Almost nominated myself for a Darwin award (a.k.a. God bless GFCIs)

fkshiu · #1 09-09-2008, 08:27 PM

So I decided to do my annual cleaning of the Eheim 1260 return pump. I run it externally and have it hooked up to a couple of true union ball valves so removing it is a cinch.

After putting it back I notice an odd hum. While it's still running I start messing around with it including tapping the volute (I run it without the outer cover to cut down on noise). After about 5 taps - PSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH! - the whole freaking volute pops off and I get blasted in the face by gushing saltwater. My initial reaction was to try to replace the cover, but the water pressure made this impossible. After a few seconds I shut the upper ball valve (what I should've done in the first place) - less water, but it's still gushing (WTF?!?).

Panic starts to set as more and more water fills the sump area - I can't figure out where the water is coming from. Meanwhile, my wife is only about 10 feet away obliviously clicking away on the computer as I'm re-enacting a scene out of Das Boot. My pig-headed male pride stops me from screaming for help. It's only after a few more seconds of flailing around like an epileptic chicken (felt like hours) that I shut the sump side ball valve (DUH!).

I look around and see that the rat's nest of wire next to me is covered in salt water. I also realized that the everything has shut down - the GFCI had tripped like it was supposed to. The bottom of my sump area is sealed to contain such mishaps and I'm kneeling in about 2 inches of salt water. Also sitting in the salt water with me is one of the powerbars I had knocked down in my panic(!).

All told I lost about 3 gallons of water, so no big deal. The bigger deal was how close I came to existing in the past tense. Of course when I told my wife what happened behind her she just rolled her eyes like she usually does as my tank catastrophes. But the bottom line: Don't even think about running a tank without GFCI protection.

Oh, and the odd hum? It went away.

Delphinus · #2 09-09-2008, 09:25 PM

Yikes, glad to hear it worked out OK in the end!

Last night as I was sitting in my soon-to-be-tank-room, pondering my current problem of my furnace vents interfering with my light fixtures (long story, won't go into it here, if I ever find time to upload the photos of my tank build I'll update my thread), but anyhow, as I'm sitting there feeling sorry for myself, I hear "Pop! Wooooooooooosh!"

Now ordinarily a "Pop! Whoooooooosh" isn't actually all that abnormal a sound - usually if the washing machine is on upstairs, you'll hear the water draining the pipes as it goes into the rinse cycle. But I was fairly certain nobody was doing laundry.

My cube tank sump return pump popped its line and water was geysering everywhere. Didn't hit any electricals so no GFCI cutoff but water was everywhere.

I'm thinking the odds of this happening when I was sitting 5 feet away must be pretty astronomically small. If I had gone to bed already I would not have known until morning.

Weird eh!

Whatigot · #3 09-09-2008, 09:35 PM

wow....
all humour aside, there should be a sticky about reefer horror stories like this to illustrate the importance of GFCI outlets.

fishytime · #4 09-10-2008, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I'm thinking the odds of this happening when I was sitting 5 feet away must be pretty astronomically small. If I had gone to bed already I would not have known until morning.

Weird eh!

I was reading another thread where the guy had water alarms. You place them beside the sump or tank on the floor and if it senses moister it sounds an alarm. Seems like a great idea. Havnt looked for one here yet( kinda forgot til just now actually). http://www.thewateralarm.com/wateral...=2&idproduct=1

marie · #5 09-10-2008, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishytime

I was reading another thread where the guy had water alarms. You place them beside the sump or tank on the floor and if it senses moister it sounds an alarm. Seems like a great idea. Havnt looked for one here yet( kinda forgot til just now actually). Anybody seen them in Canada?

Yea that would be the ticket, while he's "flailing around like an epileptic chicken", an alarms wailing... just to add to the confusion

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #6 09-10-2008, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marie

Yea that would be the ticket, while he's "flailing around like an epileptic chicken", an alarms wailing... just to add to the confusion

Franklin,

Next time I'm over visiting, you'll have to do the "epileptic chicken" dance for me. I think it'll amuse Felicia. Make sure the floor is dry by then though, since Irene & I will probably be rolling around on the floor laughing our heads off.

Anthony

PS. Glad you're ok bud.

Delphinus · #7 09-10-2008, 04:54 AM

Think I've seen some kind of water-on-the-floor alarm at Home Depot - the name "Screamer" comes to mind. Not really going to touch this one any further than that!!

I know some home alarm systems also have moisture-on-the-floor sensors, so there ought to be a few options out there..

untamed · #8 09-10-2008, 05:14 AM

Those water sensors/screamers are quite cheap. I recall buying 3 or 4 of them for less than $10 each. They occupy all kinds of strategic spots in the fish room. I set one off the other day just with a few drips off my hand...

The Aquatronica also has one that is stoopid overpriced...but since it is linked to the controller I'll probably buy it eventually.

heyfredyourhat · #9 09-10-2008, 06:19 AM

I now run a gfi thanks to a short i found in my MH fixture. Of course i found it while my hand was at the bottom of my 24" tank. Talk about getting zapped. WOW. It played out in slow motion of course. One hand on light one hand in water, and i couldn't for the life of me let go of the fixture until i started screaming and then i fell off my ladder.