Aquarium Safety

pezenfuego

pezenfuego

Active Member
Missed this one. My dad works for a fire and flood restoration company. He was telling me about how one time a really large and expensive reef aquarium started a fire. I think the stand caught fire and the tank crashed into the ground or something. It basically self-destructed and now there is no more reef. This wasn't some 2 thousand dollar deal either, this was a BIG tank. The water put out the fire, so there was just a small amount of damage to the actual home.
 
sldrdvm

sldrdvm

Member
Timely post. My fiance's place of work caught on fire the other day when he was at work. I had just left there visiting him at work. The entire building burned down. At least no one was hurt.
 
pezenfuego

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by sldrdvm
http:///forum/post/3009605
Timely post. My fiance's place of work caught on fire the other day when he was at work. I had just left there visiting him at work. The entire building burned down. At least no one was hurt.
That post was made more than a week ago

It's good that nobody was hurt. How did it start?
 
V

vince-1961

Guest
Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2974005
Good advice Joe...

Which reminds me, I still have a couple of receptacles that are not GFCI that I need to switch out.
I am not an electrician, but I read up on this stuff. What I read indicated that you only put one GFCI outlet on a circuit. It then trips for any ground faults at a later point in the circuit, meaning that if another outlet further down the circuit, say the one on the other side of the room, encounters a ground fault, then the "upstream" GFCI trips and cuts off electricity not only to its own two outlets, but also to the entire "downstream" circuit.
In other words, I didn't think you needed a GFCI-type receptacle for each outlet?????????
 
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dragonzim

Active Member
Originally Posted by vince-1961
http:///forum/post/3103733
I am not an electrician, but I read up on this stuff. What I read indicated that you only put one GFCI outlet on a circuit. It then trips for any ground faults at a later point in the circuit, meaning that if another outlet further down the circuit, say the one on the other side of the room, encounters a ground fault, then the "upstream" GFCI trips and cuts off electricity not only to its own two outlets, but also to the entire "downstream" circuit.
In other words, I didn't think you needed a GFCI-type receptacle for each outlet?????????
That is correct. A GFCI will protect any outlets that are wired to it downstream. Depending on the distance from outlet to outlet its not a bad idea to put a GFCI on all of them anyway though. Even though it only takes miliseconds for the surge to get back and trip the circuit in a GFCI, if that power is arcing across your chest its enough time to kill.
 
marinemarty

marinemarty

Member
Does anyone have good pictures of a safe setup? I am a visual learner and I like pictures. I want to see drip loops, GFCI, wirring, etc ..Let's see the safest setup
 
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dragonzim

Active Member
No pictures, but if you have an enclosed cabinet that you keep your tank on, one of the easiest things to do is to mount a power strip or surge protector upside down on the underside of the top shelf of your stand. That way when you plug your equipment in it will automatically create the drip loop since the power cord will hang down from the strip.
 
caspervtx

caspervtx

Member
Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/2974030
yea i already beat you to it Florida Joe. i put a ABC fire extinguisher on the side of the stand months ago just in case.

As an ex-Firefighter may I suggest you put it on the other side of the room. If something at the tank catches you may not make it to the extinguisher in time
 
gmann1139

gmann1139

Active Member
Originally Posted by NYHCx516x
http:///forum/post/2975247
Since I am a renter, and really cant rewire outlets in my place...
I saw that home depot sells what looks like just an adapter, 3 prong plug into the wall outlet, that has GFCI protection, and you can plug a cord into that (say a 6 plug strip) right into it. Will this work just as well considering I cant hardwire?
Yes, just be careful, if it is the cheapo yellow/black one, it trips during power outages, and has to be reset.
 
calbert0

calbert0

Member
wow, i definately should have thought about this before.... definately heading to the depot tommorrow to pic up extinguishers and some GFCI adapters (mentioned above, my tank is already against the wall so theres no way i'll be able to remove the current outlets and install new ones + i rent )..... only problem is its past midnight, i hope i can sleep, you guys got me worried
 
baloo6969

baloo6969

Member
GREAT POST!
Baby will be born Monday morning.
Wife and I were picking up last minute things we needed around the house from Lowes...A smoke detector and extinguisher for the tank was on the list!
Thanks
 
jrandolph1

jrandolph1

Member
GFCI Protected outlets don't prevent fires. They aren't even a source of current limitation. GFCI outlets and devices soul purpose are to monitor current usage and protect against water and electricity from mixing (or the human body). They monitor the current leaving the device and the current comming back into the device and makes sure that everything is balanced. As soon as water or people enter the mix it trips. The outlet doesn't even monitor the line in which it is being fed the electricity. It only monitors what is plugged into the outlet which is considered the load side. There are Load side contacts on the back in which you can monitor additional plugs down the line but proper installation is the only way this can be effective. Greatfully the manufactures have made it to where the device will only operate if connected correctly in which this has not been the case in the past for some of the earlier generation GFCI outlets
 
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