shaywood Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 (edited) Thought I would share a quick DIY for my auto top off. I have an 11 gallon ATO that is gravity fed in the garage to the main sump/tank in the house. I'm cautious, in that I never want more water in my ATO then the sump can handle. Over the years I've heard about flooded living rooms! I installed the pictured $9.00 110v 1/4 inch (NC) RODI solenoid which I plugged into a wifi controlled outlet. Now I can set a schedule to allow the outlet to be on once a week and run for an hour to refill the ATO container. The only other parts needed was an old power cord and two male disconnects. Hope this helps others. Edited June 7, 2021 by shaywood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 Hey that's pretty slick. I'll be honest, that looks exactly like the ones I got off of Amazon, both failed open. Apparently I didn't learn my lesson the first time and I ordered the same one again. Same result. The first one lasted a couple months and the second one was less than that. My sump ATO is plumbed directly to my RODI unit so the water supply is unlimited. However, I use a secondary float valve in the sump they connected to the water line. Both times they float valve saved me. Technically, if it failed on you it wouldn't be a huge problem since it's not responsible for allowing the extra water into your sump. You'd notice if it failed because your 11g bucket would be full when it shouldn't be. I guess that begs the question of whether you have a safety for your ATO unit or not. If not, your ATO container would be overflowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaywood Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 Redundancy is always the key. I also have a float valve in the ATO container and sump. The seloniod normal state is closed, so hopefully if it fails it will be closed. Also, since I'm only running it once a week, hopefully it won't stop working for a while. I'll report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 8 hours ago, shaywood said: Redundancy is always the key. I also have a float valve in the ATO container and sump. The seloniod normal state is closed, so hopefully if it fails it will be closed. Also, since I'm only running it once a week, hopefully it won't stop working for a while. I'll report back. Sounds good. But yeah, mine were both normally closed and they failed open. Doesn't sound like it'll be a big problem if that happens, though. You got a good point about it only opening once per week. Mine was opening and closing multiple times per hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted June 12, 2021 Share Posted June 12, 2021 Looking nice! I ran something similar for years, controlled with my Profilux aquarium computer. My solenoids never failed. Still have them, after tanking down the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 I would cover those contacts in silicone if that is in your fishroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaywood Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 Just the garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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