Hey everyone!

before I cover the water change idea, here is my idea for my ATO.... I plan on putting 2 rubbermaid containers (or similar) in the back room (attic), only problem is im worried about the small 1/4 line freezing in winter time, so I am thinking about making the line 1/2 or 3/4 from my fresh water container, and have that insulated with some pipe insulation, then take that all the way to be bedroom (about 25 feet in the attic) then once the pipe is in my bedroom, reduce it to 1/4 line, with push to connect fitting and connect it to a aqualifter (maybe just a solenoid... or 2 depending on if at that point gravity will take over and constantly feed fresh to the tank and i dont know if aqualifter will stop gravity) that way when water gets low, it drains from the heated ATO tank in back room.

Any ideas, suggestions, ect on ATO...????

With the new tank being planned on being set up... and how i love to make stuff complicated... I am thinking about making a semi-auto water change system... not sure if it will work though, i think my theory is right.. but not sure if it will work the way I would like... but anyways... here is the plan....

Have a container in the back with salt water. have 1/2" line running from the saltwater container, through attic, into my room, dumping water into sump (to be exact, dumping water into a T onto the inlet of the return pump. Just open a ball valve, and fresh salt water drains into sump. as for taking water out, drill a hole in the return section, put a 3/4 or 1" bulkhead on it, put an upturned elbow (and pipe) to reach a level that is just barely above water level. that way when u add water, there will be water that overflows out, I do not think this would raise salinitly since the water i add would be equalized by the water that goes down the drain. Does this make sense?

If I REALLY wanted to get complicated, I was tihnking about getting a globe valve or 2 (valves for sprinkler systems). That way I can put power to them, they will open the valve, and water will flow through, this I could put a timer on it, and could have a fully automated autochange system, open the valve for 15 mins a week and it will automatically change how ever many gallons (could be fine tuned with ball valve, or putting a reducer on the pipe.

any ideas, recommendations, anything?

I like to make things complicated...

Shock wrote:Hey everyone!

before I cover the water change idea, here is my idea for my ATO.... I plan on putting 2 rubbermaid containers (or similar) in the back room (attic), only problem is im worried about the small 1/4 line freezing in winter time, so I am thinking about making the line 1/2 or 3/4 from my fresh water container, and have that insulated with some pipe insulation, then take that all the way to be bedroom (about 25 feet in the attic) then once the pipe is in my bedroom, reduce it to 1/4 line, with push to connect fitting and connect it to a aqualifter (maybe just a solenoid... or 2 depending on if at that point gravity will take over and constantly feed fresh to the tank and i dont know if aqualifter will stop gravity) that way when water gets low, it drains from the heated ATO tank in back room.

Any ideas, suggestions, ect on ATO...????

Regarding gravity, instead of using solenoids, what about using both a float switch AND a float valve... that way the aqualifter runs when the water level drops, but the water cant continue to gravity feed past a certain point.

Shock wrote:Have a container in the back with salt water. have 1/2" line running from the saltwater container, through attic, into my room, dumping water into sump (to be exact, dumping water into a T onto the inlet of the return pump. Just open a ball valve, and fresh salt water drains into sump. as for taking water out, drill a hole in the return section, put a 3/4 or 1" bulkhead on it, put an upturned elbow (and pipe) to reach a level that is just barely above water level. that way when u add water, there will be water that overflows out, I do not think this would raise salinitly since the water i add would be equalized by the water that goes down the drain. Does this make sense?

This makes sense to me, BUT i also think your probably playing with fire... what if something fails and you somehow continue to feed ATO water into the tank (ie a float/switch manages to somehow get raised just enough so that it allows just enough water to reach the upturned elbow... which would cause a steady water change with fresh water!)

Shock wrote:If I REALLY wanted to get complicated, I was tihnking about getting a globe valve or 2 (valves for sprinkler systems). That way I can put power to them, they will open the valve, and water will flow through, this I could put a timer on it, and could have a fully automated autochange system, open the valve for 15 mins a week and it will automatically change how ever many gallons (could be fine tuned with ball valve, or putting a reducer on the pipe.

If you automate it, are you going to keep a powerhead and heater running in the SW reservoir at all times? You may not need to fine tune with valves/reducers if you just mix the amount of SW in your reservoir that you want to change in the main tank and just "let her rip!"... although the fine tuning will avoid quickly changing anything.

Shock wrote:any ideas, recommendations, anything?

I like to make things complicated...

I actually like the ideas so far and am just playing devil's advocate to encourage you to keep making them better... that way I can steal your polished, refined ideas

haha thanks lost, i was just messing around with the idea. we will see though if i actually do it.

aww c'mon... you have to do it. I'm broke and it's so much cheaper to learn from someone elses mistakes..

Well my ATO will be on a float switch that i have from autotopoff.com. and i am going to add a second float for extra security incase the other one gets "stuck". so there shouldn't be an issue top off water going into tank constantly.

as for the semi auto water change, there will be a container in the back that i will mix the water in, so incase for some reason it did fail and empty water into sump automatically there would only be lets say 20 gallons in the water change. i will put float valves in the ATO and salt buckets, but i would put a ball valve on them to turn them off when i dont need to add water.

I found a 1" pipe coming off my AC unit that goes down through the wall of my house, and into the ground in the front of the house, that we have previously dug into the ground more, and put rock around it to help disperse the water... maybe ill tap into that if i cant get into the 1 1/2" pipe for the sink drain.....

ill play with the idea soon enough....