Don't have a GFCI outlet? Get one! Almost died!

[BCRIBS]

This is a dumb question but does a surge protector protect at all from this situation or do you need both a surge protector and a gfci?

Thanks!

 

[RamsReef]

Typical resistance with wet skin is 1k ohm.

 

[KStatefan]

This is a dumb question but does a surge protector protect at all from this situation or do you need both a surge protector and a gfci?

Thanks!

A surge protector does not protect you.

 

[RamsReef]

Idk what the resistance is between wet skin on my hand in the tank and a wet foot on a wet floor as a ground is. But I actually was curious about how much stray current was in the tank so I put my Carolina work boots on today, stood on a rubber mat and put the heater back in the same tank and plugged it back in. Got the multimeter out and tested the amps. The multimeter read 1.076 amps running stray in the water at the moment I put my hands in. You can do the math but I'm gonna say I got zapped by more then .023 amps lol

How did you measure 1.076 amps?

You should be measuring voltage to ground, or resistance from a hot leg to ground with your heater plugged in.

If you want to try your experiment again, use a milk crate to stand on. Plug in your heater. One probe to ground one probe in tank, measure volts ac.
Next put one probe near heater, other near where your other hand was in tank.

This will give you step and touch potential, using these you can get your approx shock current by..

Step V / 1000 ohm (minimum body resist) = A

Touch V / 1000 ohm (minimum body resist) = A

 

[Susan Bates]

I am in australia and have not heard the term GFCI, can you please tell me what it is? as I too have had a shock from my tank, the pump, it is frighting

 

[Anthony Wood]

I would educate somewhere around 20 ma actually. You still had motor control of your legs and midsection to pull the tank on yourself.

I hope the hospital put you on a ekg when you went in. If you told them you had electrical shock and they didnt monitor you, very bad.

Like I said I would guess HOPEFULLY < 100mA touch potential between your hands, otherwise you would be having / had chest pains.
Probably .010 to .02 mA step potential. Based on the fact that you still had control and (I dont know if you did or didnt) loose digestive functions.

For anyone still reading this, if you take a shock please go get an ekg (heart scan)

I have motor control of my legs now. When I was getting electrocuted I had 0 motor control of any of my muscles.

 

[Joey waid]

Idk what the resistance is between wet skin on my hand in the tank and a wet foot on a wet floor as a ground is. But I actually was curious about how much stray current was in the tank so I put my Carolina work boots on today, stood on a rubber mat and put the heater back in the same tank and plugged it back in. Got the multimeter out and tested the amps. The multimeter read 1.076 amps running stray in the water at the moment I put my hands in. You can do the math but I'm gonna say I got zapped by more then .023 amps lol

I can't see how anybody can read amps in water with a multimeter. Most meters cant even read that low of current to .076. Multimeters rarely read ac amps to begin with. I have never seen a multimeter read ac amps.

 

[RamsReef]

I have motor control of my legs now. When I was getting electrocuted I had 0 motor control of any of my muscles.

Shocked... electrocuted = electric execution

 

[Anthony Wood]

How did you measure 1.076 amps?

You should be measuring voltage to ground, or resistance from a hot leg to ground with your heater plugged in.

If you want to try your experiment again, use a milk crate to stand on. Plug in your heater. One probe to ground one probe in tank, measure volts ac.
Next put one probe near heater, other near where your other hand was in tank.

This will give you step and touch potential, using these you can get your approx shock current by..

Step V / 1000 ohm (minimum body resist) = A

Touch V / 1000 ohm (minimum body resist) = A

I have a digital multimeter it gives a read out in amps. I put the ground lead in the ground hole in a socket and put the hot lead into the water. I didn't read voltage

 

[RamsReef]

I can't see how anybody can read amps in water with a multimeter. Most meters cant even read that low of current to .076. Multimeters rarely read ac amps to begin with. I have never seen a multimeter read ac amps.

Not true, at all.

 

[Anthony Wood]

I can't see how anybody can read amps in water with a multimeter. Most meters cant even read that low of current to .076. Multimeters rarely read ac amps to begin with. I have never seen a multimeter read ac amps.

Read 2 messages up from this

 

[KStatefan]

I am in australia and have not heard the term GFCI, can you please tell me what it is? as I too have had a shock from my tank, the pump, it is frighting

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter Shuts the power off when it detects the power not going where it should be.

 

[Moretank]

A ground probe is a must for salt water aquarium.

 

[RamsReef]

I have a digital multimeter it gives a read out in amps. I put the ground lead in the ground hole in a socket and put the hot lead into the water. I didn't read voltage

Then you are lucky you didnt blow the fuse in your meter, as the meter is near 0 ohms resistance in amp mode.

You can do the experiment as I listed if you want the truth.

 

[Anthony Wood]

Reads both AC and DC amps.

 

[RamsReef]

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter Shuts the power off when it detects the power not going where it should be.

Yes it does a comparison of current on the hot and neutral conductors, if they are not near equal it will shut off the power.

 

[Anthony Wood]

Then you are lucky you didnt blow the fuse in your meter, as the meter is near 0 ohms resistance in amp mode.

You can do the experiment as I listed if you want the truth.

The 1.076 amps is where my hand was. I'll give your method a try and put up pictures of the reading.

 

[Joey waid]

Not true, at all.

I have been a electrician for over 30 years of my life. Not a wire puller and a light bulb changer either. I have had dc jump from 12 or more inchs and burn holes in my head and hands. A clamp on meter is the only way to read ac current acuretly. Sure the used to have analog meter were you plug a hair dryer in a socket that hooked to the meter.

 

[jasonrusso]

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter Shuts the power off when it detects the power not going where it should be.

A circuit breaker trips when the maximum current (usually 15 amps) flows through the circuit. It doesn't matter where it is going. It's only on the hot side. A GFI compares the current leaving the hot side to the current coming back into the neutral side. If it isn't the same, it trips the breaker. It is very sensitive and very fast so theoretically it will trip before any harm is done. It can be wired in parallel (like I have), it will only shut down that outlet and leave the rest of the circuit active. If you wire it in series, it shuts down the whole circuit.

 

[RamsReef]

I have been a electrician for over 30 years of my life. Not a wire puller and a light bulb changer either. I have had dc jump from 12 or more inchs and burn holes in my head and hands. A clamp on meter is the only way to read ac current acuretly. Sure the used to have analog meter were you plug a hair dryer in a socket that hooked to the meter.

And I have 1 degree, 2 trade diplomas, and 1 technical diploma, so what it doesnt matter.

And I will bet you 50 internet points that you will not find a modern multimeter that cannot to Ac/dc and that cannot read down to mA range. Infact most if not all meters read 4-20ma DC easy.