Electrical outlet popped everything Shut Off

[jmichaelh7]

So i'm cooking and i hear a loud pop. My entire tank shuts off and i smell something burning.

The electrical outlet behind the sump in which I have little access to smells like it has smoke coming from it.

Has anyone had this issue ?

Plan A : Drain my entire 45g sump and accessories to have electrician come out ??

Please advise

 

[Sean Clark]

So i'm cooking and i hear a loud pop. My entire tank shuts off and i smell something burning.

The electrical outlet behind the sump in which I have little access to smells like it has smoke coming from it.

Has anyone had this issue ?

Plan A : Drain my entire 45g sump and accessories to have electrician come out ??

Please advise

The electrician will have you drain the sump anyway if they need to access behind it. Unplug everything.
Reset the breaker.
Plug stuff in 1 at a time until the breaker trips.
Problem found.

The smoky area may be a good place to start.

 

[Stephen8169301]

So i'm cooking and i hear a loud pop. My entire tank shuts off and i smell something burning.

The electrical outlet behind the sump in which I have little access to smells like it has smoke coming from it.

Has anyone had this issue ?

Plan A : Drain my entire 45g sump and accessories to have electrician come out ??

Please advise

Ext cord to another outlet what outlet behind tank?

Edit don’t take my advice find out what really happened

but i would just get ext cord to another outlet

 

[MichaelReefer]

Did it pop your circuit breaker? Is that plug on a GFCI?

 

[jmichaelh7]

Did it pop your circuit breaker? Is that plug on a GFCI?

That plug is not on a GFCI

House was built 2017 , no GFCI on this living room wall. Only in restrooms , kitchen , laundry etc

it popped the circuit breaker

 

[Harpo]

I'm under the impression that GFCI can be added to most houses. I recommend you inquire with your electrician.

 

[timry2]

Ive been licensed since 1994. Chances are that saltwater which is conductive contaminated the power strip, the power strip was overloaded or a piece of equipment has failed. Like the other stated. Unplug everything in that strip. Reset the breaker and plug each item in until the breaker trips. Unless you want to pay someone. If the breaker doesn’t reset after you unplug everything then you will need to pay an electrician. Good luck

 

[Sean Clark]

To each their own but GFCI is not a good idea when life support is involved. GFCI is highly susceptible to common radio frequently interference. Nuisance GFCI trips are very common and almost encouraged. Do the research and choose the right option for yourself.

 

[timry2]

If your plug is behind the tank, something like this will work until you can get the gfci installed

 

[timry2]

To each their own but GFCI is not a good idea when life support is involved. GFCI is highly susceptible to common radio frequently interference. Nuisance GFCI trips are very common and almost encouraged. Do the research and choose the right option for yourself.

I do agree with most, but heaters have been the one thing I will always put on a gfci. Plenty of failures over the years. Glass and titanium both will eventually fail. DC Pumps aren’t really a problem.

 

[Nate Chalk]

If your plug is behind the tank, something like this will work until you can get the gfci installed

I had one of those and when my power goes out and the generator comes on the power needs reset with these leaving the tank at risk.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Ive been licensed since 1994. Chances are that saltwater which is conductive contaminated the power strip, the power strip was overloaded or a piece of equipment has failed. Like the other stated. Unplug everything in that strip. Reset the breaker and plug each item in until the breaker trips. Unless you want to pay someone. If the breaker doesn’t reset after you unplug everything then you will need to pay an electrician. Good luck

I reset the breaker it’s up and running . Do you think I should do this now?

2 things changed since this occured . In the last week I switched surge protectors . And then I also added two more pumps

 

[jmichaelh7]

do you think switching surge protectors made the difference

 

[spawn79]

You said you just added 2 new pumps. I would go through every piece of electrical equipment you have and add up the maximum wattage for each device. It's quite possible you are against the limit for that power strip, outlet or the wiring or all of the above. If you are anywhere close to 1300-1500 watts you need to look at getting another circuit put in or bringing a heavy extension cord into play from another circuit somewhere else.

After doing that I would VERY soon (like tonight) and VERY closely investigate with your nose where there is lingering electrical smell. You said there was a smell when this happened. Whatever tripped the breaker in the first place may be damaged and barely holding on and likely to fail again in the future. It could be a simple electrical arc smell but if there are burned contacts somewhere that can cause problems in the future also. Look at all your plugs, controllers, strips, etc, etc and look for melting anywhere on the device. This will likely be on the back if present or around the prongs on the plugs.

Definitely look closely at the new power strip. Anything new to the setup is suspect in a previously stable system. Is this an Amazon special without UL certification? Some of the electrical stuff online is pretty shaky when it comes to construction and personally I don't trust most of it.

Good luck!

 

[vpierce3]

do you think switching surge protectors made the difference

Surge protector probably got contaminated by salt as mentioned above. I’ve seen that happen before. Especially in humid cabinets with little ventilation.

 

[jmichaelh7]

You said you just added 2 new pumps. I would go through every piece of electrical equipment you have and add up the maximum wattage for each device. It's quite possible you are against the limit for that power strip, outlet or the wiring or all of the above. If you are anywhere close to 1300-1500 watts you need to look at getting another circuit put in or bringing a heavy extension cord into play from another circuit somewhere else.

After doing that I would VERY soon (like tonight) and VERY closely investigate with your nose where there is lingering electrical smell. You said there was a smell when this happened. Whatever tripped the breaker in the first place may be damaged and barely holding on and likely to fail again in the future. It could be a simple electrical arc smell but if there are burned contacts somewhere that can cause problems in the future also. Look at all your plugs, controllers, strips, etc, etc and look for melting anywhere on the device. This will likely be on the back if present or around the prongs on the plugs.

Definitely look closely at the new power strip. Anything new to the setup is suspect in a previously stable system. Is this an Amazon special without UL certification? Some of the electrical stuff online is pretty shaky when it comes to construction and personally I don't trust most of it.

Good luck!

That’s great advice. I’m narrowing down that I added surge protector and 2 pumps. Both eb8 bars and this surge protector with 7 outlets is all connected to my living room 15amp breaker.

when I pull my eb8 bars they are pulling 4 amps. Not counting what my TV and ceiling fan and surge protector is.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Update** : electrician wants me to drain sump so he can pull electrical outlet and see if the outlet is burned out .

For now I have the surge protector with Mp40s etc running from an extension cord from another room that is linked to another breaker.

He was taken back by the amount of plug ins I have going. It makes me wonder if everyone else is running 20-24 plug ins too hmm

 

[jmichaelh7]

**Update**

Just right now everything shut off that was hooked up to the new surge protector connected to a different room now and it tripped the breaker now to that room .

I’m using my old surge now to see if this trips as well. If it does then I might take every outlet off and do the process of elimination

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sounds like water met electricity and pop

@Paul B

 

[((FORDTECH))]

**Update**

Just right now everything shut off that was hooked up to the new surge protector connected to a different room now and it tripped the breaker now to that room .

I’m using my old surge now to see if this trips as well. If it does then I might take every outlet off and do the process of elimination

Use 2 extension cords and split up things. It is possible that after adding the two new pumps you are overloading the circuit. If you split things in half and ran to separate outlets on different breakers. That will at least get you halfway there if it pops again, you know which portion to look at