The house caught fire, the tank exploded

intricable

New member
Goodbye deuce the lion, penny wise the evil maroon clown, melvin the niger trigger, and leonard the sailfin. Please, please please- anyone and everyone who has a tank, run it off of AFCI oulets. It will save your house.
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He was a great fish- actually, all of them were great fish. I would have never thought that their personalities would have been so different. The sailfin was my big buddy (he was hand fed his seaweed)... the niger was a punk that liked to bite.. the lion was a very "swimmy" lion, he'd cruise in the powerheads but sleep in his special cave... the clown was a protective old woman of 6 years.

I don't think the SO wants to have fish ever again. I'm really going to miss having a tank.
 
Wow that sucks.

You're sure the electrical used for the tank is what started the fire?
 
Holy moly......give some details, how and when did it happen you think?

What is the advantage of GFI over AFCI?
 
We're sure it was something electrical (what particular part of the elctrical is hard to say- the fire inspector thinks metal halide, but they were off for THREE HOURS before the smoke dectors went off) and it all could have very well been prevented had electrical been up-to-date and the outlets ACFI. The townhouse was a rental, we moved into an identical unit 3 buildings down.
 
Details: We woke up at midnight to the smoke alarms going off. At first we tried to unplug/disengage the alarm until we realized, oh ****, all the others in the house are going off. We ran down the steps- the SO went around the corner to go to the basement, I froze in the threshold between the kitchen and living room. I watched smoke coming through the slats of the floor, turned around and watched a big plumb of smoke meet the SO at the back door foyer steps. We both said "the basement's on fire!" We ran out of the front door of the house, I called 911 and we went opposite ways down the row of townhouses getting our neighbors out. The basement window glowered an angry orange. I called 911 back because the fire fighters didn't show up fast enough. It took them 4 minutes to get to the house. The fire originated at or near the tank- not a lot was left of where the fire actually started, so its hard to say WHAT did it.

We have talked about this on our local clubs forum, this is what they have told me about outlets:

"GFCI outlets automatically cut power if a ground fault occurs, meaning they will save your life if you somehow end up on the receiving end of an electric current.

AFCI's are another safety measure that you install into the wiring itself. They detect arc faults that are a common cause of electrical fires, and break the circuit before fire breaks out.

So, GFCI's protect you... AFCI's prevent fires. If a 20 amp GFCI is installed on a 15 amp circuit (or even a 15 amp on a 15 amp circuit with a weak link... to high fuse value, pure quality wire (the old aluminum stuff) wiring, bad connections, defective breaker...) , your going to have smoke!"
 
Wow, that's terrible!!!! And quite scary at the same time! Im sorry for your house. Hopefully you didnt loose any valuables like family pictures, family momento's etc...Who cares about your fish tank, as long as you and your family are okay, a tank can always be replaced...

Best of luck to you :)
 
That is absolutely devestating. I am so sorry for your loss.

The important thing is you and your family are safe. Everything else can be replaced. Best of luck to you.
 
sorry to here that mate... it sucks about the fish tho coz they are really part of the family and i dont think they can be replaced or forgotten:(
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14753039#post14753039 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by intricable
We're sure it was something electrical (what particular part of the elctrical is hard to say- the fire inspector thinks metal halide, but they were off for THREE HOURS before the smoke dectors went off) and it all could have very well been prevented had electrical been up-to-date and the outlets ACFI. The townhouse was a rental, we moved into an identical unit 3 buildings down.

I would agree with them and have to say that it was your lights.

Also from your pictures posted it looks like the fire happened around the top of your tank.

Very sad thing to happen and wish you the best.
 
I'm so sorry, what a horrible thing to happen. I am glad you and yours are safe. I understand how you feel about the loss of the fish. While a tank can be replaced, the fish can become cherished pets.
 
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