ATO problem

[briankmarsh1980]

I have a JBJ ATO with an aqualifter, I have 1 float switch hooked up.

So here is my problem:
I come home from work and all lights on the unit are lit up and it stopped adding water.
If I flip the float up and down it comes on and will fill up to the proper level of water.
I thought I was evaping to much so I opened it up and turned the timer to 13 min, still does the same thing.

Does anybody know what could be the problem?

 

[allsps40]

When all the lights are on it means the floats are activated and the pump is on, should see 2 red lights and one orange light. Make sure you have it set to mode A. When all my lights are on it is because my water levle is low and my top off bucket is empty. I use both of the floats, one in my sump and one in my top off bucket to turn off my pump when the top off bucket runs low. That way my pump does not run dry and burn up.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

yeah the lights come on to show you something is up. I would check which way you have the switch set at also. I have mine set up the other way as well with one switch in the sump and one in my reservoir, so I'm not sure.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

Well it has a fail safe where it auto shuts the pump off after so long. But it seams to fail every other day

 

[Lynnmw1208]

maybe the pump is too small? I use a maxijet 400 for mine and it pumps the water very fast into my sump to fill it to the appropriate level. it could be that your pump is taking longer to pump the water in and it is shutting itself off. I would try to catch it in action to see what's going on.

 

[slief]

I was using a JBJ unit on my QT tank and found that my dosing pump was not fast enough for the JBJ's internal timer. You might need to try a larger pump as your pump could be right at the limit for the timer.

 

[docstomper]

I was using a JBJ unit on my QT tank and found that my dosing pump was not fast enough for the JBJ's internal timer. You might need to try a larger pump as your pump could be right at the limit for the timer.

+1 I think its 45 seconds of pumping... if it doesnt hit the other switch (thinks the switch is faulty) it will shut off your pump! Hope that helps!

 

[briankmarsh1980]

I may need to try another pump... The ATO's internal timer is set to 13min I can't imagine I am evaping that much water that the aqualifter can't keep up.... But I didn't have a problem until it started to warm up and the fans kicked on.
Maybe I will try adding a second aqualifter and see what happens

 

[Wrobel278]

I had the same issue with the JBJ using an aqualifter. At times all 3 lights would light up when the sensor was tripped with a full bucket of water, and the pump would not turn on. But if I unpluged the unit and plugged it back in it would work fine. I called the suplier and got a replacement thinking it was faulty, but the new one did the same thing. I turned the timer up all the way and that didnt help. My return section at the time was really small, so a larger pump would be too much. I solved the issue by buing a cheap timer at Home Depot that resets the unit every hour (just in case). It has been running that way with no issues for over two years. Hope that helps, and good luck.

 

[d0ughb0y]

I had the same issue with the JBJ using an aqualifter. At times all 3 lights would light up when the sensor was tripped with a full bucket of water, and the pump would not turn on. But if I unpluged the unit and plugged it back in it would work fine. I called the suplier and got a replacement thinking it was faulty, but the new one did the same thing. I turned the timer up all the way and that didnt help. My return section at the time was really small, so a larger pump would be too much. I solved the issue by buing a cheap timer at Home Depot that resets the unit every hour (just in case). It has been running that way with no issues for over two years. Hope that helps, and good luck.

that is a good idea.
although the fail safe in theory is good, in reality, it is more trouble than it is worth.

 

[briankmarsh1980]

I had the same issue with the JBJ using an aqualifter. At times all 3 lights would light up when the sensor was tripped with a full bucket of water, and the pump would not turn on. But if I unpluged the unit and plugged it back in it would work fine. I called the suplier and got a replacement thinking it was faulty, but the new one did the same thing. I turned the timer up all the way and that didnt help. My return section at the time was really small, so a larger pump would be too much. I solved the issue by buing a cheap timer at Home Depot that resets the unit every hour (just in case). It has been running that way with no issues for over two years. Hope that helps, and good luck.

Now that's a great idea thank you

 

[Wrobel278]

Sorry I thought it was Home Depot, but the actual timer that im using is http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11147170

 

[briankmarsh1980]

I had the same issue with the JBJ using an aqualifter. At times all 3 lights would light up when the sensor was tripped with a full bucket of water, and the pump would not turn on. But if I unpluged the unit and plugged it back in it would work fine. I called the suplier and got a replacement thinking it was faulty, but the new one did the same thing. I turned the timer up all the way and that didnt help. My return section at the time was really small, so a larger pump would be too much. I solved the issue by buing a cheap timer at Home Depot that resets the unit every hour (just in case). It has been running that way with no issues for over two years. Hope that helps, and good luck.

just want to say thanks got a timer been running perfect ever since

 

[Wrobel278]

Im glad it helped and worked for you too.