Electrical question

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Monti-Man

I am an electrical engineer and I will tell you that a ground probe is neccessary, that is why it is built in to everything from house to idustrial sites as syncrude.
You are always better having one

Though some that is true, I fail to see how the ground probe in your house relates to ones in question. All house grounds are connected directly to appliances, they are not located on one side of the house, isolated so when a short occurs it has to travel through the air towards the isolated pole. All your aquariums electrical components are already grounded like every house hold item. You'll have to go more into detail than I'm an engineer and that's how it is.

[Monti-Man]

I am not here to debate, but for safety sake use the gorund rod or plate or whatever. If you want an explanation give me your email and i will send you the proof, also the CEC code of practice in regards to this question also the CSA position on GfCI. I am not here to debate on this thread as you seem to be, take my advice or don't, but i would make sure your are using one.

[Black Phantom]

By code you have to have a GFCI in your bathroom in case you drop your hair dryer into the sink full of water. Or reach into the water when holding your hair dryer.
Obviously there is no ground probe in your sink. Isn't it the same thing with your aquarium?
I'm really in the dark here and just don't want to find myself floating over my lifeless body on my way to who knows where

Hopefully up

[spreerider]

your sink should be grounded if its metal and it its not it wont matter as it wont conduct anyways.

A GFCI works by measuring the current entering (hot) and leaving (the identified conductor commenly called neutral) you can have a ground fault and not have a gfci trip under the right circumstances but a solid connected ground is not necessary for a GFCI to trip as the current in a fault without solid ground could still make it to ground via a person or object.
i use a GFCI but no ground probe.
BTW most aquarium products are not grounded they are double insulated you can tell because none of them have a 3rd prong on the cord, the only thing that usually is grounded is the light as some require a proper ground to startup lights, and often have exposed metal on the fixture that needs to be grounded as per CEC and CUL.

[sphelps]

If you have "proof" relating to why people should use a ground probe in there aquarium I'm sure many people would appreciate you posting it here. I still don't see how all these codes you're referring to relate to aquariums.

I'm sorry if you feel I'm trying to "debate" this topic but when I give an opinion relating to such a serious topic I just feel it's a good to give reasoning. Call it what you want but how can you expect people to take you seriously if you can't give them explanation?

Article published by that Georgia Tech professor

[EmilyB]

Monti-Man, my husband is an electrician and he would agree with you. I have been given crap often for not having a ground probe in a sump as well as the tank and what-not.. Prior to that, I've been drilled several times because of a cracked heater, etc.


Tony, just out of curiosity, is the pump leaking voltage a Sedra? We had two Sedras do that to us.

[Black Phantom]

Originally Posted by sphelps

If you have "proof" relating to why people should use a ground probe in there aquarium I'm sure many people would appreciate you posting it here. I still don't see how all these codes you're referring to relate to aquariums.

I'm sorry if you feel I'm trying to "debate" this topic but when I give an opinion relating to such a serious topic I just feel it's a good to give reasoning. Call it what you want but how can you expect people to take you seriously if you can't give them explanation?

Article published by that Georgia Tech professor

Thanks for the great article. It has answered a lot of my questions. It's always good to get an expert opinion.
His tank and Bio are very impressive. How many people design and build their own computer systems to run the tank lighting.
Very nice

[a4twenty]

another option is to run a couple of GFIC circuits and the ground probe, only the one with the problem will trip if something goes wrong. i have 4 different GFIC's in my setup, just for this reason. also many recommend not plugging your main pump into a GFIC, this can be dangerous but not so much if you have a ground probe in the sump.

just some thoughts......

[Delphinus]

Oh, haha, Ok. Fair enough. I apologize for opening a can of worms, I had no idea.

[mark]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

One of my skimmer pumps is leaking voltage..

Is there anything to look for in terms of seeing if the pump can be salvaged?

I'm sort of suspecting "no" but I thought I'd give the pump a once-over tomorrow nonetheless. Likely though I'm buying a replacement ...

Question #2 ... why wouldn't it have tripped the GFCI if I have a grounding probe? Is there a minimum threshold for creating a ground fault?

I realize that the skimmer being in the sump that the ground probe should also have been in the sump, but I could feel the trickle of electricity in the display so I thought it would have gone to ground and thus tripped the GFCI? The GFCI trips pretty easily in other circumstances.

Just wonderin' .. thanks

Not trying to be smart here, but is the skimmer plugged into a GFI (I've got a mix of GFI and non-GFi receptacles around my tank) or could the GFI be faulty?

Also for GFI's aren't they to trip within a 1/2 cycle, so that if you did grab that hair dryer that fell into that un-grounded sink, as soon as you reached in and provided a ground path it would immediately trip?