stray voltage question

[ctopal]

I was getting zapped in my sump and found out it was the maxi-jet that powered my UV by unplugging it and no longer getting zapped. It's toast, right? Just checking before I throw it out.

Also, I had a grounding probe in my sump, shouldn't that have removed the electricity from the water?

Thanks!

Christine

 

[james30ct]

If its getting stray voltage I would definitely junk it.

 

[gpwdr]

I was getting zapped in my sump and found out it was the maxi-jet that powered my UV by unplugging it and no longer getting zapped. It's toast, right? Just checking before I throw it out.

Also, I had a grounding probe in my sump, shouldn't that have removed the electricity from the water?

Thanks!

Christine

The ground probe probable saved your life. Salt water is a good conductor of electricity, pure water is not.

Gene

 

[Bryan47]

I had the same problem, called marine land and a new one is on its way today!

 

[Bryan47]

I have no ground probe and I was fine it's only 110V

 

[ca1ore]

Been zapped so many times by my sump that I now stand on a piece of Styrofoam when reaching into the sump water - very good use for one of those LA shipping box lids.

 

[gpwdr]

Been zapped so many times by my sump that I now stand on a piece of Styrofoam when reaching into the sump water - very good use for one of those LA shipping box lids.

1/10th of a AMP across your heart will cause your heart to stop.

Gene

 

[Vaiodude]

Do you have the equipment plugged into a GFCI outlet? If so and you had stray voltage the GFCI should have tripped. If it didn't trip replace the GFCI. If you have a ground probe and no GFCI you just give the stray voltage a path to go causing current which is worse than the stray electricity itself.

 

[ctopal]

Do you have the equipment plugged into a GFCI outlet? If so and you had stray voltage the GFCI should have tripped. If it didn't trip replace the GFCI. If you have a ground probe and no GFCI you just give the stray voltage a path to go causing current which is worse than the stray electricity itself.

Thanks all for the feedback. So I checked, and all my equipment except for the grounding probe is plugged in a GFCI outlet. This isn't the first time I had his happen, found a bad heater this way too. I'll switch up the way it's wired and g directly to that outlet. Thanks!

 

[Windy]

I was getting zapped in my sump and found out it was the maxi-jet that powered my UV by unplugging it and no longer getting zapped. It's toast, right? Just checking before I throw it out.

Also, I had a grounding probe in my sump, shouldn't that have removed the electricity from the water?

Thanks!



Christine

A grounding probe is not a safety device in spite of all you hear. They can actually increase your possibility of getting shocked. I don't use them, but rely instead on GFCI's, a safety device for wet areas.

 

[Bryan47]

Yes he his right 10-20 milliamps (enough to light up a single led can kill you.) Thats current. It would take an incredibly high amount of voltage to overcome the resistance of your body and send that much current through. For example a static shock can be 3000 volts but usually jumps a short distance through the air. I wouldn't want to be in Europe where they use 220 because that would hurt a little more! At work we have machines that run off 480+

The main concern is the fish and coral, 110V cannot creat enough current in the body to go across your heart.

 

[ctopal]

So this may be a dumb question, but I don't know a thing about electricity. How is the electricity running through my tank going to kill me yet the fish are all fine? If I see my fish are all dead,then I'd certainly think twice before sticking my hands in the water.

 

[gpwdr]

So this may be a dumb question, but I don't know a thing about electricity. How is the electricity running through my tank going to kill me yet the fish are all fine? If I see my fish are all dead,then I'd certainly think twice before sticking my hands in the water.

It's not a dumb question!
If you have a bad electrical device in a tank of salt water the water becomes energized with a potential for current to flow through a conductor, just like a wall outlet.
If you were to put one hand in the tank and one hand on say a metal grounded appliance you would be the conductor and current would flow through you.
Please don't listen to some who have said 110v can't kill you. House voltages have killed many people.
A good volt meter can tell you if you have voltage potential in your tank. Put one probe into the water and the other probe onto a good ground.
Better still call an electrician.

As for why there is no fish fry. The fish are part of the voltage potential, like birds standing on high voltage power lines. If a bird, squirrel, etc. were to stand on the power line and touch the pole or cross arm, which are grounds the critter would become the conductor and current would flow through the critter and die.

Gene

 

[tigerdragon]

Just so people understand electricity voltage is the flow ie high voltage lines are like way over 3k voltage with very little to no amps to be able to go vast distances. Amps is the work part of it. So 110v at say almost 0 amps will not kill it will shock pretty decent. It only takes 1/4 of an amp to kill. I know from personal experience i have been electrocuted and am lucky to be alive. I took 220v at 20 amps. Power company says someone was watching out should be dead. They explained the whole voltage thing to me. At time i was technically dead no pulse, breathing, or heartbeat for over 15 min. I thank God for my life.

 

[ctopal]

Thanks Gene, that makes sense. Then what Windy was saying on the grounding probe makes sense to me. If I had been getting zapped from the water and then happened to touch my grounding probe, I could have gotten really fried. Although I guess if I wire up the grounding probe to my GFCI, it should shut the system down and take the charge out of the water.

Now I have a new question - this got me thinking. The bad pump was plugged into a powerstrip that ultimately was fed into a GFCI outlet, so why didn't that outlet pop?

 

[ctopal]

Just so people understand electricity voltage is the flow ie high voltage lines are like way over 3k voltage with very little to no amps to be able to go vast distances. Amps is the work part of it. So 110v at say almost 0 amps will not kill it will shock pretty decent. It only takes 1/4 of an amp to kill. I know from personal experience i have been electrocuted and am lucky to be alive. I took 220v at 20 amps. Power company says someone was watching out should be dead. They explained the whole voltage thing to me. At time i was technically dead no pulse, breathing, or heartbeat for over 15 min. I thank God for my life.

Oh my goodness, you are lucky to be alive!

 

[gpwdr]

Thanks Gene, that makes sense. Then what Windy was saying on the grounding probe makes sense to me. If I had been getting zapped from the water and then happened to touch my grounding probe, I could have gotten really fried. Although I guess if I wire up the grounding probe to my GFCI, it should shut the system down and take the charge out of the water.

Now I have a new question - this got me thinking. The bad pump was plugged into a powerstrip that ultimately was fed into a GFCI outlet, so why didn't that outlet pop?

I believe the GFI will trip under a fault. I think if you put a grounding probe into the water with the bad pump the GFI will trip.

Gene
30 years as a Journeyman Power Lineman

 

[Triggreef]

Oops.

[video=youtube;JPQTijVOAKQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPQTijVOAKQ[/video]

 

[Dapperjman]

Thanks Gene, that makes sense. Then what Windy was saying on the grounding probe makes sense to me. If I had been getting zapped from the water and then happened to touch my grounding probe, I could have gotten really fried. Although I guess if I wire up the grounding probe to my GFCI, it should shut the system down and take the charge out of the water.

Now I have a new question - this got me thinking. The bad pump was plugged into a powerstrip that ultimately was fed into a GFCI outlet, so why didn't that outlet pop?

I would be questioning whether your GFCI outlet was actually working. It's supposed to detect a differential current and trip if it sees one. I would think with a bad pump that enough current was being directed elsewhere that the outlet would have tripped.

 

[Bryan47]

If someone died from 110v they must have held a ground in one hand and grabbed a hot wire or something. I'm in electrical engineering and just spoke with them and they said if you got 110 to kill you, you really did something to promote current to flow through you

Voltage is potential difference and current as stated before is the actually measure of the force of electrons basically.

220 is a different story however and hurts like a *********