HELP Stray Voltage

[modilla]

I was tending to my S/W tank this morning and was jolted by voltage. A pump in my fuge is the suspect (it has been slowing down in flow). After i killed power to the whole tank i still feel a tingle when i touch the water. Do i just wait until it disapates? how long will it hold power? Must i ground it out? All the fish seem fine at the moment.
Thanx for any advice.

 

[salt210]

they sell grounding probes but I still wouldnt want that stray voltage in my tank. I would find the culprit

 

[modilla]

I read a thread a few months ago ware an exp. electrician said he did not like ground probes because of the bird on a wire effect (no ground, no die).
The pump will be gone as soon as i can touch it again. Just how long? it hurts to touch the water!

 

[curve]

I would check the heater. Everytime I run into stray voltage it has been the heater.

 

[prime311]

I think the question is though, with power cutoff to the tank why is there still voltage in the water and does it take time to dissipate? I would think if theres no longer voltage being provided to the tank then it should cease almost immediately but I don't know for sure.

 

[modilla]

No need for heaters here in the south, it turned out to be the fuge light. It was on a seperate circiut, even though it was off there was still power up to the switch.

 

[lexluethar]

So... was your light in your water? I'm confused as to how your fuge light (assuming it is not submersed in water) caused stray voltage.

 

[modilla]

must have leaked threw the salt creep is my only guess?

 

[michaeltx]

I have never heard of voltage going through saltcreep. I would check the line going to the light and make sure there are no breaks in the line that could be powering something else that you might be touching when you touch the water. that would deffinatly give you a jolt.
Do you feel anything else with the light off in the tank?
Mike

 

[modilla]

I replaced the light with another fixture (standerd 14watt flo) and there is no trace of voltage.
The old fixture had the switch connected through the steel reflector then two wire nuts that went to the sockets, it was on ancient twin incandescent fixture that i used to

[hr]
in two 10watt mini power compacts in.

 

[morval]

salt creep will definatly conduct electricty. i hand it happen to me b4 from crusty lights

 

[michaeltx]

thats a new one I can see it though. that type of light was asking for trouble though IMO they are made to sit of saltwater and rust out so easy its not even funny.
Mike

 

[modilla]

yah, used what i had at the time. it realy made the algea grow, this standerd flo looks so dim compared to the old one. still not worth my life though!

 

[scsinet]

Originally Posted by morval
http:///forum/post/2650569
salt creep will definatly conduct electricty.

Absolutely.

To the OP, as far as what the electrician said... he's partially correct. The bird on a wire argument is true, but the problem with it is when a grounded human touches the water, then he gets a nasty surprise.
An electrically live water column is enormously dangerous. Avoiding the grounding of the water in this regard solves nothing because eventually something (or someONE as you found out) is gonna ground that water.
To agree with him, merely grounding the water would have caused you worse problems in this case. However, had you had a grounding probe and a GFI on the tank, the GFI would have tripped the instant the light fault became a problem, rather than lying in wait for you to come by and become the unwitting ground fault path.
Put ALL of your equipment on GFIs, install a grounding probe, and rest easy.

 

[modilla]

All plugs around my tanks are GFI. just was not enough amperage to trip them.

 

[scsinet]

GFIs should trip with an inperceptible amount of current flow... I.E. you shouldn't even feel a shock.
Have you used an external GFI tester to verify that they work properly? I don't mean the test button on the GFI, I mean an actual plug-in tester. They are inexpensive and available at any retailer where GFIs are sold.