GFI saved my life tonight

[e46er]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Glad to hear you're OK Adam

I went overkill as I don't want 1 GFI for my whole tank, or 2-3 spread around ...
I have 13, yes, 13 GFCIs on my system ! And 3 surge suppressors on 2 circuits
No one item will turn off anything else so no worries about my heaters killing my return pump, or whatever

And I'm covered no matter what I touch

Overkill, yes

13 GFIs in 2 circuits?
You know 11 of them are doing nothing right?

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by e46er

13 GFIs in 2 circuits?
You know 11 of them are doing nothing right?

Not true
Everything in my system that touches water is plugged into it's own GFI

I'm not into having the whole circuit blow because of one bad piece of hardware

[Magma]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Not true
Everything in my system that touches water is plugged into it's own GFI

you do know for 2 circuits you only need 2 GFI receptacles installed...put one at the start of each circuit and attach the next one onto the LOAD side of the GFI that way everything connected after that goes back to the GFI in this case it would save you about $200 in extra plugs you just dont need...

Seems a little overkill but to each his own I guess.

[gregzz4]

You guys are missing the point

If you use 1 gfi per circuit you risk turning off ALL your equipment with just one piece failing

[mark]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

You guys are missing the point

If you use 1 gfi per circuit you risk turning off ALL your equipment with just one piece failing

I got 3 ccts (2 breakers and a recpt), 13 might be a little overkill

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by mark

I got 3 ccts (2 breakers and a recpt), 13 might be a little overkill

Not overkill at all. It's just smart. If one thing trips in your tank, the rest are unaffected and your system keeps running. Imagine your 1 or 2 gfci's trip in the morning before you went to work. 8 hours later...you come back to a possible disaster. I'd much rather loose one piece of equipment than everything.

I'd do that in a heart beat if I wasnt a cheapskate!

Glad you are ok Adam. I hate getting zapped!

[toytech]

If there all in series if the fist one on the line blows it will kill all the rest after it , same as if you have a gfi contolling several outlets . Or is there a different way to wire them up so they don't do that?

[e46er]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Not true
Everything in my system that touches water is plugged into it's own GFI

I'm not into having the whole circuit blow because of one bad piece of hardware

I was talking from an electrical point.
Anyways keep a heater and power head on each circuit and your system will be able to handle everything else off for a day while your at work.

[Polscot]

Your house break would have tripped b4 it would "shock" you, GFIs work to prevent surges that can damage equipment, you can stand in your bathtub and drop a running hairdryer into it and you'll be fine (house breaker would trip)

-Your Friendly neighborhood Electrician

[mark]

gfi work by comparing current between hot and neutral and trip on an milli-amp imbalance. Cause of the imbalance could be me in the circuit by at a lower level, but fatal, than a panel breaker would trip.