Brief power loss caused display tank to leak upon power returning: Explanation/how to avoid in the future?

[Daedalus]

Return pump: eFlux 6011 (3170gph)

Overflow: Maggie Muffler 1"

My wife was cleaning and needed a spot on the surge protector for a vacuum. She unplugged what she thought was a light, but what was actually the return pump. When the light didn't go off she says she plugged it right back in, within 3-5 seconds. An hour later the tank was flooding.

Have only had the Maggie Muffler for a couple of months, but have had 0 issues with it after getting everything tuned in. I'm assuming the brief power interruption messed the siphon up just enough to barely reduce the flow, which caused it to slowly raise the DT level over an hour.

Just looking to see if anyone has any tips to avoid this in the future (say, if we loose power due to a storm). If it happens during the day I'll be able to unplug the pump and manually retune the system once power is back, but I'd rather avoid having a brief flicker in the middle of the night cause me to wake up to a flooded dining room.

Would also love an explanation as to why it happened, if it is not what I'm assuming.

Thank you!

 

[TX_REEF]

do you have check valves or anything like that which may have gotten stuck? I'm having trouble visualizing your plumbing setup to offer advice.

 

[Daedalus]

do you have check valves or anything like that which may have gotten stuck? I'm having trouble visualizing your plumbing setup to offer advice.

I have a check valve on the return line, and a ball valve on the overflow line.

 

[TX_REEF]

I have a check valve on the return line, and a ball valve on the overflow line.

That helps! 2 thoughts off the top of my head.. any chance something is clogging the ball valve? Is it possible that something was clogging/restricting the return pump, which fell off when the pump turned off, and then when the pump turned back on the flow rate was higher because whatever was clogging it fell off?

 

[Cell]

When the return is shut off, the drain should not be affected. Residual water in the pipes and overflow will drain into the sump (and until your siphon breaks), potentially overflowing the sump. If your display was overflowing, something happened to your drain. I'd see if the check valve failed first.

 

[GlassMunky]

only 2 possibilities allowed by physics...
1: the drain is clogged and therefor not allowing the flow through so the water raises and floods.
2: the pump has changed speeds and is pumping faster than before and overwhelming the drain and therefor flooding.

 

[mues]

Missing any snails?