I have a small cut on my thumb. When I only stick my thumb in the tank I feel a slight burn. When I stick my whole hand in the tank I feel nothing. Stray voltage? Why do I only feel something when I only stick my thumb with the cut?
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
The odd thing is I feel nothing when I stick my whole hand in the tank?Salt in wounds hurts.
Salt in wounds hurts.
I can’t figure it out either found the post above of the same think happeningYou can test for it if you have a multimeter. Set to AC, one probe in the water, other in the ground of an outlet.
Weird that it burns just the thumb but not the whole hand. Slightest cut or scrape on my hand and it burns like it's taco Tuesday.
I was literally thinking the same thing.
Salt in wounds hurts.
Papercuts and Stray Voltage in the marine aquarium | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
A few days ago, I gave myself a small papercut on one of my fingers. I don’t think there are many positive attributes with a paper cut. But yesterday, that same paper cut clued me into some stray…reefbuilders.com
If there is any current in the tank how do I proceed? Do you recommend one of those readers or is this common? The odd thing is I only feel it when I put my thumb in the water. When I put my hand with the thumb in the water I don’t feel anythingStray voltage doesn't typically burn, that would be caused more by the salt. Stray voltage would feel more like a tingling electric type sensation like when you plug something into the outlet with wet hands. I have put cuts into my tank countless times and it does burn, there was no stray voltage going on in my situation.
I know that is what I thought too that I was closing the cut somehow. If there is current in the tank how would I proceed do I need one of those grounding probes. I tired to isolate it but may have been moving too fast thought I had found the device but then would feel it again maybe building up potential. I understand electricity on a textbook level but not firsthandIf there is a device leaking stray voltage into your tank then you want to remove the offending device. You never want to live with stray voltage, but I am not convinced that is what you have. You might be manipulating your thumb in a way that is opening the cut when you only put that in the tank vs your entire arm. Burning is not a sign of electricity, it would be more of a tingling/jolt type sensation.
So if using one of these I would put one end in the tank and one on a good ground but what is a ground plug in an outlet? Or can I just attach this second end to the screw that holds the cover plate to the outlet?If you are using your finger as the test then you won't be able to prove anything.
Taken from another user,
"Using a multimeter/VOM set to AC Volts, put one probe in the water and the second on a good ground. I use either the ground plug in an outlet or the little screw on the cover plate of the outlet. That's it".