Electrical Safety: GFCI, AFCI, Ground Probes

[Harold Green]

I think they recommend testing "regularly" but I'm not sure there is anything that says you have to. However is there a difference between breakers and receptacles, related to the trip current you describe?

I've actually never heard that standard panelboard breakers should be replaced after they have tripped. I'm an EE, so was my dad and his brother. Not like that means anything but also we have several electricians in the family, and I've been known to do beyond the standard receptacle wiring. Like replacing a panelboard and running new feeders to a meter socket without having the utility company shut off the power. One-hand-behind-your-back kind of stuff, if you know what I mean.

Let's see if I can answer in a simple manner. Standard breakers are a thermal switch. They can typically withstand the amp rating of the breaker for a short period of time and approximately 80% of the rating continuously. Above that 80% the breaker overheats and trips. The bimetallic strip in the breaker weakens with each trip. A gfci breaker does exactly the same thing but at the same time it monitors the current flow of the hot lead and the current flow of the neutral lead. Any difference between the two causes a trip. A gfci receptacle monitors the hot/neutral flow and trips when it's not in balance but doesn't trip by heat. So your gfci can theoretically overheat without tripping. That's the difference between a gfci recpt. and a gfci breaker. And I repeat the issue isn't with the gfci it's with the cords that our equipment uses that causes the problem. A leakage in microamps is enough to trip a gfci while a breaker has to heat up to trip. A standard twenty amp breaker can carry hundreds if not thousands of amps for a few cycles before it heats to the point of tripping. Most newer breakers are now rated to carry and break something like a 100,000 amps without blowing up. Hope this answered your question. Now on a side note. At one time most home breakers were wired for 15amps and receptacles were rated at 15amps. Today we have the majority of homes wired for 20 amp circuits and we can use 20amp receptacles. Many of our power cords and plug strips are rated for 15amps or less so they can overheat without tripping that 20amp breaker. It's a good idea to pay a little more and get the highest rating on cords, power strips, and timers to avoid some of the heat related issues. If in doubt you can buy a point and read thermal gun to tell you the operating temperature of your cords and strips or even a plug in thermal meter that you plug into the wall and then plug your strips into to get a total of the amps your tank is drawing. Warning don't leave a thermal meter in the circuit continously. I had one overheat on a motor load well below what the meter was rated for.

 

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All power strips are not made the same, but most are made with strips of copper for the sockets. They look like this on the inside

Some of the differences from brand to brand will be the gauge of the wiring in the cord. A power strip with a #12 AWG cord will generally be 20A rated. One with #14 AWG should be 15A rated. You should generally never see a 20A rated power strip with #14 AWG conductors. Same goes for extension cords.

If you crack open one of the American DJ type power strips, they usually look something like this

in both of these cases, the power flow through the circuit is additive between the receptacle connectors. What I mean by that is if you plug in a 5A load to the last receptacle in the chain, 5A will flow through all the wiring. If you plug in another 5A load in the 1st position, you will get 5A from the last one and then when you hit the first receptacle, from that point up to the fuse point is 10A. Many houses are wired the same way, you daisy-chain the receptacles together. Nothing wrong with this as long as the wiring is all sized properly, but the spade connectors can be finicky and loose connections mean heating, so it's always good to check these to make sure they haven't loosed in shipping or manufacturing. For me, I always plug in the higher draw loads closest to the switch, with the light loads at the end of the strip - which minimizes the length of conductor "seeing" a higher current.

Now ideally, each receptacle in a strip would have it's own wiring going back to the fuse point, but most manufacturers won't do that because 1) they don't have to 2) it takes up space 3) more wiring. But if you bring in your circuit wire right from the panel and then splice that into multiple receptacles, each with their own set of conductors, then you are running the receptacles in parallel, and one load does not "add" to the wiring load on another receptacle. Something DIY would look like this

Now this ^ doesn't exactly meet code...so don't do this...it's just a visual example. Being a EE I see some glaring violations here, like are there 2 cords going into that non-electrically-rated PVC 90 at the top? With no strain relief? Is that an extension cord label I see on the red cord? Guessing it's not meant for that...and are all of those romex cables and what looks like sections of extension cords between the 2 boxes going into open (unsealed) knockouts? (actually those are pre-formed PVC J-Boxes for solvent welding electrically-rated PVC pipe into). Like I said, don't do this, it's just a visual of what you could do...I almost didn't post that pic because while it looks all nice and clean, it's definitely says "I am not an electrician and I haven't read the NEC"...maybe one of the electricians on here can confirm my evaluation...

 

[Harold Green]

All power strips are not made the same, but most are made with strips of copper for the sockets. They look like this on the inside

Some of the differences from brand to brand will be the gauge of the wiring in the cord. A power strip with a #12 AWG cord will generally be 20A rated. One with #14 AWG should be 15A rated. You should generally never see a 20A rated power strip with #14 AWG conductors. Same goes for extension cords.

If you crack open one of the American DJ type power strips, they usually look something like this

in both of these cases, the power flow through the circuit is additive between the receptacle connectors. What I mean by that is if you plug in a 5A load to the last receptacle in the chain, 5A will flow through all the wiring. If you plug in another 5A load in the 1st position, you will get 5A from the last one and then when you hit the first receptacle, from that point up to the fuse point is 10A. Many houses are wired the same way, you daisy-chain the receptacles together. Nothing wrong with this as long as the wiring is all sized properly, but the spade connectors can be finicky and loose connections mean heating, so it's always good to check these to make sure they haven't loosed in shipping or manufacturing. For me, I always plug in the higher draw loads closest to the switch, with the light loads at the end of the strip - which minimizes the length of conductor "seeing" a higher current.

Now ideally, each receptacle in a strip would have it's own wiring going back to the fuse point, but most manufacturers won't do that because 1) they don't have to 2) it takes up space 3) more wiring. But if you bring in your circuit wire right from the panel and then splice that into multiple receptacles, each with their own set of conductors, then you are running the receptacles in parallel, and one load does not "add" to the wiring load on another receptacle. Something DIY would look like this

Now this ^ doesn't exactly meet code...so don't do this...it's just a visual example. Being a EE I see some glaring violations here, like are there 2 cords going into that non-electrically-rated PVC 90 at the top? With no strain relief? Is that an extension cord label I see on the red cord? Guessing it's not meant for that...and are all of those romex cables and what looks like sections of extension cords between the 2 boxes going into open (unsealed) knockouts? (actually those are pre-formed PVC J-Boxes for solvent welding electrically-rated PVC pipe into). Like I said, don't do this, it's just a visual of what you could do...I almost didn't post that pic because while it looks all nice and clean, it's definitely says "I am not an electrician and I haven't read the NEC"...maybe one of the electricians on here can confirm my evaluation...

I would say there's really nothing wrong with this as long as it's mounted in a metal cabinet to contain it and protect the wiring from physical damage. As far as mounting it as is in an aquarium cabinet. Definitely no. I also counted eleven duplex outlets on what appears to be a single circuit. Code generally limits you to eight outlets per 20 amp circuit. And that black wire should be white if it's acting as a neutral. It's okay to use black as a neutral in larger wire sizes as long as they are marked with a white or gray tape. Pvc pipe and connectors are normally grey. For two reasons, one the gray means electrical conduit, second the gray has additives to help it stand up to sunlight. Beyond that the white is safe to use although most electricians wouldn't consider trying to push wire around a plumbing 90 degree fitting. There are metal 90 degree fittings that open to put wire through and where you have room a factory long radius pvc 90 would be used for pvc piping. As far as combined loads it really makes little difference. As long as each device(receptacle) is rated at 20amps and the total load on the wiring is below the rating of the wire and properly sized breaker it doesn't make any difference whether the loads are in parallel with each other or each load has a separate path back to the breaker. It would just be a waste of wire. In the example above it would have been easy to use pvc or aluminum bell boxes and then run pvc or metal conduit between boxes protecting the wires from damage and would have satisfied code requirements with proper strapping. Nec requirements are the same nationwide but local codes may also have requirements. Best to have an electrician do work that could cause an unsafe condition in your home if not done properly. Many people believe they understand wiring but don't. I had a friend show me his electrical panel on a new home. I looked at the panel and it was filled with thirty, forty, fifty amp breakers sized for his loads around the house. Problem was the largest wire he had coming into the panel was for a twenty amp breaker. I asked who wired it and he said he did. I asked if he had any idea what size wire went with what size breaker but he obviously didn't have a clue and his wiring had basically no protection to prevent it from starting a fire.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

Hehe I caught the # of receptacles as well, I'll have to grab my code book on Monday and look at the # of receptacles one, it was always my understanding that 8 was a rule of thumb for design and not a code requirement (I don't do a lot of that kind of design anymore...mainly industrial/heavy commercial)

And that black wire should be white if it's acting as a neutral. It's okay to use black as a neutral in larger wire sizes as long as they are marked with a white or gray tape.

If you're referring to the DIY board, no, I think that is an extension cord used as a second circuit. Like I said I think there are 2 extension cords here that were just cut off on one end and wired into the top receptacle (or wire nutted in the box) either way, it's a mess!!

the panel and it was filled with thirty, forty, fifty amp breakers sized for his loads around the house. Problem was the largest wire he had coming into the panel was for a twenty amp breaker.

Yeah that's about as bad as farm wiring. Ever walk into an old barn and see some scary wiring? Like, tapping into an overhead service line with no overcurrent protection? Yeah, I've seen that.

 

[TheClark]

I know some say that GFCIs aren't worth it, but with my 8 year old daughters hands in the tank, how could I responsibly do anything but run one. She is worth far more than anything in the tank, it is laughable to even compare the two as there is no comparision. And I really love reef tanks.

However, you can significantly reduce the impact of nuisance trips.

Better than one GFCI, I use 16. One per EB8 outlet. That way, one piece of faulty equipment cannot take the whole system down.

They have been in service for over a year with Zero/Nada nuisance trips. They were about 12 bucks each at home depot in bulk.

 

[Harold Green]

I know some say that GFCIs aren't worth it, but with my 8 year old daughters hands in the tank, how could I responsibly do anything but run one. She is worth far more than anything in the tank, it is laughable to even compare the two as there is no comparision. And I really love reef tanks.

However, you can significantly reduce the impact of nuisance trips.

Better than one GFCI, I use 16. One per EB8 outlet. That way, one piece of faulty equipment cannot take the whole system down.

They have been in service for over a year with Zero/Nada nuisance trips. They were about 12 bucks each at home depot in bulk.

Clark as I said earlier I wasn't trying to dissuade anyone from using gfci's I was pointing out the downsides to those who may not be aware of the fact that they can trip easily with only minor leakage that often couldn't be felt as a short. Some of us make it a point to work safely around a tank and lack small children or anyone else who would place a hand in the tank. In all honesty I've never heard of anyone getting killed by reaching into an aquarium although I could see the danger of someone dropping a light into a tank and reaching for it without turning off the power first. Having all grounded equipment, proper wiring can reduce the hazard, perhaps not to zero but to levels I find exceptable with proper precautions around the tank.

 

[TheClark]

Yes nuisance trips are real. I have been fortunate to avoid them on the gfcis ymmv. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Harold Green]

Hehe I caught the # of receptacles as well, I'll have to grab my code book on Monday and look at the # of receptacles one, it was always my understanding that 8 was a rule of thumb for design and not a code requirement (I don't do a lot of that kind of design anymore...mainly industrial/heavy commercial)


If you're referring to the DIY board, no, I think that is an extension cord used as a second circuit. Like I said I think there are 2 extension cords here that were just cut off on one end and wired into the top receptacle (or wire nutted in the box) either way, it's a mess!!


Yeah that's about as bad as farm wiring. Ever walk into an old barn and see some scary wiring? Like, tapping into an overhead service line with no overcurrent protection? Yeah, I've seen that.

I couldn't tell the wire type and size by the picture but assumed it was #12 wire. If you want to swap stories, during world war one when all wiring was knob and tube and copper was in short supply, it wasn't uncommon for rural homes to be wired with barbed wire. Gives new meaning to getting hung up. If you think those days are gone, in the eighties I worked on a nuke in south texas. We came in to replace a non-union contractor who was doing such a poor job we had to rip out most of what they had done over the years. You won't see much of that in the news. At any rate when they started the reactor, (they were in such a hurry to get it up and running) we started it while still on temporary power. They immediately declared the plant was finished and fired everyone but told all construction workers they could come back as maintenance crew with the same job but at sixty percent of the wages they were making to finish the plant. Safety haa, the previous contractor had test holes drilled down to the water table and then came in and filled them with gravel. Any leak and radioactive material would have immediately entered the water table. They had to redrill and pump grout in from the bottom to seal. The cooling lake kept losing so much water that they had to dig a trench around it, place a mat in the trench to wick water to pumps that pumped it back into the lake. The first rain storm flooded the inside of the turbine building because the roofing contractor had done such a poor job. Is it any wonder that many of us view nuclear reactors as a danger to us all.

 

[bevo5]

So - what can a non-electrician do to try and run the safest, most efficient system?

I've been using a GFCI adapter on my biocube for over a year with no issues, but I'm setting up a big 200g reef so the amount of plugs will be doubled.

Should I get my outlet replaced with a couple 20amp GFCIs and split up the Apex power bars so each one is on it's own GFCI? Is that even possible? The current setup I have is a normal 4-outlet wall socket. Can an electrician simply replace that socket with two GFCIs?

Should I do anything at the breaker box itself?

Also - would two GFCI adapter things work as well as having the electrician do an install? The one I use now just plugs into the normal outlet. But it's only 15amp.

TLDR: What should I get an electrician to do for me to make this A) safe and B) not too trip-happy?

 

[Paul B]

I'm an Electrical Engineer myself but that doesn't mean I am an Electrician.

I am.
Scenario 1-A above is wrong. (and Bud, I really hate to get involved in GFCI threads) If you, me or a Supermodel touches a hot wire, or it falls in the water and we jump in there for some stupid reason, absolutely nothing will happen. As a commercial electrician for 40 years we frequently work on live circuits sometimes of a very high amperage with no problems. I even drilled holes many times in hot bus duct to attach cables. I re wired all the electrical equipment rooms in the Chrysler Building in Manhattan and we did that all the time. Of course we had to make sure the drill we were using was not grounded and we were working on the same phase of current that we were drilling. Those Bus bars were controlled with what we called Frankenstein switches like you see in old movies. The switches were so big we had to open them with a long 2X4 and a huge spark would jump between the contacts when we did it. Of course if we touch a live wire "and" we are grounded, that is a different story and we would get a shock, or die. Obviously, I know what I am doing because as far as I know, I am not dead.

B is also wrong for the same reason. If there is no ground, the GFCI (or GFI as we call them in the trade) will detect nothing and there fore not trip.

Scenario C is only a little wrong. In a salt water tank the breaker will trip almost immediately as salt water has a very high conductivity. If the breaker fails (and if it is a Federal Pacific Breaker, they always fail) the wire to the device will melt because that will most likely be a #18 wire which is smaller than the smallest wire we can have in a home which is #14.

D is totally correct.

In scenario 2 A, it is correct, the breaker will trip, but I doubt any animals will be harmed because the current will take the shortest route through the appliance, not through the fish. But it will scare the heck out of them.

That's as far as I got because I involves to much thinking and I am old. Besides that, I have been shocked by all of those scenario's so many times that my brain is fried.
I also was sent to school by Leviton when they invented GFI's so we knew all about them. Great invention. But either way, Use a GFCI and a ground probe and don't worry about it. By the way a ground probe can be built by bending a stainless steel knife, fork or radio antenna over the side of the tank and connecting a wire to it connected to a copper pipe of the center screw of an outlet.
Sorry ground probe manufacturers

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

Bud, I really hate to get involved in GFCI threads

Someone has to tell me I'm wrong if I'm wrong....this is something that obviously, even someone with a decent understanding of electricity doesn't have quite right. I didn't write the content of the original post (it was a member of our club, who gleamed it off the interwebznet)

Thank you for chiming in @Paul B

Scenario 1. Hot line to water via submerged equipment. This is when a submerged piece of equipment like a powerhead, heater or UV lamp fails and the hot line of the power supply gets in contact with the water:

a) No GFCI and No Ground Probe.
As the tank is isolated from ground via plastic piping and wood stands the water becomes energized to 110 V but the main breaker does not trip as there is no current to ground. Fish has no problem because they are in a situation similar to a bird standing on a power line. This is a VERY DANGEROUS situation for the aquarist because as soon as you touch the water you get electrocuted as you become the path of current to ground. Breaker does not trip as there is not enough time for it to act or enough current to create enough heat. (They are slow trippers)

Scenario 1-A above is wrong. (and Bud, I really hate to get involved in GFCI threads) If you, me or a Supermodel touches a hot wire, or it falls in the water and we jump in there for some stupid reason, absolutely nothing will happen. As a commercial electrician for 40 years we frequently work on live circuits sometimes of a very high amperage with no problems. I even drilled holes many times in hot bus duct to attach cables. I re wired all the electrical equipment rooms in the Chrysler Building in Manhattan and we did that all the time. Of course we had to make sure the drill we were using was not grounded and we were working on the same phase of current that we were drilling. Those Bus bars were controlled with what we called Frankenstein switches like you see in old movies. The switches were so big we had to open them with a long 2X4 and a huge spark would jump between the contacts when we did it. Of course if we touch a live wire "and" we are grounded, that is a different story and we would get a shock, or die. Obviously, I know what I am doing because as far as I know, I am not dead.

I think the clarification would be that if you put your hand in the tank that was under this scenario, AND you were grounded, this would be dangerous. Otherwise, you are like the bird on the wire.

b) GFCI installed but no Ground Probe: Again nothing happen initially but the tank gets energized to 110 volts. as soon as you touch the water the GFCI will trip within 5 milliseconds and below a current of less than 5 milliamps. You may feel a small shock but nothing enough to hurt. This is the safest situation for the tank critters but may still hurt the aquarist mainly if the GFCI is malfunctioning.

B is also wrong for the same reason. If there is no ground, the GFCI (or GFI as we call them in the trade) will detect nothing and there fore not trip.

Same

c) GROUND PROBE INSTALLED BUT NO GFCI (Our case of discussion in this thread): As soon as the device fails and a short circuit is established then current is established to the ground probe, current may or may not be high enough to trip the breaker. Fish and critters will die and corals will RTN. If the breaker does not trip (Which is most of the cases) the short circuit may not be noticeable and you will be at a loss of why your critters are dying, even if you touch the water you may not notice unless the ground probe is not making a good ground. (See also Scenario 3c below) This is also a dangerous situation for potential fire. The current could be high but not high enough to trip the breaker, wires heat up, insulation melts and they catch fire.

Scenario C is only a little wrong. In a salt water tank the breaker will trip almost immediately as salt water has a very high conductivity. If the breaker fails (and if it is a Federal Pacific Breaker, they always fail) the wire to the device will melt because that will most likely be a #18 wire which is smaller than the smallest wire we can have in a home which is #14.

FP Breakers, yeah, had my run ins with those. Though I never heard the #18 wire thing, so was that a common practice in the heyday of FP panels to also wire #18 throughout the house? If so...scary!!

D is totally correct.

One out of four ain't bad.

In scenario 2 A, it is correct, the breaker will trip, but I doubt any animals will be harmed because the current will take the shortest route through the appliance, not through the fish. But it will scare the heck out of them.

That's as far as I got because I involves to much thinking and I am old. Besides that, I have been shocked by all of those scenario's so many times that my brain is fried.
I also was sent to school by Leviton when they invented GFI's so we knew all about them. Great invention. But either way, Use a GFCI and a ground probe and don't worry about it. By the way a ground probe can be built by bending a stainless steel knife, fork or radio antenna over the side of the tank and connecting a wire to it connected to a copper pipe of the center screw of an outlet.
Sorry ground probe manufacturers

Yup, anything conductive connected between point A and point B will conduct.

 

[Paul B]

Quote:
" AND" you were grounded, this would be dangerous. Otherwise, you are like the bird on the wire.

That is now correct. You needed the grounded part.

Quote:
FP Breakers, yeah, had my run ins with those. Though I never heard the #18 wire thing, so was that a common practice in the heyday of FP panels to also wire #18 throughout the house? If so...scary!!

No, you don't wire a house with #18 wire. But the post stated that a "device" failed. A device such as a pump, light, heater etc has a power cord on it that you plug into a wall. That power cord is normally #18 wire for anything we would normally use in a home aquarium. That power cord connected to the device will melt before the breaker trips which is why there are so many house fires due to electricity. That power cord is not protected.
Federal Pacific circuit breakers were used extensively in the city in commercial buildings and they were a fire hazard as they never tripped. As electricians, sometimes we would just short the wire to see what circuit it is on. But with FP breakers, you could melt big holes in boxes before the breaker tripped, if it ever tripped. Sometimes the wires would just melt.

So Bud, you didn't do to bad.

 

[sevens_up77]

Does a grounding probe need to be plugged directly into the wall or can it be plugged into my surge protector?

 

[Paul B]

It needs to be plugged into anything that goes to ground. It can be connected to the green wire inside your surge protector if there is one. But it has to go to ground with no switch in between. That little screw in the center of your receptacle is "usually" grounded unless some Jiboni wired your house so test the thing before you do anything. If that screw isn't grounded, than nothing else on that receptacle, including the grounding hole or your surge protector is grounded.
If you have a 2 wire plug like there usually is on lights and heaters, that wire has no ground in it and if it fails or cracks the GFCI "may" not trip unless you use a grounding probe.
So use a GFCI and a probe so you are safe.
I had to remove all the GFCIs from around my own home (even though that is illegal) because at Christmas time I use those for my Christmas lights. Christmas lights are out in the rain and it will trip the GFCI in the rain because Christmas Lights are not the best made things electrically and no matter what you do, the sockets get wet and some of the current goes to ground tripping the GFCI. Christmas lights are normally very low voltage because they are wired in series. It gets complicated (because they are a series circuit) but depending on which part of the Christmas lights is grounded, the GFCI may trip or not. Yes confusing so don't use Christmas lights in your tank.

 

[Chibils]

I'm with @bevo5 - I want to know what I can do to make my system safe. I'm electrically illiterate. Most of the OP and 90% of the replies are gibberish to me. Right now my power strip is hooked to a GFCI adapter at the outlet, but I don't know how safe it really is. I'd be willing to get an electrician out and replace fish tank breakers with 20A GFCI or AFCI or CAFCI breakers. Just tell me what I can do.

 

[sevens_up77]

It needs to be plugged into anything that goes to ground. It can be connected to the green wire inside your surge protector if there is one. But it has to go to ground with no switch in between. That little screw in the center of your receptacle is "usually" grounded unless some Jiboni wired your house so test the thing before you do anything. If that screw isn't grounded, than nothing else on that receptacle, including the grounding hole or your surge protector is grounded.
If you have a 2 wire plug like there usually is on lights and heaters, that wire has no ground in it and if it fails or cracks the GFCI "may" not trip unless you use a grounding probe.
So use a GFCI and a probe so you are safe.
I had to remove all the GFCIs from around my own home (even though that is illegal) because at Christmas time I use those for my Christmas lights. Christmas lights are out in the rain and it will trip the GFCI in the rain because Christmas Lights are not the best made things electrically and no matter what you do, the sockets get wet and some of the current goes to ground tripping the GFCI. Christmas lights are normally very low voltage because they are wired in series. It gets complicated (because they are a series circuit) but depending on which part of the Christmas lights is grounded, the GFCI may trip or not. Yes confusing so don't use Christmas lights in your tank.

How do I test the screw on the outlet to make sure it's grounded? I have a meter. Thank you

 

[wooglins]

I have had my GFCI receptacle up and running for 15 years now. I went out of my way to buy the most expensive unit available at that time. It has saved my but several times when something fell in the tank that was energized or a flood condition occurred allowing water to reach outlets. Due to its age it should probably be replaced soon.

Mine is installed upstream from the aquarium and feeds the regular receptacle that the tank runs from. I perform checks on it about twice a year. It has never tripped without an event to cause it to trip. My setup includes a chiller which kicks on and off.

Not sure how any of this adds to the discussion but thought I would share.

 

[Paul B]

How do I test the screw on the outlet to make sure it's grounded? I have a meter. Thank you

Set the meter to 120 volts AC or higher) Put one probe into the shorter slot on the outlet and the other probe on to the screw. The meter should read between 108 or 120 volts. If it does, your outlet is grounded and fine to use.
If it does not, test the meter by putting one probe into the short slot and the other probe into the longer slot. If you get no reading, your not using the meter correctly.
If you get no reading to ground, call an electrician or get someone who knows what they are doing to correct it as that outlet will be dangerous to use for anything.

 

[Beej1254]

I am with the others here who would love to know how to make our tanks safer but aren't 100% sure how to follow the advice here. I greatly appreciate the information provided and the time you've all spent putting it together! thank you!

 

[Chibils]

I'm with @bevo5 - I want to know what I can do to make my system safe. I'm electrically illiterate. Most of the OP and 90% of the replies are gibberish to me. Right now my power strip is hooked to a GFCI adapter at the outlet, but I don't know how safe it really is. I'd be willing to get an electrician out and replace fish tank breakers with 20A GFCI or AFCI or CAFCI breakers. Just tell me what I can do.

Bump, I really want to know!