Aquariums and GFCI

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by mark

As confidant as you are with you're wiring, you don't control the build of the equipment in your tank nor what may happen to it over the years. And thought I never heard on the news fish tank owner electrocuted, shocks are a big deal and do kill.

I may not control the build, But I monitor the condition's, and inspect. But hey, like stated, I'ts a personal choice.

[spreerider]

I am sure glad i put a GFCI for my tank circuit, a few weeks ago my son fell off a chair and crashed head first through the tank, while i was at work also an electrician. My wife rushed him to the hospital but didnt think to check if the tank was shut off, all the pumps and heaters running without water could have caused a fire, but the GFCI tripped possibly saving my son from a shock and possibly my house from a fire. Most tank manufacturers recommend you use a GFCI.

[Gizmo]

Regarding GFI's protecting from fires, there is a simple fix for that. Mount your powerbars and put in drip loops, how many can say that they actually do that? Have splash from your sump around the powerbars? use a acrylic sheet either ontop of the sump, or in front of the MOUNTED powerbars. Obviously if you have an equipment failure (broken heater or a mantis shrimp decided to take a chomp at your favorate powerhead cord) a GFI would be nice. But my experience (8 years in the hobby) says use a grounding probe tied right to a copper water line (please don't use the grounding prong on an outlet, you probably didn't wire your house and you can't be sure if it is a working ground without testing) will save you from those broken device. By all means use a GFI cct on non critical systems, but as i've said, experience has taught me that these things are more of a hinderance than help.

[midgetwaiter]

So okay then let's flip this discussion around. We have lots of people that have shared experiences about GFIs saving them from shocks or fires. Does anyone at all have a story about how a nuisance tripped GFI cost them livestock? Not a trip that was warranted, just a random event like is presented as an argument against them.

I have lost livestock to a tripped GFI but it wasn't a nuisance trip, something shorted in my ATO controller and I didn't notice for a couple days because I wasn't around. Lost 2 Bangaii Cardinals from the QT tank but all of the corals and fish in the other came through okay. Probably not worse than the controller going up in flames.

[Delphinus]

I'm afraid so, even though I took the "+1 on the use of GFCI's."

(Like I think I mentioned, but not 100% sure anymore,) I seem to get about 1-2 nuisance trips per year. I call them nuisance trips because I'm never able to find the cause. I've posted about this in the past and was told "it's because something caused it to trip." But I can't find out what, and if it only happens every 6 to 12 months there's no hope of being able to find it. At least when I plug things back in, nothing trips it, and no stray voltage in tank using a multimeter. <Shrug> Maybe I diagnose incorrectly, I'll admit I'm no electrician. I try to understand, but some things are above my head.

Anyhow, sorry, to the point, last summer I had a GFCI trip, and Murphy's Law kicked in, nobody noticed until a good 8 or 9 hours later. Ordinarily, I load share my tanks between two circuits, so if one GFCI trips, the other still tends to run, and usually either the sump return pump or the powerheads stay on. Because of this I've had power out on one circuit for long periods of time before, and never lost anything before.

But my 20g was all on one circuit, it was such a low-cost-to-operate tank that I just had it on the 1 circuit and so the tank was completely flatlined for the 8-9 hours.

I lost a pair of flame angels. I found them wedged into crevasses in the rock, one was so badly rigored I had to break the rock to remove him. Beautiful little pair of Hawaiian red flames and they were getting along perfectly too.

I regret that I lost these fish. I don't know that I regret the GFCI though still. Maybe the solution is to use a controller or something that can give an alarm when power goes out. At the very least, one of those powerfail screamer nightlight things, but I haven't been able to find any locally (I admit I haven't looked as hard as I could have though)

Like this: http://cgi.ebay.ca/PowerOUT-Power-Fa...3286.m20.l1116

[midgetwaiter]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I regret that I lost these fish. I don't know that I regret the GFCI though still. Maybe the solution is to use a controller or something that can give an alarm when power goes out. At the very least, one of those powerfail screamer nightlight things, but I haven't been able to find any locally (I admit I haven't looked as hard as I could have though)

Like this: http://cgi.ebay.ca/PowerOUT-Power-Fa...3286.m20.l1116

Yeah I remember you posting about this. An alarm is a good idea and if you can't find one you could put something like that together for about $10.

If you are interested I could draw it for you.

[Delphinus]

That'd be pretty cool, thanks.

Mark and Frank, are you using plug-in GFCI's or GFCI breakers?

I haven't replaced the GFCI's I use. I didn't consider that actually. ... I'm stringing new wires for my tank room and was looking at breakers. A GFCI breaker is like $80-ish versus $12-ish for a regular breaker and $15 for a plug GFCI. Are the breakers less prone to nuisance trips?

[mark]

Originally Posted by midgetwaiter

So okay then let's flip this discussion around. We have lots of people that have shared experiences about GFIs saving them from shocks or fires. Does anyone at all have a story about how a nuisance tripped GFI cost them livestock? Not a trip that was warranted, just a random event like is presented as an argument against them.

Since starting SW, never have had a false trip.

Tony, have you replaced your GFI since that first false trip?

[fkshiu]

No false trips for me in 5 years+ of using them.