Warning

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

No, my quarantine tank is beside the frag tank, with the power bar on the floor (smart thing #1). Aquaclear filter hasn't been cleaned lately (smart thing #2) and dripped onto the frag tank power bar. I thought I smelled something last night, but (smart thing #3) I didn't see anything and ignored it. Tonight, I get call from wife to get a$$ home now, as house is on fire.

As for the chiller, it just decided to work properly since I posted. Go figure...

Sounds like a whole lot of Lucky Beer stuff goin' on

You should start another thread and call it " Just Missed Catastrophes, starring Brad .... "

I won't quote them all, but I've been watchin' since last Nov


OOOOoooooo I forgot about the Chiller ...

Good thing it started working, huh ? !!!! Good news

[wickedfrags]

Agreed, and better still, don't use powerbars as they are not ideally suited to handle the amount of amperage we sent through them....always the weak link in your electrical circuit.

If you have to use them, consider mounting them to the underside of your tank.

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Make sure you don't have anything that can leak directly over your powerbar. Just sayin'......

[Doug]

Wholley crap Brad. Glad everything & everyone is ok.

[mike31154]

Wow, close call. Good thing no one is injured or too much damage to home. Good reminder to ensure all equipment with a cord that has anything to do with tank has a drip loop, on a GFCI & power bars are as far away as practical from the water. Never heard about water wicking right thru the cord to the plug though, so I learned something new reading this thread. Starting to feel a bit nervous about having my LED light power supply mounted in the center compartment under the stand. There's no sump or anything so it's dry down there, but if the tank itself ever develops a leak, who knows what could happen. But I suppose if the tank springs a large enough leak, there would be other issues. My hang on skimmer is mounted beside the tank on a little stand. Below it I've mounted my two main power bars, so not ideal either if the skimmer decides to leak. I have the power bars mounted upside down & diagonally though, so there's much less chance of water ingress in the event of a minor leak. If it's a major one, well, the wall plug itself isn't that far away, so bad things will happen in any case if the GFCI doesn't do its thing.

[Lance]

Whew.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Make sure you don't have anything that can leak directly over your powerbar. Just sayin'......

Again? oh man you have bad luck with powerbars and lights.

anyways hope everyone is fine, and that theres not any damage you can't fix

Steve

[justincgdick]

I take it you weren't using GFCIs?

I don't want this to come across wrong, but not using GFI protection is extremely risky on a reef tank. There's not much more you could do to be more unsafe in your home.

You really need to have a bunch of plugs to protect the whole system because you don't want to take down the system in one fell swoop with a single GFI to a powerbar, although it's safe as long as you don't over current the plug or circuit.

I don't mean to be snappy or insulting with this, but it really is a life or death deal. Nobody wants a house to burn down when a fish splashes.

[gregzz4]

I have 13 GFCIs and 2 Surge suppressors
Think it'll do the trick ?

[justincgdick]

Yes, that's perfect. I don't understand why there are no surge protectors (being sold) where each plug is it's own GFI. For reefers it would be awesome.

Ideally you'd have a few different circuits, lightly loaded with a surge protection (might as well protect the whole house at the panel) and separate GFIs for all the gear. A few switches are nice too so you can shut down a pump or whatever easily. A few regular plugs are good for anything that doesn't contact water and you want to save a few bucks. The electrical along can run $200-600 for a big tank. That's just under the stand.

[gregzz4]

FYI for anyone looking at my contraption ...
The GFCIs are not hard-wired - they are corded to the power bars so are still controllable