Got Gfci?

jlfnjlf

jlfnjlf

New member
I dropped a sock of Phosphorus sponge into the outlet box of my CPR aquafuge2 and assumed all was well. That was a bad assumption the sock got sucked into the outlet plugging it most of the way. Well the refugium overflowed on to the plug bar behind the tank, and that is when the fireworks started. I knew I should have had a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt) installed, but I had not gotten to it. I was home for this shocking event, and I got the power off without injury, but I did learn a valuable lesson. A GFCI is a must for powering aquarium equipment, and I dodged a major bullet today. :eek1: :eek1: :eek1:

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Just so you know the in line units are $10 at Lowes. If you don't have one you should get one as soon as possible.
 
Thank goodness you were home. Did you lose any equipment?

I remember speaking with our local electrician Steve (aka Funman1) about GFCI's. I think he said that the only bad thing about GFCI's is that they're sometimes oversensitive, tripping too often. I guess that's the trade off for safety.

If anyone needs a good electrician who's also a part of our reefing community, I highly recommend Steve (aka Funman1). He helped straightened out my electrical problems a little while ago. I'm sure he'd be glad to help anyone else out who needed it.
 
Loss was limited to a Corlife digital power center that was running my lights. I am very fortunate to have been home indeed.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8080102#post8080102 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xia
I remember speaking with our local electrician Steve (aka Funman1) about GFCI's. I think he said that the only bad thing about GFCI's is that they're sometimes oversensitive, tripping too often. I guess that's the trade off for safety.
Click to expand...

IME, the GFI's that were part of an extension cord or similar were too sensitive, but the GFI outlets mounted in the outlet box were mostly fine. It's also helpful to use more than one GFI among all of your outlets for the tank area so if one GFI trips (when it should not have tripped) you still have power in the other area(s).
 
It's been my experience that in-line or plug-in GFCI's are just as reliable. Besides, I'd be worrying more shock and fire than accidental tripping. It's the lessor of the two.
 
I use both the plug-in GFCI and the wall outlet one. Both of them have been very reliable. But as with any sort of circuit breaker type devices, they don't last forever. If your GFCI is tripping a lot, it may be time to replace it. Also - if you are using the wall outlet type - get a high quality one. I have found that Leviton one works well.

And like warrent recommended - split your outlets on multiple GFCI outlet. Just make sure that the GFCI outlets are NOT downstream of each other. If they were downstream of each other, and the upstream GFCI trips, you will have no power to the outlet downstream. (Assuming everthing is wired properly). On my tank, the tunze and lights are on one circuit. The other outlets have my sump system. If the GFCI should trip, I will still have some sort of water flow. :D

Last - a big thumbs up for Funman1. I bet you he would wire one for a very reasonable price. ;-)


Minh
 
What all do you want to run? take a look at the total current load than add 20%. what is the circuit in your house rated that you are running on? I am of the mindset that the 20a would be the best choice, but if you are running on a 15a circuit in your house then it should never run at maximum current.
 
Hopefully the electrician put the largest breaker in the panel/box that the wiring in that circuit would allow, so if the breaker is 15 amps you should not replace it with a 20 amp breaker, GFI or otherwise.

15 amps is just over 1700 watts. Keep the load under that and you should be fine.

GFI's should ideally be located far away from water so a person can not reset the GFI while they are still in contact with water. (This is Sac County code requirement for new bathrooms, etc.)

In the home we built last year we had to have ARC breakers installed for the bedroom circuits. I think these offer similar protection in case of fire. Might be a consideration around an aquarium too.

We also have fire sprinklers throughout the house and garage, including one sprinkler right over the aquarium area (built into a wall that is 2+ feet deep for this purpose).
 
Finding a GFCI rated for 20 Amps would be hard, and expensive (unless you got a breaker for your panel).

I did not mean to lead anyone into thinking GFCI's are bad because they are touchy. I just meant to say watch out, and pay attention to them because when they trip you could lose everything in your tank.

I know Arc Faults are required on all bedroom circuts now, but had not heard about the GFCI location thing. ( I can think of a few bathrooms where this would be impossible, unless you put the thing on the ceiling, or in the panel box.)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8086946#post8086946 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by funman1

I know Arc Faults are required on all bedroom circuts now, but had not heard about the GFCI location thing. ( I can think of a few bathrooms where this would be impossible, unless you put the thing on the ceiling, or in the panel box.)
Click to expand...

In an adjacent room is okay. I think the rule is that the GFI reset has to be at least 6 feet away from a place where a person could be standing in water-like in a tub or shower.
 
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