Tanks and Fire!

Kelly C · Jan 11, 2016

My electrician said not to use gfci because if it tripped off and we didn't notice for a while, the tank might shut down. Is that the wrong school of thought here?

ACP · Jan 11, 2016

When I first set up my tank the skimmer decided to go crazy. It overflowed onto the floor and ran to the wall. Directly below the wall was my breaker box for the house. Fried all the breakers in the box. Whole house smelled like burning plastic. Needless to say it was a little scary.

scardall · Jan 11, 2016

If you lost power to the house what difference would that make?? Right none. Install a good quality GFI Now. It is safer. You may not of had that fire if you had a GFI. ( Not always) I'm a electronic tech and I would recommend that you have a GFI. Think of it as a safety device that limits the danger of electrocution and possibility of a fire. A GFI costs around $12 each at home depot/lowes/ace hardware.

sundog101 · Jan 11, 2016

I've heard that GFCIs can be pretty sensitive. Have you ever had an issue with it tripping while your away?

Kelly C · Jan 11, 2016

sundog101 said:
I've heard that GFCIs can be pretty sensitive. Have you ever had an issue with it tripping while your away?

I went without the gfci based on the electricians advice.

Lionfish Lair · Jan 11, 2016

ngvu1 said:
I just look at your location and we are in the same state ; What part of Cali is this?

LA

Breakthecycle2 said:
So what do you think caused this? Would a GFI really have saved it?

No, I don't think it would have made a difference. It wasn't that kind of issue.

jt17 · Jan 12, 2016

My last tank had an outlet behind it and I was afraid of the same thing so I removed the outlet and wired in an extension to have the outlets under the tank and an exterior panel over the outlet.

rexf · Jan 12, 2016

We had a similar event.
We had just returned from vacation and noticed power in the tank room was out. I just reset the breaker not really thinking too much. Heard water splashing and ran to pull breaker. During the install the LFS overtightened the overflow plug. It eventually snapped. and drained water all over the power strip beneath it. Luckily the GFCI tripped the breaker pretty fast.

Josh King · Jan 12, 2016

Wow. I have a few power strips piggybacked, which I know is not good. I do have everything on GFCI. After seeing this, I am going to hire an electrician to wire a few more outlets in the room to avoid problems.

drsalomon · Jan 12, 2016

As far as I understand, GFCI would only pop if some of the current was lost to ground which might not happen if the salt is just causing an arc. Perhaps another option to consider is afci which would detect any type of arcing. you can get gfci adapters for plugs or change the electrical plug on the wall but I have only seen afci on the breakers. AFCI breakers also do not work on circuits with a shared neutral. They also make afci/gfci combination breakers. There is always the risk of artifactual tripping of breakers so you could lose everything if a breaker trips while you are on vacation if you do not have a way to detect it. In my configuration, the apex notifies me of a breaker tripping and I can call a nearby friend to go check on it. You have to weigh the risk of losing your tank with the risk of losing your house or life to a fire.

Lionfish Lair · Jan 12, 2016

@jt17 i have never seen anyone do that. Very nice!

Look how close we've all come. I surprised more houses don't get burned to the ground.

Mike in CT · Jan 12, 2016

I use GFCI, but I do take the return pump off it when I go away, because I have run into the issue of the power turning off for a second, then it throws the GFCI outlet, and then your without a return pump till you can manually reset it.

rayn · Jan 12, 2016

GFCI should trip if water splashes on/into it. That is the reason behind them in bathrooms and kitchens. Also a good secondary trip is a ground fault breaker in the breaker box. They do cost about 50, but gives a second protection. Also they are code for baths now.

Lionfish Lair · Jan 12, 2016

Good point. I forgot about bathrooms.

rayn · Jan 12, 2016

Occasionally I have a good thought

Lionfish Lair · Jan 12, 2016

I may tease you a lot my friend, but lemme take this opportunity to say I admire your brain.

rayn · Jan 12, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
I may tease you a lot my friend, but lemme take this opportunity to say I admire your brain.

Ahh yes that useless sponge I have up there.

And thanks!

KingTriton · Jan 12, 2016

My GFCI has saved me on more than one occasion.

maroun.c · Jan 12, 2016

Great you were there to catch it on time. A GFCI might have tripped when the short happened and could have prevented it from going long enough to cause a fire.
Yes it might trip for nothing and cause issues in the tank but you can install an audible alarm which goes off in case the electricity is off so you know...