Aquarium fire

[trevorhiller]

I don't think sprinklers with top water work for electrical fires, right?

I remember hearing somewhere about someone having an RODI sprinkler in their sump. RODI is not conductive, and can extinguish an electrical fire.

I've actually been interested in getting a setup like that for my own systems, so if anyone has any resources let me know!

Not a RODI fire suppression system, but I literally ordered a single head from this "Quick Response Fire Supply. It connects just like a faucet to standard household pressure. They are always charged unless theres enough heat to boil the alcohol in the glass vial holding the plug in. I'll install a ball handle on the line to shut it off if it ever goes off.

Chemical/foam fire suppression systems are needed for electrical fires, water will put out the fire, but the electricity will keep flowing. A GFCI breaker coupled with it could work though. You would really want an E rated fire system I believe though

Thanks for the tip as others might not know, my whole reef room is getting GFCI outlets already and other primary prevent strategies like in use electrical box covers, controller cabinets, drip loops, spill mitigation strategies etc.

These were mentioned on page #3. Good idea, but Elide is out of the 4" balls (from Tiawan). The Chinese equivalent from Amazon is available for $35US.

Although a good question, probably not the point of the fire-be-gone ball. I'd rather have an extinguished fire and dead tank inhabitants than one of my basement's whole home sprinkler heads offering up its home-saving goodness.

Kind of my thoughts too. If my tank is on fire, it's probably already a wash. Goal is to prevent additional life/property damage. Especially my beloved dog if I'm not home.

Just consider that something like the Fire Ball works because of an explosive charge. The resulting pressure from the discharge will need to go somewhere.

Yes it would likely make quite the mess at the least, do some cabinet damage at the worst. But at the level of a fire, you're talking already having quite the clean up.
Here's a video of one going off for those looking for some entertainment.

 

[workhz]

After seeing this I will most likely mount my stuff inside a metal enclosure.. they sell transformer cans for those of you who aren’t capable of making them like myself.. even a breaker panel would work great.

Not a terrible idea.

 

[trevorhiller]

Will it kill the tank / other animals?

I googled it before, monoammonium phosphate is the powder. You'd have to ask a reef chemist to be sure, but It "sounds" reef safe, but at the quantity we are talking, its quite literally a phosphate bomb going off near your tank lol.

I don't know but I'd rather save the house than the tank.

This ^. Goal is to save both, but when push comes to shove, house & occupants win.

 

[trevorhiller]

After seeing this I will most likely mount my stuff inside a metal enclosure.. they sell transformer cans for those of you who aren’t capable of making them like myself.. even a breaker panel would work great.

Metal would definitely prevent spread of electrical fire so long as you can keep it away from salt spray or use some corrosion resistant material.

 

[Troylee]

Metal would definitely prevent spread of electrical fire so long as you can keep it away from salt spray or use some corrosion resistant material.

Most of if not all electrical enclosures are galvanized… I like your little fire ball but it seems you’d need a raging fire for it go off… gotta be a way to place a smoke alarm and if went off have it trigger a igniter to blow the ball up lol..

 

[C4ctus99]

Just consider that something like the Fire Ball works because of an explosive charge. The resulting pressure from the discharge will need to go somewhere.

I was thinking more pressurized chemical suppression systems, similar to what they have for restaurant hoods

 

[C4ctus99]

Metal would definitely prevent spread of electrical fire so long as you can keep it away from salt spray or use some corrosion resistant material.

Metal cans are more for containment of an arc fault… not as much for fire. Just remember metal conducts so keep GFCI protection for whatever is feeding the can cause other wise it can cause a lot of issues elsewhere and possibly an arcing situation outside of it isn’t properly grounded

 

[trevorhiller]

Most of if not all electrical enclosures are galvanized… I like your little fire ball but it seems you’d need a raging fire for it go off… gotta be a way to place a smoke alarm and if went off have it trigger a igniter to blow the ball up lol..

I'm down the rabbit hole... I'll see if I can find something better lol


This has potential:


The only problem is most of these electrical fire suppression systems are designed for the commercial space and the price is more than what most hobbyists would like to pay. There are some cool products out there though it seems.

 

[Reefer1978]

These were mentioned on page #3. Good idea, but Elide is out of the 4" balls (from Tiawan). The Chinese equivalent from Amazon is available for $35US.

Although a good question, probably not the point of the fire-be-gone ball. I'd rather have an extinguished fire and dead tank inhabitants than one of my basement's whole home sprinkler heads offering up its home-saving goodness.

Might could put all electrical items in one cabinet with the suppression system, keeping it out of the general room and hopefully tank but still preventing fires

I don't know but I'd rather save the house than the tank.

I googled it before, monoammonium phosphate is the powder. You'd have to ask a reef chemist to be sure, but It "sounds" reef safe, but at the quantity we are talking, its quite literally a phosphate bomb going off near your tank lol.

This ^. Goal is to save both, but when push comes to shove, house & occupants win.

I agree with all of these and I wasn't trying to start "Is it reef save" argument. But, with other inhabitants in the house, just trying to make sure it's overall safe to use, over something like sprinklers.

 

[Acroconut]

That's just heartbreaking. Hope and pray you can get back on your feet soon. Need to task myself with getting my electrical connections in a better state.

 

[C4ctus99]

I'm down the rabbit hole... I'll see if I can find something better lol


This has potential:


The only problem is most of these electrical fire suppression systems are designed for the commercial space and the price is more than what most hobbyists would like to pay. There are some cool products out there though it seems.

Sounds like we need to develop a product…

 

[areefer01]

After seeing this I will most likely mount my stuff inside a metal enclosure.. they sell transformer cans for those of you who aren’t capable of making them like myself.. even a breaker panel would work great.

There are flammable storage lockers but do not modify them or how they look. Also I'm not sure that is a practical use case for them. Time would better be spent looking at what equipment is used, its relationship to water, potential of getting wet either by failure, drips, or accidents, and mitigating those risks.

Vacations, travel, and other time away it would be wise to have someone check in daily if one is trust worthy. That would help catch leaks, tripped breakers, etc.

 

[Treefer32]

First off, I'm so sorry! No words can begin to describe what you're going through! I've been there. My home of 8 years burned down. Was a total loss (this April was the 10 year anniversary). I was in a town home, 4 other families were impacted by the fire and to make it worse like you, the fire started in my unit.

My suspicion is that it was possibly tank related, I had built a new canopy for my 125. I had just finished staining it and was waiting for it to dry in between coats. I was doing it in the winter in my living room (windows open). I threw the used rags in the garbage can. They possibly ignited.

The fire marshall, says it was possibly the 1 year old Fridgerater. The heat around the fridge was so hot that the fridge fell through the floor (crawl space) and all that was left of the fridge was the metal compressor, the frame, the door, everything literally incinerated. It could have been the fridge. I have no idea.

Fire happens, doesn't matter if it was aquarium related, a new refrigerator, an animal chewed through electrical wires in the crawl space (could have been the case, had many issues with critters).

The hard part for you, is it's hard to say, did the fire start as a result of something electrical with the tank or did something else around the tank start on fire? What if the outlets were just faulty and triggered the fire? Would the fire have happened without the aquarium? It's entirely possible!

In short, don't blame yourself. There is no "I" in blame. I know it's hard, but, allow yourself to grieve, mourn the loss of what was, and give yourself permission to grieve. This was not your fault. You had more safety in place than most of us reefers. Even if it was tank related, (which I still question), You had so much redundancy and safety in place! My cords are a complete cluster and mess. Yet, I make sure they're as far away from water as possible and have drip loops, etc. I'm paranoid on safety, but there's only so much one can do.


There's the emotional side, it's tough, it's strange to be homeless, and have no possessions. It's also a time to reflect and rethink one's contributions to society and what one wants to accomplish in life. We get so material at times, that we forget that without possessions who are we?

Lastly, the tactical insurance side of things. I was so overwhelmed by the fire, I found it difficult to think straight on how to claim all the stuff I had. I am an honest person and wanted to only claim what I had. If I had to do it all over again. (I pray I never have to and no one else ever has to). Claim as much as you can for contents. My insurance company had me list everything I thought I had (did not require proof at all, it was a total loss). And then the insurance company went through and assigned used market value to everything and then wrote a check to me out of the contents part of my plan.

Then, if I went out and bought a replacement of that product, it needed to be close to quality and brand of the original, I could submit a receipt for the difference between the market and new replacement value. There's just some things one doesn't replace.

Aquarium related stuff, insurance doesn't usually cover living things. So, what I did right was claiming, custom coral decorations. I didn't try to claim the fish. Then, for the replacement aquarium, stand, and sump, find what you would like and submit those as what you had. Unless your insurance (and / or state) requires you to go find receipts for original stuff (mine did not). For things that I didn't have documented they just took my word on replacement. This can differ by insurance company though.

I left money on the table in my contents mainly because I was single at the time (was a marital home for 8 years), but, I didn't realize how insurance worked and was too honest.

I met other families that were at the victom of a fire at the time, and they were stating they had 5 ipads, 5 computers, and 5 -10 of everything. I didn't feel that was right either. As a result, I actually probably did lose some financial impact despite my efforts to reclaim what I had lost.

Feel free to DM me if you need to just chat, or have questions. This is an overwhelming time and I wished I would have had more support than I had at the time. I lived out of a hotel for 2 months while I attempted to put my life back together. I'm in a much better place now and I'm here to tell you there is hope! Despite everything there is hope, you have you and your family, and right now that's all that matters!

 

[trevorhiller]

Sounds like we need to develop a product…

I think the CO2 systems would make the most sense for our "space." No concern for humidity and safe for the aquarium as well.

There are a lot of manual CO2 release fire supression systems, but I like the idea of the hose melting and releasing the CO2 automatically that that Fire Trace company produces.

Frustrating that none of these companies have any pricing available though, they are all "contact us."

 

[C4ctus99]

I think the CO2 systems would make the most sense for our "space." No concern for humidity and safe for the aquarium as well.

There are a lot of manual CO2 release fire supression systems, but I like the idea of the hose melting and releasing the CO2 automatically that that Fire Trace company produces.

Frustrating that none of these companies have any pricing available though, they are all "contact us."

Definitely co2 or foam. It shouldn’t be that hard to devise a simple heat release mechanism. Would have to be well tested though. Especially if everything is inside of a cabinet, making a small fire suppression system shouldn’t be too difficult. I wonder if you could use something similar to the co2 canisters for air guns and filling bike tires

 

[C4ctus99]

I think the CO2 systems would make the most sense for our "space." No concern for humidity and safe for the aquarium as well.

There are a lot of manual CO2 release fire supression systems, but I like the idea of the hose melting and releasing the CO2 automatically that that Fire Trace company produces.

Frustrating that none of these companies have any pricing available though, they are all "contact us."

how big of a control panel can would you need? 24”x36”? 12”x24”?

 

[Ctownjlo]

First off, I'm so sorry! No words can begin to describe what you're going through! I've been there. My home of 8 years burned down. Was a total loss (this April was the 10 year anniversary). I was in a town home, 4 other families were impacted by the fire and to make it worse like you, the fire started in my unit.

My suspicion is that it was possibly tank related, I had built a new canopy for my 125. I had just finished staining it and was waiting for it to dry in between coats. I was doing it in the winter in my living room (windows open). I threw the used rags in the garbage can. They possibly ignited.

The fire marshall, says it was possibly the 1 year old Fridgerater. The heat around the fridge was so hot that the fridge fell through the floor (crawl space) and all that was left of the fridge was the metal compressor, the frame, the door, everything literally incinerated. It could have been the fridge. I have no idea.

Fire happens, doesn't matter if it was aquarium related, a new refrigerator, an animal chewed through electrical wires in the crawl space (could have been the case, had many issues with critters).

The hard part for you, is it's hard to say, did the fire start as a result of something electrical with the tank or did something else around the tank start on fire? What if the outlets were just faulty and triggered the fire? Would the fire have happened without the aquarium? It's entirely possible!

In short, don't blame yourself. There is no "I" in blame. I know it's hard, but, allow yourself to grieve, mourn the loss of what was, and give yourself permission to grieve. This was not your fault. You had more safety in place than most of us reefers. Even if it was tank related, (which I still question), You had so much redundancy and safety in place! My cords are a complete cluster and mess. Yet, I make sure they're as far away from water as possible and have drip loops, etc. I'm paranoid on safety, but there's only so much one can do.


There's the emotional side, it's tough, it's strange to be homeless, and have no possessions. It's also a time to reflect and rethink one's contributions to society and what one wants to accomplish in life. We get so material at times, that we forget that without possessions who are we?

Lastly, the tactical insurance side of things. I was so overwhelmed by the fire, I found it difficult to think straight on how to claim all the stuff I had. I am an honest person and wanted to only claim what I had. If I had to do it all over again. (I pray I never have to and no one else ever has to). Claim as much as you can for contents. My insurance company had me list everything I thought I had (did not require proof at all, it was a total loss). And then the insurance company went through and assigned used market value to everything and then wrote a check to me out of the contents part of my plan.

Then, if I went out and bought a replacement of that product, it needed to be close to quality and brand of the original, I could submit a receipt for the difference between the market and new replacement value. There's just some things one doesn't replace.

Aquarium related stuff, insurance doesn't usually cover living things. So, what I did right was claiming, custom coral decorations. I didn't try to claim the fish. Then, for the replacement aquarium, stand, and sump, find what you would like and submit those as what you had. Unless your insurance (and / or state) requires you to go find receipts for original stuff (mine did not). For things that I didn't have documented they just took my word on replacement. This can differ by insurance company though.

I left money on the table in my contents mainly because I was single at the time (was a marital home for 8 years), but, I didn't realize how insurance worked and was too honest.

I met other families that were at the victom of a fire at the time, and they were stating they had 5 ipads, 5 computers, and 5 -10 of everything. I didn't feel that was right either. As a result, I actually probably did lose some financial impact despite my efforts to reclaim what I had lost.

Feel free to DM me if you need to just chat, or have questions. This is an overwhelming time and I wished I would have had more support than I had at the time. I lived out of a hotel for 2 months while I attempted to put my life back together. I'm in a much better place now and I'm here to tell you there is hope! Despite everything there is hope, you have you and your family, and right now that's all that matters!

I really appreciate the kind words and sound advice. It really is a time to reflect on everything.

 

[nuxx]

Wow so sorry about the dog.

If that happened to us the tank would be the last thought.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Oh wow!! Just now seeing this!! This is heartbreaking! I'm so sorry you're going through this. Prayers for you and your family!

 

[vetteguy53081]

How did i miss this post- Glad everyone is ok