Stray voltage

[naprestsleep]

A week or two ago I got shocked when I put my hand into my tank. After realizing it was electrical and not salt burning a cut I went through and isolated the bad item. One skimmer pump was unplugged. I did it very scientifically, I unplugged one at a time and stuck my hand in the tank. So the other day I stick my hand in again and it shocked. This time I got out my voltage detector I use for checking if wires are live, it went off near the water, and didnt when the power strip was off or everything was unplugged. So I went through and found 4 of 5 items causing the detector to go off. I tried without the power strip and got the same.

Is it good luck to think 4 of 5 electronic items went back at once, they are 3-4 years old each? Should I get a voltmeter and check with that?

 

[spinoleo]

That detector wont work for what you are trying. You will need a good multi meter

 

[toddmh]

I was having a shocking issue and I bought one of these http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3946

so far so good..

 

[naprestsleep]

I am borrowing a mulitmeter tomorrow, do both probes go in the water and set it for AC?

 

[acdraindrps]

No, use a good known ground (third, round hole in a "three prong" grounded wall outlet) and the other in the tank.

Because a volt meter measures potential difference between two points, so both probes in your tank water will be at the same electrical potential and wouldn't show any voltage. You are trying to figure out a voltage potential difference with respect to ground.

 

[naprestsleep]

Thanks, I thought I had to do it with respect to ground but started question it. Makes sense when you explained it.

 

[Paradiddle7]

I vaguely remember reading bad information about grounding probes. Can anyone shed light on this issue?

 

[acdraindrps]

A grounding probe will make the voltage potential with respect to ground 0 volts, but will you will essentially be completing an electrical circuit and could end up with current running through this "circuit" that is why your best bet is to solve the stray voltage at its source. (which is usually from a pump or heater)

 

[naprestsleep]

Got a meter, next step find the culprit tonight. I want to remove the issue rather than make it "disappear" with a grounding probe.

 

[naprestsleep]

I had a bunch of extension cord, and outlet strips, I cleaned it up as much as I could because I was getting reading all over the board with a high reading of 75+, which may have had some user error.

Once cleaned up I got 2-3 volts standard from 4 of 5 plugged in. My stealth heater(I know the issues with them) shot it up to like 15 volts. Swapped the heater, seems ok.

Next step is cleaning the skimmer as one of the pumps no longer want to startup and its inside the skimmer and can not be removed to check