Keeping the tank warm?

Johnd651

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So living in Northern NY, it does get cold. -4°F this morning. Was colder overnight.

We keep the house at 68-70°F, but I was wondering what people do to prepare for cold.

We have a generator and the house heat is on a plug so i could even run it off an inverter if I had to (propane).

Stove is propane if I needed to make hot water bottles.

I run double heaters in the tank.

Screenshot_20241222_080900_Weather.jpg
 

braaap

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We routinely hit -20 to -40 here during winter. I don’t change anything. Tank heater is oversized. Have a generator that will run all tank systems along with a couple plug in heaters as well to keep rooms warm. The house I’m building has a wood stove and radiant heat so I have double coverage. It will also have a backup generator even though our power loss is 1-2 times a year for more than an hour.

But it sounds like you’ve got it covered anyways. If you can heat your house your tank should be fine. And heating water bottles is always a good way to keep a tank warm. The most important thing is water movement and then water temperature. Cover those and you’ll be fine.
 

Tamberav

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I will say tanks handle cold better than hot. Shippers will mention that a lot.

In a blizzard I lost power for an extended time. Tank got into the 50s. Only loss was a Banggai cardinal even though I had no flow.

When central air broke in a heat wave. I lost almost all SPS, some LPS and two fish. Tank got to 92 and I still had flow and skimmer, etc since it wasn’t a power issue.
 

ChrisfromBrick

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So living in Northern NY, it does get cold. -4°F this morning. Was colder overnight.

We keep the house at 68-70°F, but I was wondering what people do to prepare for cold.

We have a generator and the house heat is on a plug so i could even run it off an inverter if I had to (propane).

Stove is propane if I needed to make hot water bottles.

I run double heaters in the tank.

Screenshot_20241222_080900_Weather.jpg
so in other words, you’re completely prepared already for cold weather.
 

ScottJ

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So living in Northern NY, it does get cold. -4°F this morning. Was colder overnight.

We keep the house at 68-70°F, but I was wondering what people do to prepare for cold.

We have a generator and the house heat is on a plug so i could even run it off an inverter if I had to (propane).

Stove is propane if I needed to make hot water bottles.

I run double heaters in the tank.

Screenshot_20241222_080900_Weather.jpg
We have the same weather, more or less. I keep the house at 65° and 63° overnight. (my wife wears several sweaters at a time :p ) I don't have any problems keeping the tanks at 78°. I use two heaters in the big tank, but one in each of the other two. Ink birds on all.

Couple years ago we invested in a whole house back up generator. Some of the best money we ever spent.
 
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4°F right now in where I'm at in NY.

Keep the house around 69-72°F. We have a backup generator. However I did buy some ecoflow river 3's during blackfriday as insurance as UPS for my tanks. Its a bit easier since my tanks are nano. 245wh lasted close to 6hrs with a 9w pump going and a 50w heater in 5 gallon nano

On my 20 gallon long. I have another hooked up. This one has a 6watt pump and 100 watt heater which is set to 74°F. So it only kicks on when temp dips below. It lasted about 3hrs. This tank is near a window. So I imagine the heat loss is more compared to my other tank on the second floor.

This just keeps things at okay levels until I can get home and kick the generator on.
 
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Johnd651

Johnd651

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4°F right now in where I'm at in NY.

Keep the house around 69-72°F. We have a backup generator. However I did buy some ecoflow river 3's during blackfriday as insurance as UPS for my tanks. Its a bit easier since my tanks are nano. 245wh lasted close to 6hrs with a 9w pump going and a 50w heater in 5 gallon nano

On my 20 gallon long. I have another hooked up. This one has a 6watt pump and 100 watt heater which is set to 74°F. So it only kicks on when temp dips below. It lasted about 3hrs. This tank is near a window. So I imagine the heat loss is more compared to my other tank on the second floor.

This just keeps things at okay levels until I can get home and kick the generator on.
I do need to look into ups
 
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Johnd651

Johnd651

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I’m fortunate enough to live in an area where, in my 30 years here, has yet to see more than a 24hr power outage.

Regardless, I have a Bluetti power station with solar modules that I can run if I absolutely need to.
Is Bluetti like a ups with solar?
 

mjszos

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Is Bluetti like a ups with solar?

It’s just a brand name. There are add ons that you can use for solar panels and what not. But it’s basically just a big stinkin battery.

I a previous model for our off grid car camping adventures, but it serves multiple functions. I’ve never had to use it for my tank, but it’s almost always charged in my house and ready to be used for whatever is needed.

 

exnisstech

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We have a wood burner in the basement that requires no electricity so heat is covered. House stays around 70 tanks run at 76. I have a portable generator but now that I have 3 tanks in 3 seperate rooms not to mention the money tied up in livestock I decided to have an 18kw whole home generator installed. It's pricey but I look at it like insurance, it's a total waste of money until you need it then it's worth every dollar spent.
 
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Johnd651

Johnd651

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We have a wood burner in the basement that requires no electricity so heat is covered. House stays around 70 tanks run at 76. I have a portable generator but now that I have 3 tanks in 3 seperate rooms not to mention the money tied up in livestock I decided to have an 18kw whole home generator installed. It's pricey but I look at it like insurance, it's a total waste of money until you need it then it's worth every dollar spent.
I actually have a pellet stove that I keep needing to install in the basement
 

ChrisfromBrick

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I like to think so... but as mentioned, always curious to see what others might be doing that might be better
as some mentioned they use “power stations” so that when power goes out they can easily run both their power heads and return pumps for hours immediately after power goes out. here is mine
 

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