What has Shorted/ Caught Fire in Your Tank?

BRS

What of your equipment has shorted/caught fire

  • Power Heads

    Votes: 65 20.3%

  • Return Pump

    Votes: 30 9.4%

  • Heater

    Votes: 127 39.7%

  • Power Strip

    Votes: 124 38.8%

  • Skimmer Pump

    Votes: 10 3.1%

  • Black Box LED

    Votes: 11 3.4%

  • Metal Halide fixture or Ballast

    Votes: 12 3.8%

  • t5 Fixture or Ballast

    Votes: 14 4.4%

  • Other LED Fixture or Ballast

    Votes: 19 5.9%

  • Doser

    Votes: 6 1.9%
  • Total voters
    320
Jump to Last
I had a JBJ Orion LT either short or overheat on me. I had it for only 2 months maybe when it happened. I was in my office at home luckily when all of a sudden I could smell burning plastic/electronics that was so bad I had to put it outside because the entire house smelled. I was able to narrow it down to the power brick very quickly and unplugged it before any major damage was done. I don’t know if it would have caught fire or not but either way it was a quick upgrade to AI Hydra HD 26s and no looking back!
 
Deltec
way back when ( about 4 yrs ago ) when I knew little about tanks I had a big t5 unit but liked the idea of having dark blue lights for the evening/night. So I went on ebay and bought a cheap ( oh..you know what's coming now don't you ) strip of blue led lights that had a sticky back to attach to the glass inside the tank. It was water proof and looked really good. I set it up on it's own time switch so it was running for about 5 hrs each day. The boss and I went away for a week and I left my son in charge of the tank with a LONG list of things to do. He was a bit surprised to come home one evening and smell smoke...came into the main room where the tank is to find that the electric plug attached to the led's smoking like mad. I reckon another 15 mins and a fire would have broken out. He got the oven glove..grabbed the plug..and pulled it out. Needless to say..never bought another one.
 
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I over filled the top off and the power strip got a bath, the lights started flickering. No melt down because I was there to address it . I should have known better than having the strip laying on the ground next to the tank.
 
siggy said:
I over filled the top off and the power strip got a bath, the lights started flickering. No melt down because I was there to address it . I should have known better than having the strip laying on the ground next to the tank.
Click to expand...
Same thing happened to me. I was in the house at the time and smelled smoke. Saw the whole power strip smoking and had to throw it outside. Lots of toxic plastic smoke. I don't buy plastic power strips anymore. For anything.
 
Chewy.com
No fire here either, but have fried a couple of cheap power strips. I don't use the cheap ones anymore (and make sure water cannot drip/splash onto them).
 
This was used for portable heaters. I will guess that the little circuit breaker on this had tripped multiple times then failed.
FYI curcuit breakers are only guaranteed to trip ONCE. I did a service upgrade after a fire because of a breaker that was reset numerous times.
1566224816256.png
 
My battery backup wire to my mp40 caught fire. This was about 8 years ago. My teenage son called 911 and the firefighters put out the smolder. There was a recall that I never heard about where they replaced the wire with a fused wire. I believe the battery backup was an icecap version, which later ecotech purchased I believe.

I also had an mj1200 mod give me quite a jolt back in the day...
 
Tidal Gardens
I have an Ice cap Will check it out, THANKS......Did the firemen like hit your tank with 1000 gallons a minueto_O
 
When I first hooked up a tank, I forgot to double check my hose connections. Sprayed right into the wall outlet. Started on fire. Luckily the house breaker tripped and putting out the little fire was easy peasy. But now I pay very close attention to connections and make sure every plug is 1) GFCI and 2) has a weatherproof door/cover installed.
 
I had a mag drive 7 Start sparking in the sump and melted down causing a bunch of black smoke and black soot in the water... Lucky I was there.

I had a Odyssea ballast start to smoke and again lucky I was there.
 
Deltec
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siggy said:
I have an Ice cap Will check it out, THANKS......Did the firemen like hit your tank with 1000 gallons a minueto_O
Click to expand...
No, the wiring was melting so they put chemical extinguisher on the wiring in the back of the tank. They then had shut off the electricity to the tank. I was home a few minutes later. My biggest worry at the time was seeing the firetruck out front of my house when my 2 kids were home alone! I have some pics somewhere I’ll dig up and share of the damage.

To prevent this, the wire from the icecap battery to the pump should have a fuse in it. Look for a barrel shaped piece in the wiring. If you see the pic below, the fuse is on the right side. Mine was a very early model btw.

store2.ecotechmarine.com

Fused VorTech Battery Backup Cable

Used as a replacement part or to link more than one battery backup in parallel to extend backup time. The length of the cable is 8ft long.
store2.ecotechmarine.com
 
Last edited:
dwest said:
No, the wiring was melting so they put chemical extinguisher on the wiring in the back of the tank. They then had shut off the electricity to the tank. I was home a few minutes later. My biggest worry at the time was seeing the firetruck out front of my house when my 2 kids were home alone! I have some pics somewhere I’ll dig up and share of the damage.

To prevent this, the wire from the ac adapter to the icecap battery should have a fuse in it. Look for a barrel shaped piece in the wiring. If you see the pic below, the fuse is on the right side. Mine was a very early model btw.

store2.ecotechmarine.com

Fused VorTech Battery Backup Cable

Used as a replacement part or to link more than one battery backup in parallel to extend backup time. The length of the cable is 8ft long.
store2.ecotechmarine.com
Click to expand...

Great information!
 
shred5 said:
I had a mag drive 7 Start sparking in the sump and melted down causing a bunch of black smoke and black soot in the water... Lucky I was there.

I had a Odyssea ballast start to smoke and again lucky I was there.
Click to expand...
I have a couple mag drives running right now. One of my favorite pumps. Any words of advice?
 
a long time ago I bought a strip light led ( blue ) which worked fine. Went away for the weekend and my son was coming in to 'check up on the tank'. Just as well he did. The second he walked into the house he could smell burning. The cable had shorted and was VERY hot. He pulled the switch and threw the lot out into the back garden. Never bought another.
 
Chewy.com
Katrina71 said:
@JoshH has promised some more pics of the tank. It's really hard to be patient and not ask him every day :)
Click to expand...
rodney said:
I had a cheap power head shock me in my saltwater mixing tank and 2 return pumps shorted because of an long spin urchin ate
DF6985B4-DDB2-4C94-9CBB-DCA9C0FBD71E.jpeg
through the cord!
Click to expand...
Just curious on how the urchin faired
 
No fire because I cought it almost instantly had a hob skimmer overflow from the drain hitting a powerstrip that I turned off instead of unplugging needless to say I got little shocked
 
BRS

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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