Morbid...but do you worry about getting shocked?

[george51349]

I used to be careless about it, but then I actually got shocked. I unplugged something from a power strip while my hand was wet (stupid I know) and all of a sudden I jumped about five feet. My arm couldn't move for about 20 seconds. Thankfully it wasn't that bad of an experience.

 

[richarddeweerd]

is there an item of equipment that goes between the ground plug and ground that lights up when current is going through it? be handy to sit next to the tank.

I would never put something between the ground pin and the ground connection. Simply because this can break and then the ground is not working. the only think i can think of is an amp clamp but i don't know if they are sensitive enough for this. Your GFCI should trip at 5 mili amps so

 

[weamdog]

Grounded my 220g after getting some "zingers" in my sump with some scratches on my hand. Wouldn't consider it a shock, but there was obviously some 12v leakage.

 

[WallyB]

Been shocked one time too many.

Made this Informative Video to Prevent other from Shocks. (GFCI and Ground Probe LIVE Demos)



Plenty of Discussion/Info in the Thread Going on (with Good Advice from Resistent Electricians)

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/★i-am-alive★-please-read-★tank-almost-★electrocuted★-me★-gfci-never-tripped-missing-ground-probe-passing-on-lesson-to-all-reefers.666317/

 

[DraggingTail]

My 15 year old recently said my QT tank water hurt his skin. I stuck my fingers in and sure enough I was getting zapped. The Hydor Power Head had a short.

I would be interested in ways that I can avoid this, especially my kid. I use GFCI power strips but it did not trip.

 

[GabeM]

No I have been shocked too many times to worry about it.

 

[Nathan80]

I've been shocked more times than I care to remember, last time was when I foolishly thought it would be a good idea to change the clarisea roll and clean it whilst half cut at about midnight on a Saturday night - I stupidly just undid the main flow pipe to get it out before turning the return pump off - water everywhere, all over the electrics, I got a belt - 30 odd liters of water into the lounge and all the electrics tripped out. took about 2 days to dry, had to run the tank on an extension (wife was not happy with me, she'd told me to leave it until I was sober the next day!)

I've had belts from equipment as well - provided the RCD is working (which I know it is) and is sensitive it'll trip out long before I'm in danger. If something is faulty I just unplug everything and trial and error dipping an electric tester screwdriver in the water plugging things in one by one until I find the culprit, then just replace....

 

[mrlavalamp]

My 15 year old recently said my QT tank water hurt his skin. I stuck my fingers in and sure enough I was getting zapped. The Hydor Power Head had a short.

I would be interested in ways that I can avoid this, especially my kid. I use GFCI power strips but it did not trip. ☹

the problem is likely no ground connection back to the power strip.

My koralias are all un grounded so I bet yours is too. If there is no equipment grounding the tank for you, you need to make that connection yourself. Even pumps with a ground pin on the plug wont always provide enough ground connection to allow gfci to work properly and protect you.

You need something like this: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vertex-titanium-grounding-pole.html

having GFCI on the tank circuits is not enough. The water in the tank needs solid connection to the ground in the circuit in order to provide a path for the electricity and allowing the GFCI to sense it and shut it down.

 

[Copingwithpods]

I never worry about it, at work I get my fair share of 120v jolts. Unless you are being completely wreckless, say no shoes on a wet concrete floor essentially grounding you, worse case scenario you'll get a strong tingle and nothing more.

You have a higher chance of dying from fragging palys than you do from electricution.

 

[jgvergo]

I used to worry about it, but I have a ground probe installed.

 

[chk4tix]

I often worry about it, I have GFI’s for the tank but i still worry. About 12 years ago, I was working under my tank and had a terrible experience. Some how the hose came off the return pump WHILE I was holding a power-strip. The saltwater and electricity converged and the contracting of my muscles pulled me farther under the tank. As I was getting shocked, my mind was racing wondering when the breaker would pop. Fast forward 8 hours, my girlfriend (now wife) found me passed out under the tank with the power out. I don’t remember any of that, but I do remember waking up in a catscan tunnel wondering what the heck was going on.

Long story short, use caution when working under a tank, you never know if the safety measures will actually work when you need it to.

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

I got shocked multiple times just yesterday while attempting to pull a water soaked surge protector from it's non GFCI wall outlet. No big deal as I've been shocked many times before but please don't try this yourself.

Here's the story behind it..

Some numb nut who replumbed an estimated 800 gallon system thought it was okay to use some plumbers tape to hold together where a short section of 1" schedule 40 PVC entered a T fitting. The main line is 2" PVC that reduces down to 1" over just a few inches so it was quite literally a bottleneck and a gun ready to go off.

I'm guessing that the person was simply too lazy to just recement the two together when the connection point was leaking. There was absolutely no cement on the inside of the T fitting when I had to go back to make the repair!

Well, it was my luck that the dang pipe finally slipped out and pumped out MANY dozens of gallons of saltwater into the cabinet area. Fortunately, the house was pretty much built around the tank so the water mostly rushed into the crawl space.

The client seemed to understand what happened when I showed him what previous work was done. Let's just say that there's a reason why my services are being used to replace the last company providing the maintenance.

Now I just have to replace a power brick to a skimmer since that got soaked too and the dang thing was sparking and starting to smoke!

Fun times!

-Dan

 

[GillMeister]

I've been shocked a few times. It's very exciting. It usually takes me a while to figure out why my arm is aching. Really, it's not as painful as you might think but I still wouldn't recommend it.

 

[jng15111]

I do when the corner of my lights accidentally fall in my tank, but that is only because I had a friend who told me he had a huge tank in his fathers dental office, and the office was set on fire because of the electrical system in the tank. He told me by the time they were finally able to get in the building all the fish were burned and on the ground.

 

[Boomer52]

Haven't been and don't intend to be shocked. Ground probe in the tank and another in the sump. GFCI on all outlets.

 

[Smarkow]

My vertex controlled shocked me. My precaution was not buying anymore vertex gear. Good riddance

 

[Smarkow]

Duplicate

 

[kyleorso]

I dont worry about it until its too late...... I have only been shocked at my mixing station in the garage which is usually because of wet hands reaching for plugs. However I am in the process of redoing my mixing station which includes Gfci.

 

[oldbob50]

Have a GFCI and a titanium heater with a grounding plug on the tank equipment. I have been shocked by a transfer pump that was not plugged into the GFCI (my bad). I don't "worry about it". I understand it as an electronic engineer and generally have taken precautions. However, electricity will find a path to a ground. I got shocked by the transfer pump because I had the tank grounded and the pump was on a different circuit than the tank GFCI.

 

[radiata]

Just shocked? Some of us need to worry about getting killed! One way is to go moving rock around in your tank after forgetting that you have a glass heater in it. It's happened...