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insulating basement sumps (1 Viewer)

Dhummel

Dhummel

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i have a basement sump that stays fairley cool during the winter months, the house goes to 63* at night. do you think it would help to insluatate the sides and bottom of the tank to keep the heater from coming on more, just a thought
 
are you having issues with your tank temp? you could try to insulate it, but I would say if you are having issues, just get another heater. I mean, you could probably wrap the entire sump with polystyrene, but you will loose a lot of heat out of the top, not the sides, so it will be a challenge to keep the temp up vs. adding another heater
 
i do run 2 heaters now, i was just thinking if i could conserve energy some. i dont want to cover the top because of oxygen, didn't know if it would help on the sides and bottom, i could probally do half the tank, a 40 breeder.
otherwise the tank stays at 77*
 
It would be an interesting experiment to try. If you wanted to do it, I would go to Menards and see if you can get a STEAL of a deal on some of the Pink Polysytene that is used for insulation, that my have been damaged or broken since you obviously don't need the full 4'x8' sheet
 
covering the four sides and bottom will help with temp control a little. It won't keep it super warm but it will help prevent heat loss from 5 of the 6 sides. Evaporation will still be the largest cooling factor...
 
i happened to read that the other day, just did not see that.. i guess i'll try the pink insulation and see what happens ,no loss no gain. dont know if laying a piece of insulation on the outside top of the canop will help.
what do you think. i could possible do the back also where it's not enclosed.
 
Dhummel said:
i do run 2 heaters now, i was just thinking if i could conserve energy some. i dont want to cover the top because of oxygen, didn't know if it would help on the sides and bottom, i could probally do half the tank, a 40 breeder.
otherwise the tank stays at 77*
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From what I've read, if you run a skimmer, as long as you aren't running ozone through it, you are already adding plenty of oxygen into your water column. You could safely cover it. the main reason for leaving it open is to allow evaporation for cooling. I'd think you'd want to limit that as much as you can, since you are trying to save energy from heating.
 
Dont have much to add but that pink insulation that benihana mentioned is great and you may be able to get away with just covering the bottom. My buddy has a pop-tent ice house and it was really cold at first even with the heater. We started bringing the pink stuff to put on the bottom and now only have the heater on for about 15min an hour.
 
I'm dealing with the same issue. I am going to get some ridgid foam and make tops for the sump and in-line tanks. I am also going to get that fiberglass roll insulation that is covered in plastic to wrap the sides of my large stock tank. I'll let you know if it helps.
 
wkjames said:
From what I've read, if you run a skimmer, as long as you aren't running ozone through it, you are already adding plenty of oxygen into your water column. You could safely cover it.
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I guess it depends on what you read. I've heard just the opposite that the skimmer isn't a signficant portion of oxygen. It's surface aggitation. If your using surface overflow in the show tank, keeping most of the top covered on your sump is fine and will likely help more than trying to put the pink foam around the sump.
 
well i insulated the sides tonight, still have to do the bottom. we'll see what the difference does.
another thing popped into my head, can you loose heat through PVC.
i was thinking of putting that pipe insulation on them??
any thoughts?
here's a pic of the sump so far.
 
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Dhummel said:
well i insulated the sides tonight, still have to do the bottom. we'll see what the difference does.
another thing popped into my head, can you loose heat through PVC.
i was thinking of putting that pipe insulation on them??
any thoughts?
here's a pic of the sump so far.
Click to expand...

Yes you can if you can feel a big difference between the pipe and the air you are loosing energy. and by the pic you have a lot of pvc so you could cover it up and save some money
 
Got my sump insulated and covered. Don't know how much it is going to save but right off the bat the air temp under the cover was 5 deg higher than the room air temp so it must be helping. I also was having huge evaporation amounts so this should help control that. I still have several other smaller open tanks that the water flows through so aeration isn't a problem.

sump.JPG
 
tittan1500 said:
Yes you can if you can feel a big difference between the pipe and the air you are loosing energy. and by the pic you have a lot of pvc so you could cover it up and save some money
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i guess the pic loks a kittle over kill. actually i only have the one line for my return.
the other ones are my drains.
so i'm wondering if it would make a huge difference if i covered those as well ? what are some thoughts.
 
Top is 1/2" exterior plywood (painted black with exterior latex house paint) with a 1/4" acrylic access hatch.
 
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