Ground Fault Interupters

[beth]

Ok, how many of you are running your system without any sort of protection from electricution?? .
How many use a GFI's?
Many years ago when I was new to the hobby I came home from work and noticed a dead fish in my tank. Well, I started to go in to fish him out, however, luckily, 2 seconds before I actually started to stick my hands in the water, I looked over at the dead fish and noticed that there was shattered glass aound him. Yep, the heater bulb shattered and here I was just about to receive the SHOCK of my life. My solution at the time was to no longer use heaters in my systems; and I haven't [luckily I live in the tropics so this isn't much of a problem for me]. Resently I read a very good book, "Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner. One thing he said that impressed upon me very much is this: "If you embrace nothing else from my advise, at least get GFI's"
Well, of course I ran to my home depot, but the only ones they had were the kind that requires wiring in the wall

. I guess I'll have to call the electrician. How many of you guys use GFI's? Opinions on electrical safety in our hobby?

 

[kris]

No I haven't used these-I have a surge protecter strip (like for the computer) and I have been shocked before but never inside the tank-never an exploding heater or anything. The only problem I have encounterd was the drips and moisture getting into the strip--I tried to unplug some filters one day and got more than I bargained for--I just keep them covered now and make sure my hands are dry.

 

[beth]

Yeah, the surge protectors really don't do anything for electrical shock. I have my hands in the tank everyday, either placing or removing lettuce or just "house cleaning". I have powerheads in the tank which obviously run with electricity. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but I am concerned about that....but not enough yet to fork out the bucks for the electrician

[This message has been edited by beth (edited 04-06-2000).]

 

[kmatysek]

Putting in a GFI is no work at all - you don't need an electrician as long as you know how to shut off the power to the outlet and to use a screwdriver.

I suppose I should include some legalese warning here just to cover myself, but you just pop out the old outlet and put in the new, following the instructions on what wire to connect where. It's possible to have wiring problems in your house which could prevent it from working - but GFI outlets come with full instructions and tell you how to test it - so if it doesn't work, then you can call in an electrician.
MOST IMPORTANT, however, is don't trust the GFI to save you from electrical shock. As far as the power strip, I hung mine on the inside of the cabinet under the tank, so water can't drip on the strip - and if there's water on a power cord, it can't run uphill to the power strip. A lot of strips have a hole in the back to mount on a screw or nail head. For this to work, you need to make sure that the wires have enough slack in them so that they hang down below the power strip.
Hope that helps.

 

[beth]

Yeah, I know putting in an electrical outlet is easy, but I'm not very handy with such things, and don't really like messing with electricity. Also, I do the "dip" power cord thing myself. My concern is more with the fact that the aquirium equiptment is electrical and constantly has water running thru them [ie: the powerheads in my tank]. I am constantly in the tank cleaning or doing the lettuce clip thing. If there is a short or something with the powerhead itself, then sizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzle!!!!!!

 

[chessie]

I have a GFI also to try & prevent getting zapped big time! Believe my hubby picked it up @ a hardware/home-type store - not very expensive. The unit has a plug, 2 sockets & a master switch. Main thing is to make SURE that the GFI plug goes into your wall & if you have any strip units, that they get plugged into the GFI. I thought I'd be putting out big $$$$ for an electrician too, but this should work. Also, have our strip plug attached to the wall so as nothing is lying on the floor to get wet(all the filtration equipment is in a cabinet underneath tank). I read about this method in a book & think they call it the 'safety loop' method. It sounds a bit complicated but it isn't & it sure gives me piece of mind, for sure - H20 & electricity don't mix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope this helps.

 

[chessie]

Sorry - I'm overlapping on info I guess. Just skimmed over the responses & missed KMatsek's . I do agree wholeheartedly with it, tho.

 

[dennish]

What about Titanium Grounding Rods? I see them advertised. Do you use them? Would they help a major electrical short, or just help with very small amounts of "stray voltage".

 

[harris]

Yeah I had a close call too. I was working on my reef when I bumped the light strip into the water. Here were two 95 watt 36" VHO bulbs glowing underwater. I was beyond elbo deep at the time. Needless to say I pulled my arms out so fast that it acted as a partial water change(like a tidal wave leaving an aquarium). I was not electrocuted and immedietly unplugged the ballast. I run my stuff on the strips as well as everyone else does, but I have a special way to make drip loops. I use fishing line and a sinker(a few ounces) I tie a loose loop around the cord and the sinker creates the drip loop. This is a piece of mind when you are always moving cords around. Also the sinkers rust real easy so if there is a drip you will be able to see it and fix the problem.
I always assumed that the breakers in the house would throw if something shorte in the water.
That reminds me of another time swimming in a pool-needless to say half of the lights in my friends house went out, thanks god, becasue there would have been 2 fried kids in a pool.
Later.

 

[porkypuffer]

YOUR HOUSE CIRCUIT BREAKER WILL NOT SAVE YOUR LIFE IF YOU HAVE A SHORT IN YOUR AQUARIUM, A GFI IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO!
[This message has been edited by PORKYPUFFER (edited 04-21-2000).]

 

[eric]

As an electrician I strongly sugest ground fault circut interupters, they have saved many lives. however they can be wired wrong, and I do suggest that you find a quilifed electrician. but knowing that some of you will do this your self you should know that you can purchase models that will simply plug into the existing receptical. also keep in mind that salt water is corrosive and care sould be taken to keep the device clean also test it weekly.

 

[eric]

Also if your going to Install a G.F.I. you will have to know the supply [line] side of the circut and the outgoing [load] side, or the side going to the rest of the recepticals on the circut.Remember That green or bare wires are the grounging wires and the whites are the nuetrals and all others [black, red,& blue] are going to be the current carrying conductors. Now Knowing this If or when you pull the existing recpt. out and there are only three wires it will be easy green or bare to the ground or green screw white to the silver screw and black to the gold screw. on the side of the G.F.I. that says line side. Now this is very important, if you hook it up backwards it will NOT give you the protection but will still work. so you can be easliy fooled and I have seen many experinced electricians make this mistake. If you have six or more wires it gets a little more complacated and will require a voltage tester of some sorts. I recomend a tic tracer that can be purchased for around 15 to 20 $ at most hardware stores this device will tell you if a wire is live without comeing in contact with the conductor. as always turn the circut breaker off and seperate all the wires and cap each one alone and then turn the power back on and find the one that is hot.now that is the ONLY one along with the respective nuetral that will go to the line side of the G.F.I. that nuetral will be in the same jacket as the hot wire.NOW TURN THE POWER BACK OFF. and install the incoming power to the line side and all the others to the load side. every recptical on the same circut after the G.F.I. will also be protected. make sure sure all your terminations are tight because a loose termination causes heat and heat eventually causes fire. If you are not sure call an electrician and safty first, I wil check back later for any questions.

 

[hogwild]

If you don't want to spend the money on an electrician, what's your life worth? A GFI is the only way to go.

 

[beth]

Ok, I got the electrician out here to install the darn thing [gfi]. My house was built in 1960, thus I am not wired in the best way ! LOL. I had to switch my tank connections from right under the tank to a nearby side wall where there was a "ground". This was probably better, too, since the electrical contact is no longer right under the tank anymore. Of course, I learned a thing or two while the electritian was out....namely, just because you have a 3-pronged receptical doesn't mean that the receptical is "grounded". I had some renovation done on my house 3 yrs ago, which included changing out all the 2-pronged recepticles with 3-pronged....this, however, did not mean that I suddenly had grounded recepticles! So please, if anyone is going to "do-it-yourself", don't assume you have a ground. Test it to be sure. Also, all the "dip wire" methods mentioned in this post are accurrate, but please don't assume that using this will keep you safe. Most people use powerheads that have submerged electicial wires going from water to receptical. My electrician said that these pumps are 120 volt. Anything above 50 can cause electricution. Thus, if something happens with these powerheads, there would be direct contact with tank water and electricity....
The other thing I learned is that electrical plugs that have those big bulky square plugs [like the one on my UV] are designed to convert high voltage to very low voltage; thus plugging my UV into a reg receptical was OK [which was good news, since the GFI is not under my tank and the cord to the UV is not long enough to get to the side wall].
Thanks Eric for your posts! I'm going to print your gfi info out and include it in my hobby folder for future reference!

[This message has been edited by beth (edited 04-22-2000).]

 

[beth]

Unfortunately, you can't copy and paste from this board

Thus I wasn't able to save eric's lesson on gfi.
Eric...if you're ever in the mood to repeat, please email me at Leizzabeth@aol.com.

 

[eric]

Actually under the right conditions 3 volts a/c can break the normal rythem of your hart causeing death.

 

[reed]

one time in my freshwater tank a heater cracked and not one of my fish were dead I did not know it was broken and I stuck my hand in the water and it shocked me but not very bad.

 

[beth]

The same thing almost happened to me a long time ago [with the heater broke] only it did kill one fish, and I noticed the broken heater just before putting my hands in the water. I haven't used a heater since that incident.

 

[mgochay]

Originally posted by beth:
Unfortunately, you can't copy and paste from this board

Thus I wasn't able to save eric's lesson on gfi.
Eric...if you're ever in the mood to repeat, please email me at Leizzabeth@aol.com.

Beth you CAN copy and paste from this Board. I just tried it.

 

[beth]

Ok, MG and Sly....how do you copy / paste. I use AOL and when I use the edit menu to copy and paste its a no go. Also, I wasn't able to print the topic.
How do you guys do it?