Aquarium and electrical safety

[BeanAnimal]

I think what he was getting at was for the non versed aquarist to have something to hand the general contractor or electrician that explains what we need in terms of safety and redundancy. Guidelines from somebody who understands both sides, the electrical and the hobby.

 

[blackgate]

So I live in an old farmhouse that I renovated and had all new wiring put in and unfortunately the tank in the basement is not on a gfci outlet but I will fix that immediately! My question is the tank is also on a pretty powerful UPS that will keep things going for a day if the power goes out which happens frequently where I live. What should I do with the UPS? Get an external gfci plug for it as well?

 

[jonelder68]

I think what he was getting at was for the non versed aquarist to have something to hand the general contractor or electrician that explains what we need in terms of safety and redundancy. Guidelines from somebody who understands both sides, the electrical and the hobby.

I guess that’s doable but it’s so situational it be hard. Without the electrician having all equipment present/or specs to calculate total loads etc it’s just the basics.

For essentials/Must:
-GFCI protected
-number of outlets available to avoid daisy chaining power strips (big no! No! But see it done frequently)
-available amperage on circuit to support total equipment (need all equipment electrical specifications)


Wish list:
-multiple dedicated circuits for redundancy and have water movement/gas exchange if one circuit trips
-GFCI/AFCI breakers on circuits

What else?

 

[jonelder68]

So I live in an old farmhouse that I renovated and had all new wiring put in and unfortunately the tank in the basement is not on a gfci outlet but I will fix that immediately! My question is the tank is also on a pretty powerful UPS that will keep things going for a day if the power goes out which happens frequently where I live. What should I do with the UPS? Get an external gfci plug for it as well?

That’s a good question….ive never thought about that. Say your tank trips your GFCI due to a fault the ups will then kick in and provide power. Do the UPS have any circuit protection built in? @BeanAnimal might know how to answer this.

Regardless I would get whatever circuits provide power to your tank on GFCI ASAP please!

 

[blackgate]

It’s the BLUETTI elite v2 and it does have a circuit breaker

 

[zbrusko]

A ground probe (only if you have GFCI protection). This will allow the GFCI to detect fault current in the tank and trip the breaker before you ever put your hand in the water. Without GFCI protection, a ground probe increases hazard.

Do the BRS titanium heaters act as ground probes?


Use the one hand rule when possible. One hand in the tank, one at the side or behind the back. Stand on dry, insulated flooring. Shocks are unpleasant, but a shock through the arms crosses the heart and can be deadly, even at low current.

I use a metal step stool to access my tank. Should I insulate myself when doing so? How?

 

[Essdee]

I highly doubt the tank wasn't being powered by GFIC protected outlets. Is there some type of meter that would allow us to monitor voltage inside the tank and trigger an alarm if it spikes?

 

[jonelder68]

A ground probe (only if you have GFCI protection). This will allow the GFCI to detect fault current in the tank and trip the breaker before you ever put your hand in the water. Without GFCI protection, a ground probe increases hazard.

Do the BRS titanium heaters act as ground probes?


Use the one hand rule when possible. One hand in the tank, one at the side or behind the back. Stand on dry, insulated flooring. Shocks are unpleasant, but a shock through the arms crosses the heart and can be deadly, even at low current.

I use a metal step stool to access my tank. Should I insulate myself when doing so? How?

Grounding probe with GFCI yes!

Yes BRS titanium heaters act as grounding probe. Any titanium heater with a 3 prong plug.

Wearing rubber sole shoes and maybe even placing stool on a rubber mat?

 

[Hakon]

honestly I would recommend getting a GCFI power strip, I use them all the time with higher voltage setups at work, they will literally save your life.

Sucks to hear that news, stay safe everyone electricity is nothing to play around with (believe me, I know first hand).

 

[cdemoss01]

Jeez.. I had a heater go faulty on me not too long ago. All my stuff is messy and on one strip connector.. ideas? Reccomendations?

 

[UncommonSense]

Jeez.. I had a heater go faulty on me not too long ago. All my stuff is messy and on one strip connector.. ideas? Reccomendations?

You can put everything on one power strip, assuming you aren’t exceeding the maximum current rating! — having a GFCI wall outlet that your “tank” plugs into would be the very first step!

— Here’s what I did for a local reefer to try to manage the wiring rats nest that comes with all the DC gear…

— Braided nylon split cable sleeving, red for power cables!

 

[Idech]

How do I know if my outlets are on dedicated circuits ? I had 2-3 new GFCi outlets installed by an electrician for the tank. Are they automatically on dedicated circuits or not necessarily ?

 

[jonelder68]

I highly doubt the tank wasn't being powered by GFIC protected outlets. Is there some type of meter that would allow us to monitor voltage inside the tank and trigger an alarm if it spikes?

That’s an interesting idea.

 

[BeanAnimal]

So I live in an old farmhouse that I renovated and had all new wiring put in and unfortunately the tank in the basement is not on a gfci outlet but I will fix that immediately! My question is the tank is also on a pretty powerful UPS that will keep things going for a day if the power goes out which happens frequently where I live. What should I do with the UPS? Get an external gfci plug for it as well?

The UPS basically negates the upstream GFCI. If it does sense the fault and trip, the UPS will activate and reenergize the fault. The output side of the UPS can be GFCI protected, but that is not straight forward. Many UPS system have no earth reference on battery, so a line to earth fault does not flow more than a few mA of current. It is a floating system. However when not on battery the downstream GFCI would be in series with the upstream GFCI. Nuisance trips are almost a certainty. This is a complex subject and very dependent on chosen equipment.

 

[cdemoss01]

Jeez.. I had a heater go faulty on me not too long ago. All my stuff is messy and on one strip connector.. ideas? Reccomendations?

You can put everything on one power strip, assuming you aren’t exceeding the maximum current rating! — having a GFCI wall outlet that your “tank” plugs into would be the very first step!

— Here’s what I did for a local reefer to try to manage the wiring rats nest that comes with all the DC gear…

— Braided nylon split cable sleeving, red for power cables!

That's very cool.. I just wish I could have an EB8 or something for easier management in general. I like the design.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Grounding probe with GFCI yes!

Yes BRS titanium heaters act as grounding probe. Any titanium heater with a 3 prong plug.

Wearing rubber sole shoes and maybe even placing stool on a rubber mat?

Be aware, there were a rash of these heaters sold at one point with the ground wire clipped instead of being bonded to the titanium tube.

 

[jonelder68]

The UPS basically negates the upstream GFCI. If it does sense the fault and trip, the UPS will activate and reenergize the fault. The output side of the UPS can be GFCI protected, but that is not straight forward. Many UPS system have no earth reference on battery, so a line to earth fault does not flow more than a few mA of current. It is a floating system. However when not on battery the downstream GFCI would be in series with the upstream GFCI. Nuisance trips are almost a certainty. This is a complex subject and very dependent on chosen equipment.

I guess the best answer would be then if the circuits tripped and ups is running not from whole house power outage consider the tank has a possible stray voltage until powers restored and running normally off GFCI outlet?

 

[zbrusko]

Grounding probe with GFCI yes!

Yes BRS titanium heaters act as grounding probe. Any titanium heater with a 3 prong plug.

Wearing rubber sole shoes and maybe even placing stool on a rubber mat?

Be aware, there were a rash of these heaters sold at one point with the ground wire clipped instead of being bonded to the titanium tube.

Nothing is ever easy, is it? How would I know if this applies to one of my heaters?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

My father also warned me about working on old tube TV's and showed me how to short out the capacitor before doing any work inside.

I was 7 yrs old, I saw a tech touch or did something to the picture tube while working on it and got zapped. He fell, heart stopped.
I remember seeing other people beating his ribcage to restart his heart and eventually after few very tense moments he came back.

This is why I never work on anything over 12v myself. I call someone that knows what they are doing.

 

[251924]

Before my 6 footer even went live I replaced the outlet with a GFCI with usb ports incase I needed any equipment with usb ports and I have my surge protection vertical 2 feet from the floor out of the tank between my tank and my bait freezer/chest freezer.

I didnt do all these safety precautions for myself as I couldn't give a **** if I fried today or tomorrow, haha. I did it to protect my dogs above everything else. I also have a surge protector that I can kill the outlet to so if something starts to go weird I can kill just that outlet while keeping the tank running. These types of strips should be another must.

Yes my wires need to be cleaned up ....my weakness haha. I wire ac/dc/ethernet/ rebuild engines but making wires neat isnt my forte