Power bars and extension cords

[Dearth]

This is my take on these

Power bars and cords

Seems a lot of people have questions about these because everywhere you look power bars all come with a disclaimer for not for use with aquariums basically if you use said power bar for aquarium use and you fry or burn something up because the power bar got wet your on your own for damage coverage.

Problem is not many many businesses sell power bars designed for use near water. There are power bars designed specifically for aquarium use Coralife, Apex, Milwalkie and a few others the problem is most are sold as part of a package deal costing a lot of money so many cheap out and buy the standard power bars. There is nothing wrong with using them but the danger is there especially where water is concerned. You can buy outdoor power bars but they are pricey and are designed for the elements and can take some water spillage.

There are ways to make the use of these bars safe and these are some hints and tricks.
-always buy a bar with a six foot cord or longer ones with short cords are just asking for trouble and buy with 6 or more socket plug ins
-most bars come with tabs or slots to enable them to be wall mounted if possible mount beside and if possible a foot or more away from the tank avoid mounting behind, under or to side of cabinet if possible to avoid water spillage or splashing
-if you have to place on the floor place as far as you can from the tank and cover it with a cardboard box or something that will protect your bar from water spills
-avoid the Christmas tree effect again your asking for trouble string an extension cord and plug another power bar into it

Extension cords

Not much to say here except that when dealing with anything water related never use indoor extension cords because they are not designed to keep water out its always best to use all weather cords they are designed specifically for all weather types and if by chance you spill water on the plug ins there is less chance of failure and frying your toys or you.

Thoughts or more hints/tricks?

[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!

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/7488/nkhl.jpg

[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_sheets/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/esasafe/pdf/Flash_Notices/10-02-FL.pdf