Ouch! Broke heater in water and WOW electrocution!

4FordFamily · May 15, 2015

So I was catching a fish out of my sump to sell it and accidentally broke the heater - didn't know it. Stuck my hand in to put the stuff back in the sump and WOW! I thought it was a small pump so I unplugged it and the electrocution stopped (I assume I bumped the broken part out of the water and the electrocution stopped).

Came down to feed them before "bed" and dipped my fingers in the water while giving them Blackworms and Yowwww!!!

That's when I discovered the broken heater!

What's amazing is the fish sat in what was probably a full 110 volts for an hour and a half and they even ate while it was shocking them! I am admittedly impressed...

Humblefish · May 15, 2015

All your fish will have HLLE tomorrow.

Seriously though, I'm glad you're OK.

heathd.hd · May 16, 2015

Electricity does strange things. Since they were in the water completely submerged it doesn't feel to them like it does 2 you. The juice you got flowed through you trying to find a ground. I don't know enough about it to really speak on the topic but I know it's not the same. Worse for the guy sticking his finger in I guess is all.

4FordFamily · May 16, 2015

Lol humble and yeah I knew it wasn't as bad for them. But wow it almost knocked me on my ****!

BornAgainReefer · May 16, 2015

Electrician here to explain why you got a whack and the fish didn't...
heathd.hd is on the right track... [emoji106]
It's the same reason why birds don't get fried on the high power lines either.

It's all to do with the earth and you becoming part of the electrical circuit when you touch something live... In this case, the highly conductive saltwater that the broken heater made live.

Electricity wants to find the quickest route back to where it was generated (in our case, that's back to the step down transformer down the road) in order to complete the electrical circuit... Saltwater is an excellent conductor by the way... Glass and silicone do not conduct electricity at all.
Therefore the water became electrified but because there's nothing conductible in contact with earth it didn't hurt anything or short circuit/trip the breaker.
I'm guessing you don't have an RCD protecting you & your system...?

Most electrician's will insist you protect yourself and your family with an ELCB or RCD... They're worth their weigh in gold.

We're all messing with Electricity and Saltwater here. And they don't mix very well...

4FordFamily · May 16, 2015

BornAgainReefer said:
Electrician here to explain why you got a whack and the fish didn't...
heathd.hd is on the right track... [emoji106]
It's the same reason why birds don't get fried on the high power lines either.

It's all to do with the earth and you becoming part of the electrical circuit when you touch something live... In this case, the highly conductive saltwater that the broken heater made live.

Electricity wants to find the quickest route back to where it was generated (in our case, that's back to the step down transformer down the road) in order to complete the electrical circuit... Saltwater is an excellent conductor by the way... Glass and silicone do not conduct electricity at all.
Therefore the water became electrified but because there's nothing conductible in contact with earth it didn't hurt anything or short circuit/trip the breaker.
I'm guessing you don't have an RCD protecting you & your system...?

Most electrician's will insist you protect yourself and your family with an ELCB or RCD... They're worth their weigh in gold.

We're all messing with Electricity and Saltwater here. And they don't mix very well...

I use grounded power strips but I don't know enough about all of that, and the electricians I've spoken to quoted Us a small fortune to do what I suspect you're suggesting?

heathd.hd · May 16, 2015

You would have 2 ground your water. But you probably would still get shocked lol

BornAgainReefer · May 16, 2015

If they quoted you a small fortune they were trying to rip you off mate
This is what you want (but US style if that's where you live) and you can change it out yourself after isolating the power supply.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1431795343.444132.jpg

I can get them trade but they're about Â£15-20 for a good quality one.
Less than US$30.

BornAgainReefer · May 16, 2015

I meant they're about that price to Joe Public

BornAgainReefer · May 16, 2015

3fordfamily said:
I use grounded power strips but I don't know enough about all of that, and the electricians I've spoken to quoted Us a small fortune to do what I suspect you're suggesting?

Grounded power strips are just a power strip with 3 prongs... The 3rd obviously being the Earth... It'll probably have a little push putt on which is a electronic fuse but as far as Earth Fault you're not protected.

Now this leads me onto heathd.hd's question and it is a good question to which the answer is yes you do, to complete the earth circuit... If there's no circuit it can't monitor it... Hope I'm not sounding sarcastic here, just trying to put it in layman's terms.

To ensure your ELCB is going to trip when there's a serious enough fault, your tank water must be earthed.

Now I need to ask someone about what type of conductor we can use so as not to introduce unwanted metallics...
We know copper wire is out of the question but that's as far as my Reef knowledge goes...

What would aluminium do?

Anyone have any ideas?
Tin foil maybe?

AuRush · May 16, 2015

Install a GFIC outlet they are less than $20. same thing used to break the circuit when you drop your hair dryer in the tub.

heathd.hd · May 16, 2015

Hahha. Now there's the real deal. I would not want aluminum or tin. It would be more in the realm of surgical stainless type. They would still corrode but at a very low rate.

heathd.hd · May 16, 2015

AuRush said:
Install a GFIC outlet they are less than $20. same thing used to break the circuit when you drop your hair dryer in the tub.

That type of outlet is only going to protect you from getting killed when you put your hand in. It's not going to solve the problem of the fish sitting in stray voltage. When you break a heater or what have you the breaker will not notice that.

BornAgainReefer · May 16, 2015

Surely you mean GFCI don't you? Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter?
Earth Fault Circuit Breaker...?
Either way there's no difference except from where you come from and what you call it... The voltage may be different depending on the country but that's all... ... ...

It's like the Aluminium/Amlinum thing... [emoji99][emoji99][emoji99]

AuRush · May 16, 2015

Aquarium Titanium Ground Probe

AuRush · May 16, 2015

BornAgainReefer said:
Surely you mean GFCI don't you? Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter?
Earth Fault Circuit Breaker...?
Either way there's no difference except from where you come from and what you call it... The voltage may be different depending on the country but that's all... ... ...

It's like the Aluminium/Amlinum thing... [emoji99][emoji99][emoji99]

Yes it was a typo GFCI is what i meant . but grounding probes are readily available too .

BornAgainReefer · May 16, 2015

heathd.hd said:
That type of outlet is only going to protect you from getting killed when you put your hand in. It's not going to solve the problem of the fish sitting in stray voltage. When you break a heater or what have you the breaker will not notice that.

Heathd
Don't get confused with the standard CB or MCB (circuit breaker/ miniature circuit breaker) which are just overload devices, they're the ones you have in your fuse box/consumer unit in your house... They just trip when there's an overload of current (too many amps) or a simple dead short.
They don't protect against earth faults, they just stop things going bang.