ATO Stopped Working Properly = Flooded Basement

[yagerboy]

I filled my Top Off reservoir yesterday and heard my ATO pump struggling this morning and knew I was in trouble. Sure enough, the ATO never shut off and drained my reservoir (10g), overflowed my sump and now my basement is a mess. Any ideas why it would do this? No snails or anything blocking...everything is clean. Is the pump to blame or the controller? Thanks in advance for any ideas. Now I am hesitant to use it again.

[Muddy357]

What kind of ATO?

How old is the pump?

[yagerboy]

JBJ. About a year

[wade]

Not the pump. The pump only responds when the controller says to, unless you are on a switching outlet that somehow was stuck on. Either way, not likely to be the pump.

[yagerboy]

Thank God for the Steam Cleaner. Picked up about 4 gallons of SW. Carpet actually looks cleaner

[yagerboy]

No switching outlet. Plugged directly into the wall. Must be the controller. I'll clean it up and test it this weekend.

[ErikS]

JBJ - not uncommon. They tend to fail in the on position.

[MBVette]

have you checked to see if your float valve is stuck?

[yagerboy]

Not yet. Between cleaning and work, haven't had time but will later. Thanks everyone for the input.

[linkfalcon]

I hate reading this I'm is up stairs and oh a 7 gallon top off tank nvm it won't flood my sump yaaaa one fear gone lol did the math lol sorry man check the controller and the switch

[scott711]

put the ato on the controller and only have it go on for a certain # of minutes a day.

[flooddc]

Most likely the float switch. You need to clean it once awhile. I had a similar situation awhile back. There is a timer settings inside the controller that supposedly shut down if it runs for x number of minutes! (I personally hasn't messing with it, but pretty sure someone here experience with it)

[yauger]

Dude I'd toss that JBJ junk and buy a tunzee

[Marc Weaver]

+1 on the tunze osmolator. Well worth the $200. Hasn't failed once in 3 years (my friend used one for 8 years.) It uses an optical sensor instead of a float switch.

[epleeds]

I have the avast on two tanks and could not be happier

[sen5241b]

got one of these. Had it for 5 years without issue. I have the float valve within a fine mesh net so critters can't mess with it.

 

[countryboy]

Love my Avast! No issues. I've heard a lot a bad news with JBJ

[mling]

I too have a JBJ, no problem so far but I don't trust it, especially after reading all this post bashing the JBJ.

This is why I make sure there is enough extra room in my 40 G sump for all the water in the reserviour tank.

[Gatortailale]

sorry to read of your ato problem.

 

I use one of these floats. Used on first tank from late 2000 to 2006 with no fails. Put new one on new tank in 2006 until now. Now fails. RODI unit has pressure valve on system that shuts water off. I have water softener on house so don't see an negative effect on membrane; spectrapure guy said I would be fine with this system.

 

http://spectrapure.com/AQUARIUM/LIQUID-LEVEL-CONTROLLERS/Float-Valve-Level-Controller/Automatic-Shut-Off-Float-Kit-w-1-4in-fittings

[Decadence]

"A: All A.T.O. Controllers have a factory "Float Fail-Safe" duration time period of 3 minutes and 45 seconds of operation before power to the pump is turned off. The Pump LED will glow but power to the pump will not be turned on. This feature was designed to act as a safety mechanism in the unlikely event the float sensor(s) failed or if something was to get stuck in between the sensor(s). You will have to reset the float sensor(s) to restart the controller."

 

Use a Toms pump on it; they only flow about 3gph. The only possible "too much" failure would be if the really inside stuck on which is extremely unlikely.