Quote:
Originally Posted by
Flower http:///t/392155/use-your-gfcis-people#post_3480783
I had to laugh...When I first moved into my house, it was rent with the option to buy. I made sure to request from the landlord permission to upgrade the electricity for my fish tank...The half of my wall was cut out, the wires redone and 4 double GFCI outlets installed where I had two at top level of the tank, and two at sump level... at a 6 foot distance apart. The landlord came over and saw us in the middle of the project...it looked like I had torn the house apart. If I were that landlord I would have panicked, but the guy I hired to do the work made it look exactly like it did before he cut out the wall when he was finished, but changing the electric from regular outlets to GFCI was no small intermediate task.
I agree that just swapping out an already established outlet is no big deal, but to get enough electricity to safely run a good sized tank...not so simple. Overloading outlets is dangerous even if it is GFCI.
Lets see on that one 90g tank I run:
Skimmer
Overflow Filter
Aquaripure nitrate filter
lifter pump
chiller
return pump
Lighting
a small extra filter for the sump
Duel carbon and phosphate reactor
Moonlights
Three power heads
2 small air pumps
A dosing pump.
Yeah, I really can't stress enough why it's important to understand the electrical circuits in your home and what they are rated for and what kind of condition they are in.
I've added up most of your equipment on that list there Flower and at best I think you're pushing right around 1000 watts to run all of that equipment. If I had more specifics I could give you more of a definite number. The typical 20 amp circuit in a home is rated for 2,400 watts but the national electrical code states that you should never exceed more than 80% or a circuits maximum rating for safety reasons. So that would put a typical 20 amp circuit right around 1,900 watts that you could run safely.
But it's important to know what you have. Because a lot of homes only have 15 amp circuits rated for 1800 watts which puts them more around the 1450 watt max range if you follow the guidelines. But in the average home the aquarium is probably not the only thing being used on that one circuit. And therefor, yes, it can be quite easy to accidentally over load a circuit if someone is not paying attention to the specifics. The breakers should trip in the event that the circuit becomes overloaded but breakers can become wore out and fail over time if not properly maintained and inspected fairly regularly and this can have the potential to lead to big problems.
A lot of times I'll see a ton of equipment that being plugged into a single power strip or under rated extension cords being used to power multiple devices and this can be very dangerous.
We do these things at our own risk so if your family and your houses safety is a big concern for you than everyone should really make an effort to understand what's going on.
