Today was maintenance day. Not just your average maintenance day but a deep clean on the main sump. In order to do that, I had to disconnect both my main and emergency lines down to the sump. The main line is a quick disconnect ball valve but the emergency line is just black vinyl hose connected to a barbed bulkhead. It very rarely flows. Now mind you, this has been up and running for about 3 years with no issues.
Everything went smoothly in the cleaning and I was happy to have a relatively clean sump again. I have to clean it out completely at least twice a year but try for more like three times. When I went to plug the vinyl hose back on it's barbed bulkhead, the bulkhead pushed upward and water began to pour down from the overflow. I said a few expletives because it caught me completely off guard. I wasn't prepared for a "leak". Basically, the retainer nut to the bulkhead cracked. I guess it got brittle over the years. I grabbed the barbed end and pulled downward as hard as I could to stop more water from coming down. My overflow holds about 2 gallons and while that's not a lot of water, it's enough to cause severe issues with electricity.
Here's where I'd say that this overflow is directly in front of my main electrical outlet. Several months ago, all of my electronics were on this end of the stand as well but I got wise and moved all of that out to it's own cabinet, outside the main stand. You'll see in a minute why that was a blessing.
I put the broken bulkhead retainer back on but didn't tighten it all the way. It was at least enough to contain the water to a drip which a nearby towel was able to keep from going everywhere. That's the good news, the bad news is that water had already splashed to the main outlet and I heard some sizzling going on. I quickly shut down power to that line to prevent any further damage. Luckily I had a spare retainer nut in my stash, extra towels handy and an appropriate sized container to capture the water when I removed the broken nut and drained the overflow.
Thankfully.....I had removed all of my Apex equipment about 8 months ago otherwise the whole system would have been soaked and destroyed. Some quick mopping with a towel and a dryer got everything dried off to plug it back in.
The moral to the story.....check everything!! This could have been disastrous!
1. Think about replacing bulkhead retaining nuts once a year or so. They do become brittle.
2. Don't get complacent and think "I've never had an issue before".
3. Take the Boy Scout motto to heart...."Be Prepared". If it can happen, it will.
4. Keep towels handy (and not just one) just in case. What's the worst that can happen? You have to put them back up.
5. If possible, move your electronics out from under your stand. A wall cabinet is pretty inexpensive. I think I paid about $40 for mine and it saved my backside today.
6. If you can't move to an external cabinet, think about at least enclosing your electronics with plexi/acrylic. Keep stray water from splashing on it by any means possible. It's much better to spend a few dollars now and not ruin hundreds if not thousands of dollars in electronics.
7. Plug your system into either a GFCI outlet or a line that is on a GFCI breaker.
That is all....carry on.
Everything went smoothly in the cleaning and I was happy to have a relatively clean sump again. I have to clean it out completely at least twice a year but try for more like three times. When I went to plug the vinyl hose back on it's barbed bulkhead, the bulkhead pushed upward and water began to pour down from the overflow. I said a few expletives because it caught me completely off guard. I wasn't prepared for a "leak". Basically, the retainer nut to the bulkhead cracked. I guess it got brittle over the years. I grabbed the barbed end and pulled downward as hard as I could to stop more water from coming down. My overflow holds about 2 gallons and while that's not a lot of water, it's enough to cause severe issues with electricity.
Here's where I'd say that this overflow is directly in front of my main electrical outlet. Several months ago, all of my electronics were on this end of the stand as well but I got wise and moved all of that out to it's own cabinet, outside the main stand. You'll see in a minute why that was a blessing.
I put the broken bulkhead retainer back on but didn't tighten it all the way. It was at least enough to contain the water to a drip which a nearby towel was able to keep from going everywhere. That's the good news, the bad news is that water had already splashed to the main outlet and I heard some sizzling going on. I quickly shut down power to that line to prevent any further damage. Luckily I had a spare retainer nut in my stash, extra towels handy and an appropriate sized container to capture the water when I removed the broken nut and drained the overflow.
Thankfully.....I had removed all of my Apex equipment about 8 months ago otherwise the whole system would have been soaked and destroyed. Some quick mopping with a towel and a dryer got everything dried off to plug it back in.
The moral to the story.....check everything!! This could have been disastrous!
1. Think about replacing bulkhead retaining nuts once a year or so. They do become brittle.
2. Don't get complacent and think "I've never had an issue before".
3. Take the Boy Scout motto to heart...."Be Prepared". If it can happen, it will.
4. Keep towels handy (and not just one) just in case. What's the worst that can happen? You have to put them back up.
5. If possible, move your electronics out from under your stand. A wall cabinet is pretty inexpensive. I think I paid about $40 for mine and it saved my backside today.
6. If you can't move to an external cabinet, think about at least enclosing your electronics with plexi/acrylic. Keep stray water from splashing on it by any means possible. It's much better to spend a few dollars now and not ruin hundreds if not thousands of dollars in electronics.
7. Plug your system into either a GFCI outlet or a line that is on a GFCI breaker.
That is all....carry on.
