Be prepared...

animalkingdom · 06/30/2014, 07:21 AM

Just thought I'd share a note on how being prepared can safe your tank:

Last week I was on a business trip and left my tank under the care of my wife. The first day of the week long conference I got a call from my wife saying the water wasn't moving into the overflow. While I had already had disaster 101 with my wife and she new the basics of what to do when things went wrong she was clueless when it came to a faulty pressure rated return pump on my basement sump setup.

Luckily I had an identical Reeflo blowhole 1100 sitting on the shelf in the basement and if I had been home a minor pump switch would have been easy. Unfortunately describing on the phone how to siphon water out of the sump below the pump intake hole and then unscrewing the proper pvc junctions has taught me a lesson on spousal communication

. My wife was a real trooper though and eventually got the backup pump installed however it wasnt working...

At this point I could tell she was getting frustrated and it was getting late so I told her to go to bed and we would deal with it in the morning. The next morning I get a call saying she figured out the pump was backwards and she turned it around and it was working. The tank was saved and only was missing its return for 12-24 hours.

I think the tank would have come through unscathed if it wasn't for the two part port being dislodged during the pump switch and two part dumping out on the basement floor instead of the sump. As it was, when I got home the calcium and alkalinity was very low and one or two acros had started to RTN/STN. Overall things pulled through quite nicely and this goes to show the benefits of having backup emergency equipment and knowledgeable tank caretakers.

Just thought I would share my experience so others could benefit and BTW the pump was only 1 year old and had regular maintenance.

Also this experience let me see Reeflo's excellent customer service first hand who are letting me get a credit towards their new pressure rated pump using the old dart platform for both the broken pump and the one that is still running the system now and working fine.

06/30/2014, 07:21 AM	#1
animalkingdom Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: AL Posts: 632	Be prepared... Just thought I'd share a note on how being prepared can safe your tank: Last week I was on a business trip and left my tank under the care of my wife. The first day of the week long conference I got a call from my wife saying the water wasn't moving into the overflow. While I had already had disaster 101 with my wife and she new the basics of what to do when things went wrong she was clueless when it came to a faulty pressure rated return pump on my basement sump setup. Luckily I had an identical Reeflo blowhole 1100 sitting on the shelf in the basement and if I had been home a minor pump switch would have been easy. Unfortunately describing on the phone how to siphon water out of the sump below the pump intake hole and then unscrewing the proper pvc junctions has taught me a lesson on spousal communication . My wife was a real trooper though and eventually got the backup pump installed however it wasnt working... At this point I could tell she was getting frustrated and it was getting late so I told her to go to bed and we would deal with it in the morning. The next morning I get a call saying she figured out the pump was backwards and she turned it around and it was working. The tank was saved and only was missing its return for 12-24 hours. I think the tank would have come through unscathed if it wasn't for the two part port being dislodged during the pump switch and two part dumping out on the basement floor instead of the sump. As it was, when I got home the calcium and alkalinity was very low and one or two acros had started to RTN/STN. Overall things pulled through quite nicely and this goes to show the benefits of having backup emergency equipment and knowledgeable tank caretakers. Just thought I would share my experience so others could benefit and BTW the pump was only 1 year old and had regular maintenance. Also this experience let me see Reeflo's excellent customer service first hand who are letting me get a credit towards their new pressure rated pump using the old dart platform for both the broken pump and the one that is still running the system now and working fine.