Almost a disaster....

[Trabby]

So last Tuesday I yanked the aqua euro hob skimmer off for a good cleaning. I took it all apart without a problem, put it back together without a problem..so I thought.... Being super worried about leaks and floods.... I didn't put the canopy on the tank so I could moniter the skimmer for a few days.

So then comes the 23rd of December.... Shopping all done but crap loads of wrapping to do... My kids were still lurking by 10 pm so I decided to set my alarm for 3 am and get up and hit it hard. Well 3 was ridiculous... So I reset the alarm and dozed on the couch with visions of paper cuts and tape globs in my head. Just before five I layed there psyching myself up to run to the garage for a load of stuff to wrap...

Well all of a sudden I am completely awake hearing this snap crackle pop sound.... I fly off the couch and head towards the tank... Sparks flying everywhere!! The words that flew out of my mouth were less than festive..
So I unplugged the power bars at the wall unplugged everything and then smoked 2 cigarettes in as many minutes.

The power bar that had all of my power heads, heater and fx5 is the one that was sparking. I was expecting all of my equipment to be fried... I tried one powerhead and it worked so I left it on and went about my wrapping.

The whole scene basically wrecked my day because I could havE burned the house down... On Christmas eve to boot. all of my equipment made it thru the ordeal other than the powerbar.... But I have not plugged the skimmer back in..... Gonna attempt that today.... I believe it leaked on the output side, at the rubber seal. When I put it all back together, the seal warbled when I tightened it. I redid it and went one less turn so it didn't gibble... So hopefully I can get it right this time

[cuz]

close one!!
Knock one up to Karma keeping you on the couch eh!! That could've been nasty!!
GFI's???

[Trabby]

Originally Posted by cuz

close one!!
Knock one up to Karma keeping you on the couch eh!! That could've been nasty!!
GFI's???

Definately!!! Scared the crap right out of me!!!
Umm as for the GFI......no.... Soo I'm even luckier....but I now have one sitting here hopefully the hubby will instal it after work today. I really need to fire the skimmer back up too... Going to play with it today

[viperfish]

Maybe a good time to install that sump! Then there's no worries about the HOB skimmer overflowing.

Smart move on the GFI, good thing you didn't get zapped.

[Trabby]

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

Maybe a good time to install that sump! Then there's no worries about the HOB skimmer overflowing.

Smart move on the GFI, good thing you didn't get zapped.

Yes... Sump is definately in the near future....then I can be paranoid that the sump will flood LOL.. I don't think it overflowed so much as leaked from the output?? But who knows...
As for the lack of getting zapped I guess I am pretty lucky... I reefed those plugs out rather quickly without a second thought.

[cuz]

if you skimmer doesn't quit leaking give me a buzz, you can borrow my old one till you get things going again!!

[Trabby]

Originally Posted by cuz

if you skimmer doesn't quit leaking give me a buzz, you can borrow my old one till you get things going again!!

Thanks I appreciate that.....
I'm rather perplexed as to why it was good from tuesday up until the whole sparky mess on friday morning.....