ATO

[DarinSchmidt]

Has anyone here built one? They seem to be pretty straight forward but i wanted to get any advice from those who have made one so i dont make any of the same mistakes you have. I was thinking of hooking it up to my tap water so i have an endless supply of water which would pass through a large carbon filter. I'm not worried about the chlorine in the water simply for the fast that it will be small amounts mixed in with 300g of saltwater.

I haven’t had a chance to look up any parts for this but my only concern is that since tap water has pressure behind it, how to shut the pressure off once the reservoir is full. I’m thinking that I would like to have a double float for a failsafe (both must fall low to activate the valve to fill it) so that I don’t come home to a freshwater tank.

[Wall_Tank]

Why not just use a float valve.....they will hold 50-75 psi easily.

[ohioreef]

I built one using an Aqua Lifter pump and a float switch. Here's a pic: http://www.ohioreef.com/filtration.html

I've had it running for several years now with no major issues.

[DarinSchmidt]

thanks guys. I havent had time to look at how many psi the float switches can handle and I'm not sure how much psi is behind my water. I'll have to do some looking next week when i get a chance.

[Wall_Tank]

thanks guys. I havent had time to look at how many psi the float switches can handle and I'm not sure how much psi is behind my water. I'll have to do some looking next week when i get a chance.

Well I know they shut down my RO system, and that has 75psi behind it.

[Boonjob]

Yeah they should work, I highly doubt you have much more than 60psi. certainly not above 80.

[DarinSchmidt]

how often do you clean the valve?

[Wall_Tank]

how often do you clean the valve?

Never.  The water going through the valve is fresh water......the valve stays above the waterline anyway.    I guess I'll clean the float once in a while.

[DarinSchmidt]

yeah, duh, what was i thinking.....

[Wall_Tank]

yeah, duh, what was i thinking.....

It's a bit hard to grasp    I'm not sure why more folks don't do it.   I would suspect that the largest reason is that they don't have a gravity feed supply.   But you could use it with a small pump too.  Just run the pump every so often, the float valve would be the high limit safety.

[DarinSchmidt]

my only concern is that i'll most likely hook this to my tap water and the pressure from that i am uncertain of and have the tap water run through some carbon. My water here is pretty good and been using it for a long time this way. Next weekend i think i may get the water line ran and stuff because i am getting a bit tired of filling my sump with 5gal of water every 3-4 days. And school is a major contributor as to why i'm getting tired of it.

[Wall_Tank]

my only concern is that i'll most likely hook this to my tap water and the pressure from that i am uncertain of and have the tap water run through some carbon. My water here is pretty good and been using it for a long time this way. Next weekend i think i may get the water line ran and stuff because i am getting a bit tired of filling my sump with 5gal of water every 3-4 days. And school is a major contributor as to why i'm getting tired of it.

Most float valves are bulkhead fittings.  So you will need a hole at the appropriate level.   There is internal adjustment on the float valve for level as well.    Leaving the water on all of the time is not a problem.     

[ohioreef]

The big negative to what you're planning is what happens if the valve fails or something gets stuck in there? You'll end up flooding your house. With my setup the worst that happens is I get 5gal of extra water in the sump.

[DarinSchmidt]

yeah, that's why I was hoping to implement a double float system which I'll have to research.