Can someone recommend a GFCI?

Kinetic

Kinetic

Active member
After some research on reefcentral, and http://doityourself.com/electric/gfci.htm, I came to the conclusion that I must install a GFCI.

I was wondering what was a reliable one, that wouldn't trip and turn my tank off all the time by mistake, and where to get them.

Suggestions would be great!

Also, we should start a: How to avoid electrical problems and fires thread, just to be on the safe side, because I found myself completely oblivious to these rules when setting up my 32g, I just plugged stuff in. =/
 
I'll look into that. We have an electrician who comes in to do some stuff sometimes. I'll have him swap it out if it's not already a GFCI.

thanks guys!
 
Do multiple circuits with gfci either in the panel or for outlets. Split your tank equpment between them. For example... lights on one circuit, recirc pump... skimmer.. and a heater on another, closed loop and 2nd heater on another circuit.

That way, if something goes bad, it won't take down your entire system at once. Sucks when you leave for a long weekend and your single gfci decides to trip. Have heard of more than one person losing a tank that way.

I've been using 20A Leviton Smartlocks. 15A ones may be prone to tripping, from what I've heard. People may have other ones they like. Don't use Stanley/Belkin heavy duty pigtails. They are garbage, and the company agrees they have problems. I've posted info on them in various threads here on RC.

In most cases, if a gfci is overly sensitive, it's a better safe than sorry situation. Not so for us reefers. If it's supposed to trip at 5mA, I don't need it going off at 3mA because of electrical noise, induced currents, or whatever.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6853935#post6853935 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mr. Ugly
Do multiple circuits with gfci either in the panel or for outlets. Split your tank equpment between them. For example... lights on one circuit, recirc pump... skimmer.. and a heater on another, closed loop and 2nd heater on another circuit.

That way, if something goes bad, it won't take down your entire system at once. Sucks when you leave for a long weekend and your single gfci decides to trip. Have heard of more than one person losing a tank that way.

I've been using 20A Leviton Smartlocks. 15A ones may be prone to tripping, from what I've heard. People may have other ones they like. Don't use Stanley/Belkin heavy duty pigtails. They are garbage, and the company agrees they have problems. I've posted info on them in various threads here on RC.

In most cases, if a gfci is overly sensitive, it's a better safe than sorry situation. Not so for us reefers. If it's supposed to trip at 5mA, I don't need it going off at 3mA because of electrical noise, induced currents, or whatever.
Click to expand...


Agree. I've tried many types of plug-in/portable GFCIs and the only one that doesn't trip everytime I plug in my ballast is the Leviton in wall units. They're about 12 bucks at Home Depot.
 
Norman, is this the LEVITON you were refering too?

If you plug in a surge protector into one of these thing - how will that affect your lights / what have you's?

Right now, I have a surge protector plugged into a reg. electrical socket. The lights with timers are plugged into the surge.

I'm thinking of replacing the current reg. electrical outlet with one of leviton's GFCI. Would this help me, somewhat, in preventing any unfortunate accidents?
 
Alvin,
A GFCI in either outlet or power panel will help. If an electrical equipment is working properly, all electricity that the appliance uses will flow from hot to neutral. A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. It is able to sense a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second.
 
The tester sounds like a good way to figure out what would or what did trip the GFCI.

But I get a feeling that it is so sensitive that perhaps we are putting our tank in a lot of danger with the probability that these things will trip?

How important is a GFCI? Is it the worth the risk of using it if there is little chance you'll ever get shocked and a huge chance that every day it will trip?
 
Alvin, that's the one I used.

Koden, the tester will indicate incorrect/correct wiring to the outlets as well as function of the GFCI, but it won't tell you what trips your GFCI if you have equipment failure or some esotoric weirdness with line noise, induced currents, high impedance loads, or phase shifts.

Is it the worth the risk of using it if there is little chance you'll ever get shocked and a huge chance that every day it will trip?
Click to expand...
Get a good GFCI and test that it works reliably so that there isn't a "huge chance" that it will trip aside from equipment failure or human error.

Equipment failure and human error is just as likely to nuke your tank as it is to nuke you. So even if you love your tank more than you love yourself, get the GFCI :)

I've heard of people who had evaporative cooling fans or lights or whatever fall into their tanks/sumps and nuking the system because the power didn't cut off :(
 
Here's a good one...

A few years ago, I was doing a water change on a tank, and I was siphoning into a 5 gallon bucket and dumping the contents into the kitchen(yeah, fish poop and all) sink.

I stuck both ends of the siphon hose into the tank before dumping the bucket so I wouldn't have to restart the siphon each time.

On one trip to the kitchen, one end of the siphon slipped out of the tank and started draining to the floor. By the time I came back, there was a decent sized puddle on the floor. I ran over to get the hose and throw some towels on the floor, then saw an outlet strip getting splashed with salt water. No GFCI, and it was sizzling and smoking :( Ran out to the garage and killed the main breaker on the panelboard.

Lost an outlet strip, but it could have been a lot worse.
 
To-Arbitrate - I think I am using the same Leviton GFCI without any problem. I purchased mine in bulk since I installed it in multiple places around my house.

Koden - I think that a GFCI is one of the most critical (and least expensive) item for this hobby. If my tank crashes - I would be bummed and would start over. However, if one of my kids got electrocuted, I would never be able live with myself - knowing that I could have prevented it with a cheap $15 parts.

I know someone whose kid (toddler) pulled out a pump from a tank, and spilled water all over the power strip. The powerstrip arced and everything. He was lucky that the kid wasn't standing in the water. I once had a hose accidentally come lose, sprayed water all over the surge suppressor, and created a nice puddle of water that I was standing in the middle of with my bare feet. Luckily for me, the wall GFCI tripped. My surge also had a GFCI - but that didn't trip because the wall one was much more sensative. So to me - the GFCI is not a nice to have item (like a protein skimmer or calcium reactor) - it's a MUST HAVE item.

Minh
 
that's the kind of response that definately answers my question =)

I will test out the gfci on my equipment before adding my animals =)

edit: now that I looked at the link To-Arbitrate sent, I think I have a bunch of those sitting in my house. They're installed in the bathroom. I guess if you dropped a shaver or somethinginto the sink etc.

Very cool.
 
Since there has been so many questions about GFCI installation, I think this weekend I will install one and document it. I will try to take lots of pictures and post it with instructions. Like I said - it's really easy.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6862064#post6862064 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by koden

But I get a feeling that it is so sensitive that perhaps we are putting our tank in a lot of danger with the probability that these things will trip?

How important is a GFCI? Is it the worth the risk of using it if there is little chance you'll ever get shocked and a huge chance that every day it will trip?
Click to expand...

Koden, I recommend buying the Leviton brand. I've tried the portable ones that plug-in to the outlet and found them to be too sensitive for my lights (they would trip everytime I turned my lights on). However, they do work well for my power heads and pump.
I suggest buying two Leviton in wall units along with two electrical boxes (you can buy all this at Home Depot). Wire them separately, so that you have two separate GFCI boxes. Then, plug your lights and at least one power head in one GFCI box, and your pump, heater, and the remaining powerheads/electrical items in the other. This way, if one of the GFCI units accidentally trips, you will still have other pumps/powerheads working on the other separate GFCI.

If you install the GFCI into the wall, every socket that is wired down from it will be protected. However, it also means that there is a greater chance that it may accidentally trip as well.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6865995#post6865995 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xusnavy
I suggest buying two Leviton in wall units along with two electrical boxes (you can buy all this at Home Depot). Wire them separately, so that you have two separate GFCI boxes.
Click to expand...
Yup, that's what I did. Made my own GFCI pigtails.
 
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