Stray voltage help
- Thread starter newbreefer
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jaguars4263
Active Member
yes
newbreefer
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The previous sump cracked, so the carpet did get wet. When I had the sump out. I let it dry fully and cleaned the carpet. I could tear it down and move it all to another room to see if it changes anything.
Mgoc
Active Member
I just found this on the internet and it is pretty interesting. Let me know what you guys think.
Stray Voltages
Stray Voltages
newbreefer
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Ok, so I went and replaced outlets with gfi plugs. Nothing is popping so that's good. Water is still saying 103 v with ground rod. 60v without. I had the article above and it makes perfect sense, but I'm still getting shocked when touching the water. My goal is to move the entire setup into another room and see what I get then.
ReefinNewbie
Community Member
Try turning the main breaker in your house breaker box off, then retest.
What kind of lights are you running? Yes lights can put electricity in the water without touching. My t5s were introducing a large amount of voltage into my tank, and when I added a ground probe even more. I grounded my reflectors and the problem was gone. I got a small shock each time I reached in the tank, and my fish were always on edge.
icsparks
Community Member
This is just a brain storm of mine
Being a sparky for over 30 years I have seen some weird things happen in my time. First thing is to find the faulty equipment unplugging each piece of equipment one at a time should have been the correct way to troubleshoot the issue which in your case didn’t work. I can only assume that you are testing for voltage with one probe in the tank water and one probe in the ground prong hole of the wall outlet that supplies the tank equipment. If this is correct and you still have voltage with all the equipment unplugged then you are picking up a stray or induced voltage from another source like a nail that got accidently nailed into the house wiring during construction and the salt water from back when you had a flood is conductive enough to induce the voltage around the tank area carpet and equipment. The salt is very conductive and most likely you still have damp areas under the floor and wall area that may have electrical wire nearby that got wet. The reason the current is attracted to the tank is because it is the nearest conductive thing like metal or if you have the tank on a metal stand salt creep and dampness will also let the current reach the tank. Most of the equipment like the power heads and pumps are double insulated and wont conduct a good path to ground. In fact you may see the voltage drop as you plug the equipment back in because the equipment is providing a path back to ground.
Being a sparky for over 30 years I have seen some weird things happen in my time. First thing is to find the faulty equipment unplugging each piece of equipment one at a time should have been the correct way to troubleshoot the issue which in your case didn’t work. I can only assume that you are testing for voltage with one probe in the tank water and one probe in the ground prong hole of the wall outlet that supplies the tank equipment. If this is correct and you still have voltage with all the equipment unplugged then you are picking up a stray or induced voltage from another source like a nail that got accidently nailed into the house wiring during construction and the salt water from back when you had a flood is conductive enough to induce the voltage around the tank area carpet and equipment. The salt is very conductive and most likely you still have damp areas under the floor and wall area that may have electrical wire nearby that got wet. The reason the current is attracted to the tank is because it is the nearest conductive thing like metal or if you have the tank on a metal stand salt creep and dampness will also let the current reach the tank. Most of the equipment like the power heads and pumps are double insulated and wont conduct a good path to ground. In fact you may see the voltage drop as you plug the equipment back in because the equipment is providing a path back to ground.
