Heater Crisis Averted

[Brew12]

I wanted to share my experience from this morning with the group. Very happy this morning as I had a heater fail and my system reacted exactly as designed. For those not familiar with my setup, I have my Apex EB8 control 4 individual GFCI receptacles. 2 are for my heaters, 1 for my skimmer, and 1 for my return pump. It pigtails from the cord you see plugged into the EB8 to the back of the receptacle using outlets 1,2,3, and 5. This picture shows my EB8 with 2 of the receptacles.

I have my primary heater kick on at 77.5F and off at 78F. My backup heater kicks on at 77F and off at 77.5F. I woke up this morning to my tank temperature at 77.3F with the backup heater on. I opened my door to the control panel and saw the GFCI for my primary heater was tripped.
I pulled the offending heater and saw it was blackened on the inside and the glass was slightly cracked. To be in the safe side, I added some GAC into my sump before heading in to work. Looks like it failed at 11:15pm but thanks to my Apex, the GFCI, and my ground probe, I don't expect any issues with my system.

Wiring in the GFCI wasn't exactly fun, but it is immensely rewarding to have it function exactly as designed.

 

[Breadman03]

So, what you did was run the plug from your EB8 to the back of the GFCI, essentially allowing each EB8 outlet to function as a GFI individually? That's some redundancy I could get behind. I have each EB8 on a separate GFI, but your method sure has some solid benefit.

 

[Brew12]

So, what you did was run the plug from your EB8 to the back of the GFCI, essentially allowing each EB8 outlet to function as a GFI individually? That's some redundancy I could get behind. I have each EB8 on a separate GFI, but your method sure has some solid benefit.

Yup, that is exactly what I did. Picked up some cheap power strips, cut the cords off, and used them to feed my GFCI outlets. Older picture before I had the skimmer plugged in.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Any idea why the heater failed?

 

[Brew12]

Any idea why the heater failed?

No idea. I'm guessing the heater element failed and overheated causing the glass to crack. It's possible the glass cracked and caused the heater element to fail.

 

[nitro]

I love this idea, was it a difficult wiring job? Do you have a diagram?
Thx

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Glad nothing was effected! What heater was it?

 

[drawman]

Would love to see pics of the wiring . I think it's a great idea and nice to see nothing else shutoff on you.

 

[Brew12]

I love this idea, was it a difficult wiring job? Do you have a diagram?
Thx

It is very easy to do.

You can get something like this but I picked up some cheap power strips and cut the plugs off of those.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-...-14-Gauge-Black-Indoor-Extension-Cord/3190621

And then connect the black, white, and green wires to the proper locations on the back of the receptacles. One cord wires up both outlets in a receptacle pair.

 

[Brew12]

Glad nothing was effected! What heater was it?

Thanks! It was a glass Aqueon heater that came used with my system.

 

[nchin]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Mark Gray]

Good Idea I might have to give that a go when I do my 90

 

[Brew12]

Thanks for the info.

Glad to provide it!

To mount the receptacles, I used one of these. Cut the proper size hole through the board to mount it and a nice looking install is easy. The cover plate from the receptacles will cover any jagged edges.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CARLON-2-G...ard-Switch-Outlet-Wall-Electrical-Box/1098507

 

[Don Lidtke]

I'm going to incorporate this idea into my build! Thanks for sharing.

 

[TheEngineer]

Phew! Close call! What made you go the route of wiring in hard-wired GFCIs versus using the cord-based ones? Aesthetics?

 

[Brew12]

Phew! Close call! What made you go the route of wiring in hard-wired GFCIs versus using the cord-based ones? Aesthetics?

It was a combination of aesthetics, safety, space, and costs. A high quality cord based GFCI costs $40+ and I would have needed 4 of them. I would either have had them hanging in the front of my cabinet (aesthetics) or pushed back into the wet section of my stand (safety). This only cost around $50 and gives me a very clean install.

 

[TheEngineer]

It was a combination of aesthetics, safety, space, and costs. A high quality cord based GFCI costs $40+ and I would have needed 4 of them. I would either have had them hanging in the front of my cabinet (aesthetics) or pushed back into the wet section of my stand (safety). This only cost around $50 and gives me a very clean install.

Got it. I recommend those cord based ones to people all the time. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't something I wasn't aware of about them

 

[Brew12]

Got it. I recommend those cord based ones to people all the time. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't something I wasn't aware of about them

Nope. I recommend them all the time also. Even if people don't use it full time they make troubleshooting electrical equipment very easy. Just plug in a ground probe to your system and plug each device into the cord type GFCI one at a time. When the GFCI trips, you have found your faulted device.

 

[drawman]

So with this setup in mind would you recommend having the apex itself on a surge protector and the EB8s without anything? Sadly I don't see myself rewiring my tanks but when I setup another I do really like the idea!

 

[Brew12]

So with this setup in mind would you recommend having the apex itself on a surge protector and the EB8s without anything? Sadly I don't see myself rewiring my tanks but when I setup another I do really like the idea!

I think that would be a good way to do it.