Photos of my house fire...aquarium put it out.
- Thread starter AqCons
- Start date
haid
New member
I to have had two powerstrips start smoking. Both times it was because of small leaks in equipment running down the cords and into the powerstrip. Luckily I was home both times and knew the electrical burning smell and found them. Once as I was looking for the smell and I opened the stand door just has the powerstrip caught fire. Drip loops are essential, you definitely don't want water in your powerstrips. Sorry for your loss and good luck in the future.
looser
New member
I'm not familiar with the Coral Life Power Center, but isn't that supposed be intended for aquarium use? I can see how it would be difficult to sue over saltwater getting into a standard power strip that you buy at HD. But something that is made for use in an aquarium environment should worse case, just stop working, not burn your house down. People that are so willing to blame themselves/ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Âuser errorââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ for poor design or poor manufacturing kill me. Could or should Coral Life have know that this unit could be exposed to salt water. Absolutely. What if someone had died in the fire. Would you still blame user error? Give me a break. If you ask me its just a matter of proving your damages. Talk to a good attorney.
AqCon,
I did contact them when it happened (about 6-8 months ago).
They were more than willing to replace them, but I decided that since this happened to 3 power strips and all around the same time, it wasn't worth the risk. I ended up going out and buying the all metal industrial Belkins at HD. Not sure what's up with those strips, the only thing I do know is that on all of them, the timer never lasted for more than a month and a half, they never got wet, and they were in 3 completely different areas around my tank. Also, they all had started to melt down in the area. On 1 or 2 of them, I wasn't even using the outlets in question.
I did contact them when it happened (about 6-8 months ago).
They were more than willing to replace them, but I decided that since this happened to 3 power strips and all around the same time, it wasn't worth the risk. I ended up going out and buying the all metal industrial Belkins at HD. Not sure what's up with those strips, the only thing I do know is that on all of them, the timer never lasted for more than a month and a half, they never got wet, and they were in 3 completely different areas around my tank. Also, they all had started to melt down in the area. On 1 or 2 of them, I wasn't even using the outlets in question.
Wow Chewie! I called ESU this morning. When I told them what I was calling about they gave me the number of another guy associated with ESU. I called and spoke with a guy named Steve Middle...something. He took my information and was sure sorry this happened. He said he would call me tomorrow after he received my photos.
Chewie, did you speak with just the regular ESU people or did you talk with the same person I did? I'm sure he would like to hear about your problems too. Did you happen to have photos of the melted area?
Chewie, did you speak with just the regular ESU people or did you talk with the same person I did? I'm sure he would like to hear about your problems too. Did you happen to have photos of the melted area?
Yikes, sorry to hear about your loss also, those things are never good to hear about. I definitely have to add in my 2 cents here though. I don't buy the whole "user error" argument of the company - yes, maybe saltwater did get into the power strip which is what caused it to melt and start the fire. But therein lies the key problem - a power strip always has a fuse in it - especially if it is designed for use around water. The second any of those plugs downline from that fuse shorted out, that should have popped/broken the fuse in the powerstrip and immediately cut the electricity to it. If the fuse in the powerstrip didn't break, that is obviously a bad product/product design that is no fault of the user - whether there was saltwater involved or not. I have many powerstrips around my house and I have had the fuse/breaker in them pop for simple reason of just drawing too much current (which they are designed to do) - your powerstrip should have done this the instant the wires shorted out. I would definitely try to follow up on this and report it to everyone you can - I know it's not easy, but something needs to be done about it. I'm definitely glad to hear though that your insurance covered your losses (or at least most of them) and hopefully your words will help to warn others about this faulty product. Good luck and I hope you can get everything back to normal soon.
Brad
Brad
skewch
Premium Member
fire in garage, due to extension cord
fire in garage, due to extension cord
Here's a pic from our fire we had in our garage a few years back. It was started by a faulty extension cord to the deepfreeze. As you can see in the picture it didn't burn lots of things because the pop and beer (leftover from our wedding a few months prior) put the fire out. We had a smoke detector in there too, and the little one who was 2 then woke me up screaming, and at first I didn't hear the alarm...
Moral of story, don't use extension cords unless you absolutely have to. I hate them, and cringe whenever we use one...we have the coral life timer and we're really freaking out about that now. I think we're gonna check it out, wrap a bag around it and keep a constant vigil. We have 5 smoke detectors in the house, 2 of which are run by our home security system, so if we do have a fire and we're not home, hopefully our house doesn't burn down.
Having been through a fire before, even though not too drastic, it was the scariest thing ever, as the car was parked in the garage at the time. The damage was 13,500.00...lots of money's worth of junk we hadn't bothered moving into the house...
fire in garage, due to extension cord
Here's a pic from our fire we had in our garage a few years back. It was started by a faulty extension cord to the deepfreeze. As you can see in the picture it didn't burn lots of things because the pop and beer (leftover from our wedding a few months prior) put the fire out. We had a smoke detector in there too, and the little one who was 2 then woke me up screaming, and at first I didn't hear the alarm...
Moral of story, don't use extension cords unless you absolutely have to. I hate them, and cringe whenever we use one...we have the coral life timer and we're really freaking out about that now. I think we're gonna check it out, wrap a bag around it and keep a constant vigil. We have 5 smoke detectors in the house, 2 of which are run by our home security system, so if we do have a fire and we're not home, hopefully our house doesn't burn down.
Having been through a fire before, even though not too drastic, it was the scariest thing ever, as the car was parked in the garage at the time. The damage was 13,500.00...lots of money's worth of junk we hadn't bothered moving into the house...
I know firsthand how bad the damage can be from a fire - seen it many times and the people it happens to can never believe it. The smoke and soot get EVERYWHERE and on everything. I've also seen a couple of aquarium related fires in my day but they've always been glass tanks and they've remained intact.
Good luck on the recovery and glad you didn't lose more than you did!
Good luck on the recovery and glad you didn't lose more than you did!
wentreefgirl
New member
Wow, I so sorry that happend. Just for
Wow, I so sorry that happend. Just for
fyi I have seen 3 incidents in my house where I smelled electrical smell and all three checked it out extensively. And not until the second time did I find that there was saltwater dripping from one of my pumps into the strip. The second time one plug hole melted. The third time there was smoke and fire and melted half the strip. My husband noticed that one and put it out and let me know. So now I have major drip loops and i keep a plastic wash pan over it with holes on the sides for the wires to come in. No more issues here.
Wow, I so sorry that happend. Just for
fyi I have seen 3 incidents in my house where I smelled electrical smell and all three checked it out extensively. And not until the second time did I find that there was saltwater dripping from one of my pumps into the strip. The second time one plug hole melted. The third time there was smoke and fire and melted half the strip. My husband noticed that one and put it out and let me know. So now I have major drip loops and i keep a plastic wash pan over it with holes on the sides for the wires to come in. No more issues here.
DanConnor
Active member
Here are pics of my 2.5 year old reef, which caught on fire while we were out of town some years ago. The back of the tank broke and put out the fire. I believe it was from salt creep and a power strip. No more sumps crammed into cabinets with electrical equipment for me! The smoke damage was bad.
Reefy
Premium Member
Sorry for your losses. Glad to see you didn't lose everything you own. And that nobody was hurt.
I have two smoke and one water detector in my fish room. Along with a fire extinguisher. But that won't help if I'm not home.
Note to self: Plumb auto topoff water supply to DIY fire suppression system.
I have two smoke and one water detector in my fish room. Along with a fire extinguisher. But that won't help if I'm not home.
Note to self: Plumb auto topoff water supply to DIY fire suppression system.
AnnArborBuck
New member
I had a powerstrip in my 55 catch on fire once. Thankfully I had a couple of spare bags of salt right next to the strip. The fire melted the salt bags and the salt poured out putting the fire out. I was definetly lucky on that one, I have since redone my whole system to have drip loops and to not overload powerstrips.
Reefy, it's quite a shock to come home to that, isn't it? You're lucky (like I was) that the aquarium put out the fire.
If you don't use sumps anymore, what do you use for filtration?
Thanks for all the replies. It's shocking to see the number of people on here who have had close calls.
I have used drip loops for years and had them on the tank that burned.
I haven't heard from ESU yet today but will keep you posted.
If you don't use sumps anymore, what do you use for filtration?
Thanks for all the replies. It's shocking to see the number of people on here who have had close calls.
I have used drip loops for years and had them on the tank that burned.
I haven't heard from ESU yet today but will keep you posted.
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