Electrical fire with my fish tank last night

[squiggynh]

Good morning

I feel very fortunate this morning. Out of the blue last night, someone called me and we ended up talking for several hours. Normally I would have been asleep. Around midnight I heard a couple loud bangs. I jumped up and heard a few more. I was positive somebody was breaking into my house, and ran out to see what was happening.

I have a 58 gallon Corner tank in a large living room right off my bedroom. As soon as I stepped into the room I could see the flames behind the tank. I leaned behind the tank and there were 2 foot flames shooting out of a cord. In a panic I actually just blew on it very hard several times and put it out as the house filled with smoke and the alarms went off. Other than some char running 3 feet up the wall that I can paint, everything is fine. Here is what happened.

I have a large power strip underneath the tank in the canopy. Almost everything is plugged into that, maybe 6 plugs, and that goes directly into the wall. All of that is fine up and running.

I have an eheim canister filter system also under the tank. I've only had my tank a couple of months and bought it used. I'm still trying to figure out that canister. That canister was plugged into an extension cord which ran into an outlet. The plug from the canister to the extension cord is where the fire was ....the entire plug was gone as was the head of the extension cord was melted.

So, I basically have 3 questions. Taking the canister out of the picture Kama am I losing anything valuable other than a little bit of circulation? My parameters have always been good, yet I haven't changed any medium or anything in that canister so I'm guessing it was about to need changing.

Second question, having everything into one heavy duty power strip which runs directly into the wall....has not been a problem so far. But after last night I want to double check and see if that's okay.

Lastly, anyone have any idea what happened? I'm wondering if some spashing or overspill got on the plug area which caused the fire. The extension cord was about 5 feet long and pretty heavy duty and was not that old or frayed.

Thanks for the help. Maybe if someone reads this it might prevent something like this in the future. I'm still a little shaken and wonder what would happen if I wasn't on that phone, because I have little doubt that fire was going right up my wall.

Craig

 

[bat21]

I'm assuming some water got on the cord running out of the canister and it flowed along the cord into the connection between that cord and the extension cord and a short caused the fire. You need to make a drip loop, or make sure any electrical connection is higher than where the water is, so that it can't drip down the cord to the connection.

That's just my guess as to what happened. I could certainly be wrong.

 

[bmitchell138]

Man, I'm glad you are ok. Very scary.

I'm not an electrical expert, but it sounds like your canister filter was drawing enough amps to heat the extension cord and cause it to catch fire. Maybe the motor is/was going bad or some debris lodged in the impeller, etc..

I would, at a minimum, run power strip that has circuit over load protection. And I believe GFCI protected wall outlets has the same overload circuit protection as well. You could replace the standard wall outlet or have an electrician do it for some added protection.

 

[squiggynh]

Thanks guys. Do I need to even replace that canister?

 

[Silly clownfish]

+1 on the drip loop. And always pay attention to that. It is very easy to lose the drip loop by moving things around when you are doing maintenance!

Is the outlet a GFCI? If not, you need to replace that outlet ASAP. Yeah, it is a pain to replace an outlet that is behind your cabinet, but I think you had a demonstration of the importance last night.

 

[jay13]

Ten years ago I ran a housefire caused by a "reef" tank. No driploops and the wiring was um questionable. Burned the living room and kitchen up. Funny thing was the tank cracked and put out the aquarium stand and surrounding area. So while everything else was charbroiled the tank and stand were recognizable. Driploops!

 

[thegrun]

+1 on the drip loop. And always pay attention to that. It is very easy to lose the drip loop by moving things around when you are doing maintenance!

Is the outlet a GFCI? If not, you need to replace that outlet ASAP. Yeah, it is a pain to replace an outlet that is behind your cabinet, but I think you had a demonstration of the importance last night.

This! Drip loops are a must as is a GFCI outlet!
As to your question, no you do not need to replace the canister (most of us do not like canister filters as they are difficult to maintain, mechanical filters should be changed out and cleaned once every 3-4 days). You may need to make more frequent or slightly larger water changes to make up for the loss of filtration but your tank should be fine without it assuming you have enough in tank water flow.

 

[heathlindner25]

This! Drip loops are a must as is a GFCI outlet!
As to your question, no you do not need to replace the canister (most of us do not like canister filters as they are difficult to maintain, mechanical filters should be changed out and cleaned once every 3-4 days). You may need to make more frequent or slightly larger water changes to make up for the loss of filtration but your tank should be fine without it assuming you have enough in tank water flow.

All of this...especially the GFCI part.

 

[bat21]

This is kind of making me think there should be a sticky on top of this forum about drip loops and GFCI outlets.

 

[Sk8r]

GFCI is a must where water meets electricity: the sockets in your bathroom, eg, are usually required by building code to be GFCI, which will cut the power fast as a spark can jump and save you everything. They're real good insurance in kitchens, and with fish tanks. Go to the electric dept at one of the hardware stores and ask about them.

 

[Roccus]

glad it all worked out... you can buy plug ends that are GFCI and replace your extension cord male end with it.. they are male ends and only fit heavy duty cords...not the lamp wire 20 Ga. ones..... they are sensitive enough to trip on over load as well...

they are also available as an inline accessory.. all plug and play.. they are bright 9 safety) yellow ...

 

[Desert Sea]

Drip loops are important as the others have said. But don't take any chances. Retire the canister filter and get a licensed Electrician in there ASAP to check your wiring.

The big question is why didn't the circuit breaker/fuse feeding that outlet trip? If there was enough draw to overheat the cord enough to catch fire than there was definitely more current available then there should have been. It should have never got that far. If you have circuit breakers instead of fuses, I would have the breaker replaced with a GFCI breaker. You will at least have a new breaker and now all of the outlets fed by that breaker will have GFI protection.

Glad you made it through with little loss.

 

[squiggynh]

Thank you to everyone for their help and advice. GFCI it is. I called an electrician who is going to come out tomorrow to do another job and he's going to take a look at the tank while he's here. I hate to think what would happen if I wasn't home.

 

[TangingOut]

You blew out a two foot flame with your breath? That's some crazy powerful lungs you have there. Superman level if you ask me.

 

[James77]

Electricity and this hobby do not mix.

The humid environments under our stands, along with the salt creep and risk of splashing saltwater onto outlets is scary. Drip loops and GFI outlets help for sure, but in all honesty it is only helping to slightly improve a highly dangerous situation.

Ask any controller company or strip outlet company about keeping their products in such close proximity to salt water and humidity. It is never recommended, yet the vast majority of us do so. Though they should explicitly state in HUGE wording that it is to be avoided.

Being guilty of all sorts of hazardous wiring and electrical setups(in hindsight) in the past, I am designing my new tank to avoid that as much as possible. I will be splitting my stand into the "sump area" and the "electrical area". I am shooting for keeping the water and humidity as sealed away as possible from all electrical connections. 2 separate compartments, with wires passing through some type of weather seal.

 

[MidwestReefa]

Very lucky indeed, glad you are ok!

 

[TONY_C]

Electricity and this hobby do not mix.

Ask any controller company or strip outlet company about keeping their products in such close proximity to salt water and humidity. It is never recommended, yet the vast majority of us do so. Though they should explicitly state in HUGE wording that it is to be avoided.

Most outlet strips I have seen do state on the back, "do not use for aquariums".

 

[bat21]

I am grateful for this thread. I have absolutely been careful about electricity, but now I don't think I've been careful enough. This is forcing me to make some more adjustments and take extra precaution. So, thank you OP. And I'm very glad your situation turned out ok.

 

[Ou8me2]

You'd be surprised how many power strips start fires every year and a GFCI outlet is a must for an aquarium outlet. Do not use standard power strips in moist environments. Water and power strips don't mix, and if they do, a fire may result.

 

[skeeter_usaf]

Keep in mind they have plug and play GFCI now as well. Turns any standard outlet into a GFCI outlet. $20 at any "Home" stores.