Methods to prevent Return Pump from running dry

[oneilwiz]

Hello everyone,

Have anyone applied any methods to prevent your return pump from burning up when the sump runs low.

Scenario: your ATO ran out of the water, you're away from home. Your sump is running out of the water and your pump is about to burn up. How can you utilize apex to alert you when your sump is low on water.

 

[User]

Break out box and a float sensor at the low water level , with a conditional set point of ‘off’ for the outlet the pump is plugged into when the sensor closes

 

[TheHarold]

Yeah; breakout box. I have one float tell me that ATO is low, one to say return pump chamber is low, one to say return pump chamber is high, and one to tell me skimmer is full :).

 

[oneilwiz]

thank you guys for your response, any photos or configs for apex that could be shared? what brand sensors

 

[TheHarold]

thank you guys for your response, any photos or configs for apex that could be shared? what brand sensors

On anazon, uxcell float switch. Like 6 for $10. Super easy. Just add to your alarms “if switch [putName] closed then on”.

 

[oneilwiz]

got it Thank you.

 

[oneilwiz]

thinking about buying the Apex FMM Module, with the optical sensor for low water level in the sump. as you guys recommended

 

[User]

Personally, I’d save your money and look at the regular mechanical float switches and look at ‘diy Neptune break out box’. You can make something that’ll work great and give you capacity for 4 more sensors for about $30

https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?4566-Torx-s-DIY-10-Apex-Break-Out-Box

 

[ca1ore]

If you do buy floats, spend a little more for the Madison minis. Much more reliable than the cheap crap.

 

[tom39]

If you do buy floats, spend a little more for the Madison minis. Much more reliable than the cheap crap.

+1 for the Madison float switches.

 

[mtraylor]

+1 to what neil said.

Your other option is to hook up your RO/DI unit up to your sump directly with solenoid. Then there is no pump to worry about. You will need 2 levels of float switches. First one is to maintain water level. Second one is for backup in case the first one fails.

 

[oneilwiz]

Thanks guys, the option of connecting the RO is unit is out of the question base on where the tank sits on the 1st floor and the to do unit in the basement complete opposite side if the house. I could make holes but I rent. To get a better view check my Instagram profile @wizreef

 

[Tastee]

I use the Neptune ATK on my Apex to keep my internal ATO full in my RSR250. This comes with an FMM and I use the other two ports (2 are used by the ATK) for a low level sump optical sensor and an external leak detector. Both are configured to send me alerts upon activation (sump when OFF, leak when ON).

I don’t currently have my return pump linked to the low level sensor, but that is of course a very good suggestion so I will be adding that to my return pump code very soon!

Annoyed I didn’t think of it myself, thanks for the idea!

 

[Awesome Dennis]

My RO varios pump and skimmer both come with float switches built into the controller.

 

[Breadman03]

Personally, I’d save your money and look at the regular mechanical float switches and look at ‘diy Neptune break out box’. You can make something that’ll work great and give you capacity for 4 more sensors for about $30

https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?4566-Torx-s-DIY-10-Apex-Break-Out-Box

Agreed on mechanical floats. Optical is cool and all, but they are a bit finicky from what I've read. It seems that they need regular cleaning, which I like to avoid where possible. My DIY breakout box has been flawless for about 4 years now, with the exception that some dummy (who may be typing this) knocked the cable loose right before leaving for vacation while running an RO tube to make it easy for the housesitter to replenish my ATO reservoir. Note that the Apex saved my butt there by tweaking the ATO to run 0ff of the salinity probe.

 

[User]

Optical sensors also need the support electronics which might be outside the scope of people’s diy abilities.

The mechanical floats have 2 wires, with no polarity. Easy as can be. Plus the cheap floats are fine if you add a little blob of silicone where the wires come out of the stem. They are already ‘potted’, but a quick blob is good insurance. I’ve never had the $1 floats fail and I had 5 on my old system. New system will have 8 of the same.

Good idea on the salinity to activate ato. Nice backup

 

[Larry L]

My DIY breakout box has been flawless for about 4 years now, with the exception that some dummy (who may be typing this) knocked the cable loose right before leaving for vacation

There's a good trick for this: If I'm remembering right, pretty sure that if the breakout box gets disconnected, the switches will all show as open. So take an unused port (like 6) and hardwire it to ground so that it normally always appears closed, and set up your Apex programming to alert you if it ever notices that switch being open.

 

[User]

There's a good trick for this: If I'm remembering right, pretty sure that if the breakout box gets disconnected, the switches will all show as open. So take an unused port (like 6) and hardwire it to ground so that it normally always appears closed, and set up your Apex programming to alert you if it ever notices that switch being open.

You are remembering right.

It’s called “code 6’ing” around my fishroom, and is usually brought on by fat fingering the cleaning magnet around the sensors.

 

[Breadman03]

There's a good trick for this: If I'm remembering right, pretty sure that if the breakout box gets disconnected, the switches will all show as open. So take an unused port (like 6) and hardwire it to ground so that it normally always appears closed, and set up your Apex programming to alert you if it ever notices that switch being open.

Since that incident, I flipped my floats so they are normally closed and I get an email alarm if one is open for more than 5 minutes.

 

[oneilwiz]

Thanks everyone, gonna follow the recommendations. Regular float valves with breakout box for the apex.