Lost it all: An electrical warning

[lestat45559]

Good day my reef family I need to share some bad news and hope it may help some of you.

Yesterday while at work a fire started while we were are work in our basement. We lost everything down there. So everything reef is gone. We lost our two cats. The rest off the house us covered in soot and smoke. The fire inspector said it thinks it was a short in my power strip. The zoomed kind with the two build in timers. So please check them often. They were telling me all night they are shocked we didn't lost the whole house, that we were lucky the tanks exploded and put most of the fire out.

Here is a link to the power strip the fire inspector is currently saying caused the fire. http://www.wag.com/reptile/p/coralif...?cookies_set=1

The sad part is I have spent over 1k on corals from our sponsors in the last 2 months.

 

[zwulfke]

So sorry for your loss I would gladly send you a frag when you get back up and running to help the rebuild process

 

[hatfielj]

So sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how it would feel to come home to that...I hope your insurance company treats you right

Very curious, does your home have GFCI protected circuits? Specifically, was your power strip plugged into one?

 

[Diesel]

That's a shame.

 

[Jimmyb819]

Very sorry for your loss, not only of your livestock but your property as well. Glad that the house as a whole was saved!

 

[drstratton]

So sorry for your loss! Sounds like you and your family are safe?

 

[ReefMadScientist]

Sorry for the cats and fish. That blows man.

I used to use the same surge timers when I first started.

 

[melypr1985]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Lenny_S]

Very sad, really sucks about your pets... Great that no one else was hurt. Prayers. [emoji72]

 

[BryanS4]

Sorry for your loss.

I looked at that strip as well and there were so many other reports of major problems. I can't believe major chains still carrry it after all the problems well reported.

 

[Twomuchless]

Sorry for your loss [emoji107][emoji107]

 

[ballroomdude]

Terrible to hear. Very sorry.

 

[DannyB]

Sorry for your loss.

That is the same one I have under my tank. I will be replacing it pronto!

Very curious, does your home have GFCI protected circuits? Specifically, was your power strip plugged into one?

Also interested in this question.

Did they say it shorted out due to water contact or just straight malfunction?

 

[dh350twin]

Very sad thanks for sharing

 

[lestat45559]

So sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how it would feel to come home to that...I hope your insurance company treats you right

Very curious, does your home have GFCI protected circuits? Specifically, was your power strip plugged into one?

Yes the house did in most areas but not in the fish room. when I rebuild I will have to ensure it does.

 

[lestat45559]

So sorry for your loss! Sounds like you and your family are safe?

Yes wife and I are fine, we were are work and gym when it happened, we got home it was all out and normal temp. losing our cats hurts and of course my hobby of over 30 yrs. My adjuster has told me it will be very hard to get the insurance to cover the tank live stock even with all the fourms and receipts from the live sales I have bought from here in even them past two months.

Be careful of anything memory foam. It burns and causes what is called a wet smoke and soot, it sticks and does not come off, the adjuster told me last night we will lose everything on all three floors from it.

 

[lestat45559]

Sorry for your loss.

That is the same one I have under my tank. I will be replacing it pronto!


Also interested in this question.

Did they say it shorted out due to water contact or just straight malfunction?

This post alone will make me happy, if my loss can help just one person stay safe. I never heard about the problems and it had 4 or 5 stars so thought great for a QT tank, I set it up 5 days before the fire.

 

[jgvergo]

I had a similar experience with a "DIY" lighting system. The power supply was "Made in China" and not UL listed. It went up in flames. Fortunately, I was home and my smoke detectors alerted me in the nick of time. The cabinet that the tank was on was in flames. I was able to put it out with an extinguisher, but the damage to my wife's psyche has not been repairable The lesson: Buy UL listed products from reputable companies!!

 

[Paul B]

Wow, that's a bad deal. So Sorry

 

[Lenny_S]

This post alone will make me happy, if my loss can help just one person stay safe. I never heard about the problems and it had 4 or 5 stars so thought great for a QT tank, I set it up 5 days before the fire.

This thread has the potential to help a lot of people. I referenced it to another thread on the same topic.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/over-draw-power.218540/

Thank you for sharing