Short/Burnout in Mixing Bucket...

[Cheeze]

Working from home and on a work call, I heard a weird sound followed by the smell of smoke (like an electrical fire).

The panic subsided and I confirmed it wasn't any of the equipment in my DT that shorted. I was however able to confirm that the heater in the 5 gallon bucket I have mixing my saltwater for the weekly water change I was going to do today (for my 40 gallon DT) has shorted out. It doesn't look like the short happened at the outlet, but rather the heating unit submerged in the water...the mixing pump is still working, but both it and the water have a "smokey" scent to it now.

My question: should I discard this smoke-scented water (granted it's only 5 gallons but already with the salt mixed in), or will it be ok to use?

 

[CoralB]

I wouldn’t think it to be a problem . You could run it through carbon to remove the Oder and the pump , take out and clean . I would consider putting a gfci outlet on your mixing station for the future . But if your worried , it’s only five gallons to replace if you throw that batch out to have piece of mind .

 

[Cheeze]

Thanks CoralB...I'm thinking just flush this bucket to the saltwater gods and mix a new batch. Probably the safer route to go vs. have some issue with the smoked water throwing something off in my DT.

 

[mann1139]

Thanks CoralB...I'm thinking just flush this bucket to the saltwater gods and mix a new batch. Probably the safer route to go vs. have some issue with the smoked water throwing something off in my DT.

When I'm not sure whether I am thinking straight on things like this, I like to put it in $.

Saltwater costs less than $1/gallon. Is it worth jeopardizing anything else in your tank for $5. Heck, can't even get hermits for that anymore.