calling electricians re: help with GFI tripping

[Dudester]

Last night I went to see the Toadies. Great concert! But when I returned home at whatever hour that was, the tank was dead silent. We had a severe storm the previous night, but nothing else in the house was without power. I immediately checked the temp and it was 79, so it couldn't have been off for too long, and everything was alive in the tank. I was in no mood to problem solve, so I brought a couple of heavy duty extension cords to get me through the night, and the equipment was plugged into a non-GFCI outlet.

This evening when I got home from work I figured out that a Mag12 that I had just removed a few days ago and cleaned in muriatic acid was tripping the GFI outlet. I can't see any leaks or obvious damage to the pump, but something's causing it to trip the GFI? Any suggestions? In the meantime, I'm foolishly keeping the pump running via the extension cord until I figure out what to do.

 

[dragon_slayer]

it's most likely got wet internally. could be the cord was cracked and the build up was keeping it isolated till you removed it with the acid.

kc

 

[Dudester]

Thanks for the reply ... is this repairable, will it dry, or am I SOL?

 

[Zach117]

I am going to the St Patricks Day concert here in Dallas! Went to it last year, thumbs up to a Texas band!

 

[dragon_slayer]

thing is when it dries out it's going to leave behind the salt which is what's conducting in there so you're most likely going to always have a chance of a problem out of it.

best of luck none the less.

kc

 

[Dudester]

Zach - enjoy the concert, they're terrific live, but avoid the mosh pit unless you're a bad mambe jambe.

kc - Thanks for your input. I've been told by a local reefer (thanks, John) that I need to unplug this Mag12 from the non-GFCI outlet right away, as there may be electricity leaking into the tank. He's had experience with a similar scenario where a dentist did just what I'm doing, and everything in his reef died after a week. I'll get a new pump, not worth the risk.

 

[swimboy123]

If there have been any new additions to the electrical needs (bigger pumps, lights, new toy, etc.) you might be puuling too many amps than are rated for the circuit. I bought a brand new house and set up my new 300 G tank a couple of weeks before i moved in. When i finally moved it, my tank had been running perfectly, i turned on the microwave (both microwave and tank were on same circuit) and it popped every time. I ended up getting an electrician friend of mine to install a new 40 amp circuit that is only for my tank. That popped circuit hasn't happened since then.

 

[swimboy123]

*when i finally moved in

 

[dragon_slayer]

GFIC tripping isn't the same as an overloaded breaker tripping, it trips because it detected a Ground Fault. it wouldn't matter if you had a 100amp breaker and it was only drawing a few milliamp if it had a ground fault, it'd trip.

kc

 

[reefkeeper2]

I had something simmilar happen once. It turned out the problem was the plug itself got damp and just enough current could pass to trip the circuit. If some of that acid got on your plug, the residue would not need much dampness to conduct. Wash the plug with DI water, dry it really well and see what happens. It's a long shot, but it happened to me.

 

[plummike]

I had a GFI that was tripping. Replaced it and all was OK. They can be damaged like anything else. You mentioned a storm.

 

[Dudester]

Thanks, reefkeeper2, I'll give that a shot.

And thanks plummike (I'm also a Steeler fan!). I tested each device that's plugged into the powerstrip, and only the Mag pump tripped the GFCI, and it did it every time. So I'm pretty sure it's the pump and not the outlet.

Interestingly, after connecting the pump to a non-GFCI outlet and letting it run for 24 hours before disconnecting it, all 3 of my Mexican turbo snails died. Nothing else changed in the tank environment. Wierd.

 

[dragon_slayer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9496570#post9496570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dudester

Interestingly, after connecting the pump to a non-GFCI outlet and letting it run for 24 hours before disconnecting it, all 3 of my Mexican turbo snails died. Nothing else changed in the tank environment. Wierd.

sounds like the GFIC was doing its job and the pump has stray voltage leaking.

kc

 

[Dudester]

I feel pretty lucky that nothing else died. That pump's history!

 

[dragon_slayer]

save the impeller before you toss it. then you won't end up like me with one sitting in the closet with a broken ceramic shaft.

kc

 

[Dudester]

Good point kc, but I think Danner offers a several year warranty on their pumps, and I plan to try and exchange it. Besides, I have 3 spare impellers in my garage .

 

[2crazyreefers]

I had a similar problem which I thought was a bad mag pump but I found out it was actualy my heater causing leaking voltage to go to the pump. This ended up frying the mag, Just something you may want to check if you did not yet.

 

[Dudester]

Very interesting. My heaters are both plugged into the controller (ReefKeeper), and the Mag pump was plugged into a separate power strip. Could this still be possible? BTW, what kind of heater was leaking voltage? I use Jager heaters.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

I read some debate in here about grounding probes. The fact is that you do need one if theres no other connection between the watter in your tank and the grounding system in your house or receptacle that you are using to power your lights and pumps.If theres no potential difference between the watter in your tank and your grounding GFIs wont trip and circuit breakers wont trip either if theres a voltage leakage to the watter somehow.Without a grounding probe you can have 120 volts in your tank constantly and not know it. Theres a way you can test for a voltage leakage by connecting a voltmeter to a ground and the other probe to the watter.the reading should be zero.If you do have a reading of 120volts something is leaking voltage to the watter.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Also old GFIs trip easier than new ones.