Power bars and extension cords

[typezero]

Good points fo sho!

I believe proper wire management is just as important as clean plumbing from sump to display. Messy will still work but an organized one will look nicer and not give you headaches when you need to access them for any reason. So zip tying wires to be as short as possible after connecting to the power bar helps a lot in the tangling department. Also labeling the ends so you don't have to play the follow the wire game to figure out the piece of equipment.
Lastly, I would never personally use any power bars without individual on off switches (like the DJ bars). Turning off specific things with a simple switch is so much easier and and safer then unplugging them (wet hands + unplugging).
That's my experience with power bars.
-Long

[daniella3d]

I often see people with power bar on the bottom of their aquarium furniture, sometime even resting in some water, a disaster waiting to happen! Mine are all mounted high up on the wall inside my cabinet so if some water spill it wont affect the electrical connections.

Here is what can happen if water gets in, hapened last week to a member of reefaction forum: He was lucky to be home to put out the fire. The power bar cought fire!

[mike31154]

Here's a link to a pdf with some good info on power bars & extension cords. It is a safety bulletin for info only, but does quote some important points from legal & code documents.

http://www.esao.on.ca/downloads/info.../power_bar.pdf

If you read closely, most of use are in fact in violation of code in that we use power bars & extension cords as more or less 'permanent' solutions to run our tank gear, since neither power bars, nor extension cords are meant to be used as such. They are 'temporary' solutions for equipment that is portable.

I also don't fully agree with everything in OP's original post. With regard to the length of the cord on a power bar or the number of outlets, these factors are less important than the size(guage) of the wire in the cord & the quality of the outlets. The more outlets on a power bar, the greater the temptation to overload it with too many doo dads. A 3 foot cord of 12 ga wire is much safer to use than a 6 foot cord of 16 ga wire due to the increased current carrying ability.

Bottom line if you wish to be as safe as possible & comply with code, don't use any power bars or extension cords to run your tank equipment. Your tank is anything but temporary since most of the electrics on it run 24/7/365 & once it's planted on it's stand, not moving too often. Of course this is impractical for most of us, so we mitigate the potential hazard with proper mounting, GFCI devices, drip loops etc. I guess the best advice if you're in the planning stages for a new tank or fish room, run an extra circuit or two & wire up as many wall outlets as you need & then some..... and use outdoor type covers & boxes that are somewhat moisture proof.

[Reef Pilot]

Yup, be careful where you put them. I had a near fire just over a year ago when my skimmer overflowed and was splashing outside the sump onto a power bar I had hung on the wall. My sump room is downstairs, and we heard the fire alarm go off down there. I ran down downstairs to see a bunch of smoke, melted plastic and a charred wall. But no fire, luckily. And the breaker didn't even go off.

Needless to say, I have corrected that situation so it can't happen again.

[mike31154]

Here's another link with good info, similar to my earlier post but a little more current. Ontario, but most provinces will have similar bulletins, code, etc. These came up near the top with a simple search on the net.

http://www.esasafe.com/assets/files/...s/10-02-FL.pdf