Keeping the tank warm?

[Johnd651]

So living in Northern NY, it does get cold. -4°F this morning. Was colder overnight.

We keep the house at 68-70°F, but I was wondering what people do to prepare for cold.

We have a generator and the house heat is on a plug so i could even run it off an inverter if I had to (propane).

Stove is propane if I needed to make hot water bottles.

I run double heaters in the tank.

 

[braaap]

We routinely hit -20 to -40 here during winter. I don’t change anything. Tank heater is oversized. Have a generator that will run all tank systems along with a couple plug in heaters as well to keep rooms warm. The house I’m building has a wood stove and radiant heat so I have double coverage. It will also have a backup generator even though our power loss is 1-2 times a year for more than an hour.

But it sounds like you’ve got it covered anyways. If you can heat your house your tank should be fine. And heating water bottles is always a good way to keep a tank warm. The most important thing is water movement and then water temperature. Cover those and you’ll be fine.

 

[Tamberav]

I will say tanks handle cold better than hot. Shippers will mention that a lot.

In a blizzard I lost power for an extended time. Tank got into the 50s. Only loss was a Banggai cardinal even though I had no flow.

When central air broke in a heat wave. I lost almost all SPS, some LPS and two fish. Tank got to 92 and I still had flow and skimmer, etc since it wasn’t a power issue.

 

[Johnd651]

Yeah I always wonder what ingenious thing ppl come up with.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

So living in Northern NY, it does get cold. -4°F this morning. Was colder overnight.

We keep the house at 68-70°F, but I was wondering what people do to prepare for cold.

We have a generator and the house heat is on a plug so i could even run it off an inverter if I had to (propane).

Stove is propane if I needed to make hot water bottles.

I run double heaters in the tank.

so in other words, you’re completely prepared already for cold weather.

 

[Johnd651]

so in other words, you’re completely prepared already for cold weather.

I like to think so... but as mentioned, always curious to see what others might be doing that might be better

 

[mjszos]

I’m fortunate enough to live in an area where, in my 30 years here, has yet to see more than a 24hr power outage.

Regardless, I have a Bluetti power station with solar modules that I can run if I absolutely need to.

 

[ScottJ]

So living in Northern NY, it does get cold. -4°F this morning. Was colder overnight.

We keep the house at 68-70°F, but I was wondering what people do to prepare for cold.

We have a generator and the house heat is on a plug so i could even run it off an inverter if I had to (propane).

Stove is propane if I needed to make hot water bottles.

I run double heaters in the tank.

We have the same weather, more or less. I keep the house at 65° and 63° overnight. (my wife wears several sweaters at a time :p ) I don't have any problems keeping the tanks at 78°. I use two heaters in the big tank, but one in each of the other two. Ink birds on all.

Couple years ago we invested in a whole house back up generator. Some of the best money we ever spent.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

4°F right now in where I'm at in NY.

Keep the house around 69-72°F. We have a backup generator. However I did buy some ecoflow river 3's during blackfriday as insurance as UPS for my tanks. Its a bit easier since my tanks are nano. 245wh lasted close to 6hrs with a 9w pump going and a 50w heater in 5 gallon nano

On my 20 gallon long. I have another hooked up. This one has a 6watt pump and 100 watt heater which is set to 74°F. So it only kicks on when temp dips below. It lasted about 3hrs. This tank is near a window. So I imagine the heat loss is more compared to my other tank on the second floor.

This just keeps things at okay levels until I can get home and kick the generator on.

 

[Johnd651]

4°F right now in where I'm at in NY.

Keep the house around 69-72°F. We have a backup generator. However I did buy some ecoflow river 3's during blackfriday as insurance as UPS for my tanks. Its a bit easier since my tanks are nano. 245wh lasted close to 6hrs with a 9w pump going and a 50w heater in 5 gallon nano

On my 20 gallon long. I have another hooked up. This one has a 6watt pump and 100 watt heater which is set to 74°F. So it only kicks on when temp dips below. It lasted about 3hrs. This tank is near a window. So I imagine the heat loss is more compared to my other tank on the second floor.

This just keeps things at okay levels until I can get home and kick the generator on.

I do need to look into ups

 

[Johnd651]

I’m fortunate enough to live in an area where, in my 30 years here, has yet to see more than a 24hr power outage.

Regardless, I have a Bluetti power station with solar modules that I can run if I absolutely need to.

Is Bluetti like a ups with solar?

 

[mjszos]

Is Bluetti like a ups with solar?

It’s just a brand name. There are add ons that you can use for solar panels and what not. But it’s basically just a big stinkin battery.

I a previous model for our off grid car camping adventures, but it serves multiple functions. I’ve never had to use it for my tank, but it’s almost always charged in my house and ready to be used for whatever is needed.

https://www.bluettipower.com/products/ac240

 

[exnisstech]

We have a wood burner in the basement that requires no electricity so heat is covered. House stays around 70 tanks run at 76. I have a portable generator but now that I have 3 tanks in 3 seperate rooms not to mention the money tied up in livestock I decided to have an 18kw whole home generator installed. It's pricey but I look at it like insurance, it's a total waste of money until you need it then it's worth every dollar spent.

 

[Johnd651]

We have a wood burner in the basement that requires no electricity so heat is covered. House stays around 70 tanks run at 76. I have a portable generator but now that I have 3 tanks in 3 seperate rooms not to mention the money tied up in livestock I decided to have an 18kw whole home generator installed. It's pricey but I look at it like insurance, it's a total waste of money until you need it then it's worth every dollar spent.

I actually have a pellet stove that I keep needing to install in the basement

 

[exnisstech]

I actually have a pellet stove that I keep needing to install in the basement

Don't those need electric to feed the pellets?

 

[Johnd651]

Don't those need electric to feed the pellets?

Yeah but the plan with that is a tiny inverter and battery bank.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

I like to think so... but as mentioned, always curious to see what others might be doing that might be better

as some mentioned they use “power stations” so that when power goes out they can easily run both their power heads and return pumps for hours immediately after power goes out. here is mine

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Is Bluetti like a ups with solar?

Yes its exactly that just a different brand.
However some power stations don't have the UPS feature. So ensure you look for that in whichever brand your looking at.

If it was feasible in placement, I would even have a 100 watt panel hooked up and connected to give it a longer run time.

 

[Chenko]

I have Hydros Kraken with 200hA lead battery to power the powerheads. That should last 2-3 days. In addition, I just got an 8 kW Anker Solix F3800 with an additional battery to power my 300W heater. That should be good for 2 days without recharging. And then there are portable solar panels and an inverter gas generator for long outages.