much better option, even if it is more work initially.

A lot of people have generators, and I've considered that route. If it is another thing that requires high maintenance (I don't trust 4 month old gas in my motorcycle or lawnmower) and it requires manual intervention, this is less attractive, especially since it is the highest priced option. I don't know a lot about this.

 

[DC Reefer]

if the UPS gets your 2+ hours and you have an alarm that will let you know of a power outage I would consider a generator, there is some manual intervention unless you go whole house. For the cost of the Vortecs and the battery you could get a portable generator. HD has one that is tried-fuel for $800. If running on natural gas or propane I believe that would really cut down on the generator maintenance. Also note anything with a battery will need to be replaced. I just replaced my Vortec battery, not sure how long it lasted but it was dead after 6 years of minimal usage. Please keep posted on where you end up.

 

[BradB]

Thanks! I didn't know propane and natural gas were options. Replacing a battery every 6 years is much cheaper and much less work than draining and filling a tank of gasoline every few months.

Manual intervention is an issue, especially if I go on vacation. Ohio only had 24 hours without power once in my life, knowing a Vortech or closed loop can go that long means the tank is virtual bulletproof. The generator is more for a "walking dead" end of civilization scenario - given how 2020 went so far, maybe I should plan for that.

 

[JGT]

Thanks! I didn't know propane and natural gas were options. Replacing a battery every 6 years is much cheaper and much less work than draining and filling a tank of gasoline every few months.

Manual intervention is an issue, especially if I go on vacation. Ohio only had 24 hours without power once in my life, knowing a Vortech or closed loop can go that long means the tank is virtual bulletproof. The generator is more for a "walking dead" end of civilization scenario - given how 2020 went so far, maybe I should plan for that.

I have a dual fuel genny, gas and propane. Hook it up to my 500 gallon propane tank for my pool heater or if I ran out could use gas. Also could use the 20 gal bbq propane tanks but only get around 8 hours on one of those.

 

[DC Reefer]

Thanks! I didn't know propane and natural gas were options. Replacing a battery every 6 years is much cheaper and much less work than draining and filling a tank of gasoline every few months.

Manual intervention is an issue, especially if I go on vacation. Ohio only had 24 hours without power once in my life, knowing a Vortech or closed loop can go that long means the tank is virtual bulletproof. The generator is more for a "walking dead" end of civilization scenario - given how 2020 went so far, maybe I should plan for that.

Im not sure how long the vortec battery will last as I don't know when I stopped working. I would expect 4-5 years. They are easy to test, I just never do it

 

[Mical]

I've been in a similar predicament, living in Minnesota. Most years barely an outage, one year without power 4 days. So when we purchased our home last year I swore I was going to invest in a whole house generator. Well 2020 hit, both of us work from home then we lost power for 4 hours and my UPS's barely made it driving just the return pumps. Luckily it was summer and we didn't need the heaters. After that outage, had a rep from Generac come out discussed my needs and $7800 later we have a whole house generator & have used it twice since July. Ours is 16k, powered by natural gas with an auto transfer switch. (I've had portable generators in the past and you have to lug them out, pray they start, fill with gas, run cables, etc...) I've done "the drill" before in winter - NO MORE