ground faults/moisture detection and power outlets

[reefphish]

That article got me thinking too.

I have had a heater break in the tank and sputter away. There is just to much to loose not being protected by GFI.

Another option is to group the devices into several sets of outlets, some GFI some not depending on the "risk"factor. And ensure that heaters and pumps are split between two GFI circuits.

TeeVee, what size circuits are you adding to your board for your new plugs?

cheers,

John

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by teevee

my current plans are to add two circuits to my room for a total of three, one for the metal halides, one for all the other tank stuff (pumps, heaters...), and one for everything else (two computers, etc.). i am going to put 10 plugins enclosed in the stand itself.

how much moisture is required to trip a GFI? perhaps i should just be getting some type of alarm system rather than something that will shut off power. it's leaks onto my carpet i'm concerned about, not water getting into wiring.

I think we're kinda talking about two different things here.

For what you're talking about, yes, you can get a moisture alarm that will sounds if water gets on your floor.

Moisture is not going to trip a GFCI. A ground fault is what's going to trip a GFCI. What they're talking about with GFCI's, is to prevent fatal electrocution by sticking your hand into water with stray voltage .... and then you become the ground for the circuit. What happens is, and you need a ground probe for this to be complete, is that, voltage will leak into the saltwater, the grounding probe will pick this up ... and the GFCI will then click off the tank, thus hopefully preventing a bad situation (ie., a person comes along, decides to put their hand in the tank .. and ZAP!). With a GFCI, if you find your tank has been shut off, it means something tripped the GFCI. Then you have to go through the process of systematically finding out which device is giving you a problem.

As far as moisture in the air or something .... that's really a different situation. A fan can probably keep things in your stand dry. I have a fan in my 75g canopy that is on 24x7, and that seems to be enough to prevent any condensation forming on the lights and stuff.

HTH

[Canadian Man]

That makes sense to me John,
Having something like your heaters plugged into a gcfi makes sense.
I don't have much worry about other things.

Even heater though, if in your sump don't stand a large chance of being broken.

[Quinn]

ok now i'm totally lost. i sure don't want to get electrocuted, what if i throw an SWC grounding probe in there?

my dad is the one coming up with all these ideas, it's really not my fault. apparently each circuit can handle 1500w (assuming that's what you want to know).

if any of you are really electrical geniuses and feel like talking to my dad about this he'd probably appreciate the input. he did our house but he's not a pro or anything, and is basically doing this all based on his previous experience wiring up greenhouses and such (he's a professional gardener). let me know via pm.

[Delphinus]

Sorry, I didn't mean to confoozle the thread.

As far as leaks on the carpets go ... I don't know what to suggest. I'd like to say, don't worry about it, 'cuz it's going to happen anyways sooner or later. Just make sure you've got a shop vac handy, so that you're ready for it when it does happen, and then it's not so much a big deal.

But the GFCI's ... really, all it is is a safety thing. Something that shuts the system down in the event a potentially deadly situation develops.

I've never used GFCI's on my system myself. But after reading how badly some folks got electrocuted (see the whole thread at RC ... it is quite long unfortunately) I'm starting to rethink that idea some. My hesitation has been that I'd prefer not to have my tank go flatline in the event a single item suffers some kind of electrical fault, but the workaround for that is as Reefphish suggests, have several different GFCI's and group items according to risk category or something like that.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

As far as leaks on the carpets go ... I don't know what to suggest. I'd like to say, don't worry about it, 'cuz it's going to happen anyways sooner or later. Just make sure you've got a shop vac handy,

Gotta agree with this. A shop vac is one of the most critical pieces of equipment to have with a reef tank. Water is going to end up on the floor sooner or later.
J&L sells a device called a screamer that makes noise when it gets wet...putting one of those beside the tank might prevent the tank from draining while your in the next room watching TV.

[golden69_ca]

its kind of funny if you have a gfi triping you will have a problem around your tank with equipment find the problem and fix it . i only had my gfi trip once and the reason was a bad worn out pump . so if your triping gfi find the problem and fix it before it takes you out. look at it this way would you pull out the gfi outlet in your bathroom(electrical code manditory) and replace it with a standard outlet id hope not . we all need to be safe around our tanks.

[Quinn]

i'll have to go over these ideas with my dad then. shouldn't be too tough to figure something out.

i have two shop vacs, one small and one extremely huge, to the point that we used it to drain our hot tub, so i'm not too worried about that the parents won't be pleased if there's a spill though so i'll have to be very sneaky with the vacuum...

VRRRRRRRRRRRR "WHAT ARE YOU DOING" VRRRRRRRRRRRRR "OH JUST CLEANING UP SOME DUST" VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR "WITH A SHOP VAC?" VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" VRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Tau2301]

I just follow a couple of very simple rules when working on my tank. They are the same rules I use when working on my AC panel.

Only one hand in the tank/panel at any given time and wear rubber soled shoes at all time while working around my tank or AC.

This way I avoid becoming a ground for any voltage in your tank. :shock:

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Tau2301

I took my GFI out after three days. I didn't like coming home to a cold dark tank.

Um, woulden't have made more sence to fix the problem? If a GFI is tripping something is wrong.

as for your rules, I woulden't trust them, what if you arm brushes against a grounded reflector? the floor isn't the only ground you have to worry about. My rule for working on a AC pannel, is flip the big leaver to "off" first, then check with a meter to make sure it is off. Sorry i have seen people get blowen accross a room using the "one hand" and "on a rubber mat" method.

The only time it is "absolutly" safe to work on power is when it is off!

Steve