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Hi Folks!!
One of our members (htown) came home and found that a circuit breaker to his garage had blown and lost power... All of his fish had died due to the cold temperatures. He had built up his collection over a period of time and needless to say, is pretty bummed to the point of getting rid of his garage fish equipment.
So on this note, its a good time to get ourselves ready for potential problems. Winter time seems to bring out those problems in a myriad of ways. So lets make a checklist.... If anybody sees additions, add them to this post...
#1; Circuit breakers do wear out and will go bad. Older homes may have fuses, under rated circuits and wiring. An example is usually one circuit breaker will be used for a garage outlets, lights and garage door opener. That circuit may be only 15 to 20 amps Newer homes may have the higher ratings but still on one circuit. Places that experience a lot of power surges or lighting strikes will have higher incidences of circuit breakers blowing. Replacing circuit breakers are good and if you know what your doing, check and make sure you do - go and consider replacing. Also check to upgrading old wiring in places, using a certified electrician is fantastic.. We have one on this forum who can greatly advise in this area!!
#2 Fault breakers, safety breakers or otherwise known as GFCI breakers are usually used around water sources. Many bathrooms, kitchens, basements with washing machines and even garages have these on one circuit. These GFCI also break down over a period of time and when a heater seems to have cracked the tube and let water in... The GFCI will trip many times... and then there goes the whole circuit. While this may not be recommended, but do consider having the electrician (unless you are a very knowledgeable do it yourselfer) have a separate circuit installed for just the fish room.
#3 Some home alarm systems can be set up to alert you when the power goes off, you have to search out for these devices and in some cases will send a text to your phone. Then you can go and find out how long and what the problem will be for the power issue.
#4 Having a back up plan and alternatives are always a good thing... Especially for those who live in areas prone to blackouts, failures and other non predictable but usually happening events. Last year Greg of Little Africa and others on the East Coast lost power due to ice storms and bad winter weather. Greg was able to get some generators to keep most of his fish alive... Other people were not so fortunate. Bad weather does not have to be winter. Hurricanes, tornadoes, unforseen events can cause issues with survival.
#5 Back up plans for electrical usually can be thought of in several different ways.
#1 Using battery operated air pumps from WallMart that are found in the fishing section will work very nicely. It will meet the needs for a short duration but the drawbacks are if there are more than a few fish tanks and longer than 2 to 4 hours in a very cold house... There will be issues with heating and issues of potential too many fish for the little aeration that will be possible with the battery powered air pumps..... Also the batteries are limited and a pain.... Usually the two D batteries will run the air pump for up to 6 to 8 hours... but that is not a hard given rule..
#2 There are what is called DC converters from small wattages (250 watts) up to large heavy duty and high current wattages (2500 watts and then some) The neat things about these are that they can be used to power heaters and air pumps. The problem or downside is that they do pull a considerable amount of current from the car battery. A person would need to have a minimum of three car batteries... one in the car to charge up... The other two to hook in parallel to provide a longer use time for running the equipment. To give an idea of how many watts you are using.... take the number of heaters, their wattage values and add them up for a total of wattage usage. The air pumps will be usually a minimum but do include that if you have a larger pro type air pump. Then determine your needs and buy accordingly.
#3 Generators are a good way to go but there are things you need to do and understand. Generators are between 500 watts for the smaller ones and up to 5500 watts for the larger ones (usually used in Motor homes or RV's) These are usually portable gasoline run generators and on a tank of gas will last between 6 to 9 hours... Depending upon the load.
The generators also use a timer and when you have run for 10 to 30 hours, you will need to change the oil and every other time, change the filter. Generators do need to be started up and run for at least 20 minutes to 30 minutes at the bare minimum of once per month.
Supply of gas is needed as well as the oil and filter. Long extension cords unless heavier rated will not pass the electricity and the generator should be hooked up to a separate circuit panel if possible to provide the bare basics of circuits to run refrigerator, freezer and of course the fish tanks.
#4 Having a back up plan that others understand is great and essential. In some cases power may go out in only certain areas, having some way to transport your fisn to a place until power comes back on is certainly a wise precaution and if you have friends who can help out, then be sure to prepare ahead of time. Someday, you may have the opportunity to return the favor.........
Hope this helps someone and for thinking how to prepare for the unpleasant facts of interruptions and catastrophic events that occur....
Bill
One of our members (htown) came home and found that a circuit breaker to his garage had blown and lost power... All of his fish had died due to the cold temperatures. He had built up his collection over a period of time and needless to say, is pretty bummed to the point of getting rid of his garage fish equipment.
So on this note, its a good time to get ourselves ready for potential problems. Winter time seems to bring out those problems in a myriad of ways. So lets make a checklist.... If anybody sees additions, add them to this post...
#1; Circuit breakers do wear out and will go bad. Older homes may have fuses, under rated circuits and wiring. An example is usually one circuit breaker will be used for a garage outlets, lights and garage door opener. That circuit may be only 15 to 20 amps Newer homes may have the higher ratings but still on one circuit. Places that experience a lot of power surges or lighting strikes will have higher incidences of circuit breakers blowing. Replacing circuit breakers are good and if you know what your doing, check and make sure you do - go and consider replacing. Also check to upgrading old wiring in places, using a certified electrician is fantastic.. We have one on this forum who can greatly advise in this area!!
#2 Fault breakers, safety breakers or otherwise known as GFCI breakers are usually used around water sources. Many bathrooms, kitchens, basements with washing machines and even garages have these on one circuit. These GFCI also break down over a period of time and when a heater seems to have cracked the tube and let water in... The GFCI will trip many times... and then there goes the whole circuit. While this may not be recommended, but do consider having the electrician (unless you are a very knowledgeable do it yourselfer) have a separate circuit installed for just the fish room.
#3 Some home alarm systems can be set up to alert you when the power goes off, you have to search out for these devices and in some cases will send a text to your phone. Then you can go and find out how long and what the problem will be for the power issue.
#4 Having a back up plan and alternatives are always a good thing... Especially for those who live in areas prone to blackouts, failures and other non predictable but usually happening events. Last year Greg of Little Africa and others on the East Coast lost power due to ice storms and bad winter weather. Greg was able to get some generators to keep most of his fish alive... Other people were not so fortunate. Bad weather does not have to be winter. Hurricanes, tornadoes, unforseen events can cause issues with survival.
#5 Back up plans for electrical usually can be thought of in several different ways.
#1 Using battery operated air pumps from WallMart that are found in the fishing section will work very nicely. It will meet the needs for a short duration but the drawbacks are if there are more than a few fish tanks and longer than 2 to 4 hours in a very cold house... There will be issues with heating and issues of potential too many fish for the little aeration that will be possible with the battery powered air pumps..... Also the batteries are limited and a pain.... Usually the two D batteries will run the air pump for up to 6 to 8 hours... but that is not a hard given rule..
#2 There are what is called DC converters from small wattages (250 watts) up to large heavy duty and high current wattages (2500 watts and then some) The neat things about these are that they can be used to power heaters and air pumps. The problem or downside is that they do pull a considerable amount of current from the car battery. A person would need to have a minimum of three car batteries... one in the car to charge up... The other two to hook in parallel to provide a longer use time for running the equipment. To give an idea of how many watts you are using.... take the number of heaters, their wattage values and add them up for a total of wattage usage. The air pumps will be usually a minimum but do include that if you have a larger pro type air pump. Then determine your needs and buy accordingly.
#3 Generators are a good way to go but there are things you need to do and understand. Generators are between 500 watts for the smaller ones and up to 5500 watts for the larger ones (usually used in Motor homes or RV's) These are usually portable gasoline run generators and on a tank of gas will last between 6 to 9 hours... Depending upon the load.
The generators also use a timer and when you have run for 10 to 30 hours, you will need to change the oil and every other time, change the filter. Generators do need to be started up and run for at least 20 minutes to 30 minutes at the bare minimum of once per month.
Supply of gas is needed as well as the oil and filter. Long extension cords unless heavier rated will not pass the electricity and the generator should be hooked up to a separate circuit panel if possible to provide the bare basics of circuits to run refrigerator, freezer and of course the fish tanks.
#4 Having a back up plan that others understand is great and essential. In some cases power may go out in only certain areas, having some way to transport your fisn to a place until power comes back on is certainly a wise precaution and if you have friends who can help out, then be sure to prepare ahead of time. Someday, you may have the opportunity to return the favor.........
Hope this helps someone and for thinking how to prepare for the unpleasant facts of interruptions and catastrophic events that occur....
Bill
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