Over current Protection

[Young Frankenstein]

Over current Protection will be my first attempt to help my fellow reefers understand and protect their equipment and them selfs. According to NEC (National Electrical Code) a # 12 THHN gage wire has to be fused at 15 amps for lighting or 20 amps for general outlet wiring if it feeds 20 amp devices. Problems in this area are #1 Breakers don't trip all the time. Actually one of the best brands in the field and we used this equipment in schools, commercial spaces and everywhere we needed good equipment proved to be causing fires. (FEDERAL BREAKERS) DON'T TRIP and are no longer UL listed.If you have a panel with Federal breakers you must change them with a GE replacement breaker because the company went out of business doe to lawsuits.I have tested by shorting out breakers many types and they usually don't trip as fast or some times they don't rip at all. One good brand I would recommend is Square D. They work better than most. Dust and dirt etc going in a breaker throe the years can also make a breaker malfunction therefore I would suggest changing your circuit breakers if they are more than 15-20 years old. Branching circuits in your fish tank start with #12 wire but usually when they power light fixtures that wire is reduced to #16 or #18 if your ballasts have a smaller inline fuse usually a 3 amp or 5 amp fuse then I can say you have pretty good over current protection. In case of a short circuit if the main breaker don't trip(usually a 200 or 100 amp the branch circuit breaker will(15 or 20 amps) and if that fails the inline fuse will.
Suggestions: If you are using ballasts you are better protected against a fire by using inline fuses for each ballast.