Need Electrical Ideas
 

After suffering a tank crash this past summer due to a corroded power bar and GFI trip I dont want to have this happen again with my new setup. What are some of the things that other people do to protect thier power bars from the corrosive enviornments we put them in?

You aren't going to like this answer....

1) I avoid using powerbars
2) Key pumps are on different circuits. It should take multiple failures to cause serious concern.

I agree with Brad: multiple circuits - the more, the merrier.

If you have to use powerbars, use those DJ power centers with individual switches and cover unused receptacles with those child safety things.

Also, keep all electrical bits as far away from the tank as possible and well off the floor.

get a battery backup system I recamend a upc 1500 or larger and run return pump, one heater and your skimmer onit and that is all you want it to last as long as posible. I get about 2-3 hours out of mine with a new set of bateries. You could get away with out having your skimmer on this unit and everything will work for longer and if you wanted to float hot water bottles all you would need to have on this unit is the return pump which would increase the amount of time you can run the upc for. Also good for winters and power failures they kick in right away on interuption in operation of equipment. The upc also acts like a isolation transformer.
Bill

Drip loops are a must.

And use black tie-wraps to keep things SEXY.

BE VERY CAREFUL with APC/UPS as they can often cause the very problem they are supposed to prevent. Our company does network support for a well known national restaurant chain; this chain installed hundreds of APC/UPS on the networking gear(modems, switches etc.) in hopes of preventing downtime in case of power failure. Now one by one around five years after the UPS were installed they are starting to fail and when they fail the circuits they are supposed to protect are DOA resulting in prolonged downtime until the batteries are bypassed or another APC is installed. Some of these restaurants are down for 2 -3 days until another UPS/APC is shipped and installed even though the power to the restaurant is fine!

Google "failed apc ups" and you will see these things often cause power loss, exactly what they are designed to prevent.

Not sure the size or layout of your system, or your electrical capabilities, but I would never use or recommend power bars. I don't have one in my system. Always use receptacles specific to the amperage of the circuit (15 or 20 amp being most common) and ideally locate all receptacles above the level of your water (sump) and away from splashes your main display.

Ideally use PVC receptables and conduit to run your wire through, metal can result in salt creep........unsightly and will have to be addressed eventually....my next system will incorporate all PVC receptacles and conduit becuase of the salt creep I am starting to see years after installation.

Locate all electrical away from moisture. Either in a separate cabinet or room. Do not use power bars, GFIs or other similar safety devices on critical equipment like the return pump. Anything your tank can survive without for 24 hours is not critical.

I'm not really sure about power bars these days, they are suppose to protect equipment from surges but a couple weeks back the neutral feed to my house came loose causing all electrical to ground through the house. I have two power bars in the house, one on the computer which did nothing, the power supply burned out and had to be replaced and the other on my home theater electronics which started on fire, if I wasn't home at the time it could have been a real disaster but luckily I could it almost right away so no damage was done, well except the burnt power bar. Loose neutrals are a very common problem with overhead power lines.

A good UPS is a continuous power UPS, this means that whatever you have plugged into runs off the batteries all the time and they are constantly recharged. This way there is no interruption, however brief, when the power goes out. Unfortunately it also means that the batteries wear out eventually, every continuous power UPS has this problem just like a laptop, cellphone or camera does. 5 years is about average.

Every UPS I can think of also has a USB or Ethernet jack so you can use the included software tools to monitor the health of the unit and test the status of the batteries. You could even get a piece of software called a SNMP server (free) that will alert you when there is an issue. If you have a problem you could maybe plug your stuff into the wall or something rather than wait 2 or 3 days.

How a national restaurant chain employs a consultant that doesn't a) know this and b) plan for it amazes me.

I have a small inexpensive battery powered air pump that automatically switches on if the outlet it is plugged into loses power. This is a barebones solution that will provide some aeration in the event of power loss and should run for quite some time on the two D cell batteries. It is plugged in to my GFCI protected circuit so if there's even a nuisance trip, the pump will kick in immediately. The other bonus is you don't have to be there for it to work, which buys some time. I'm thinking of adding another one of these for added security.

I've also used my car battery with a small inverter to run critical items during a 5 hour power outage. Haven't had many of those here, but I'm thinking of getting something a little more robust just in case. I'm thinking a larger deep cycle marine battery and a slightly larger inverter. Don't have a sump, so no return pump, but when I do in the future, I don't think I'd try to run the return pump for any length of time during an outage, they tend to be power hogs and would run down any UPs or battery backup rather quickly. Besides, most of the more affordable inverters do not produce a pure sine wave which is hard on anything with a motor. All you should need is a powerhead or two for water movement (and the battery powered air pump mentioned earlier), possibly a small heater and that should keep the tank alive for 12 to 24 hours. After that, you may want to get a generator to run more equipment, such as your return pump if so equipped, a larger heater and some lighting. If your skimmer doesn't use a lot of power, that may be a good thing to run as well during a power outage.

As far as power bars, provided you buy reasonable quality ones and keep them a good distance from your tank with drip loops, they should be as safe as any other electrical equipment. Most of the good ones are rated for the same wattage as any standard electrical outlet on a 15 amp circuit. Don't overload any single bar with too much gear and you should be fine. If you do need to mount them closer to the tank, mount them upside down if possible to prevent water ingress. I see plenty of photos with people mounting a maze of electrical gear under their stands and directly above their sumps. This is a recipe for trouble unless the stuff is specifically rated for a humid environment. It doesn't matter whether a receptacle is PVC or not, power bar or otherwise without proper protection and isolation from water, the metal connections in any electrical device are prone to corrosion/salt creep over time if not sealed from humidity or located a safe distance from water to prevent ingress.