What equipment should go on a GFCI vs. regular outlet?

Mikey Donuts

Mikey Donuts

Premium Member
Jeremy's terrible crash got me thinking about what equipment needs to go on a GFCI and what should stay on a regular outlet. Right now I've got my return pump, circulation pump and a small pump in my frag area on a regular outlet. The circulation pump is on a battery backup as well. Everything else is on a GFCI. I figure if the GFCI pops it could be hours before we notice anything and by then it could be too late for the livestock, so all of my circulation is on the dining room circuit.

I'm considering putting a single heater on the regular circuit as well, but I'm not sure I should do so as this is probably the piece of equipment most likely to electrocute me.

So, what do you guys keep on what circuit?
 
kinda the opposite of what you have.

1st breaker - return, chiller, phosban reactor, auto top off, one powerhead and main heater on gfci.

2nd breaker - chiller, back up heater and another powerhead on regular outlet.

i need to get a battery backup; then i'll be set for short term power outages.
 
I put it all on a GFCI just dont over load the circuit and it should be fine. One thing i have considered is buying a small UPS for like a computer and running one of my PH's on it just incase for some flow. But as a safety standpoint anything near a water source should be GFCI protected.
 
The only thing i have on a regular outlet is my chiller and my heater only because i haven't put in my dedicated circuit yet for the chiller still may not put that on a GFCI haven't decided yet.
 
Yeah, I'm kinda defeating the purpose of the GFCI by keeping a bunch of stuff that's underwater on the regular circuit. I'm paranoid about the breaker tripping while we're gone though. I've actually had a couple of nuisance trips already.
 
Everything on a GFCI. I have two different circuits so that if one should fail, the other will provide circulation.
 
The one thing I have noticed that a wall GFCI is fine, but when you have the plug in version and the power goes out, you have to manually reset it. That is the one that causes me to worry.
 
Everything on it's own individual GFCI... LOL if possible that would be best... minimum Just the Lights and heaters on GFCI...
General Rule: put things that would kill you on the GFCI... Lights heaters and chiller. Powerheads won't really do anything to you
 
I may just leave my setup like I have it and kill the pumps if I have to stick my hands in the tank for a few minutes. I just have to remember to turn everything back on though! I think I will put a heater on the regular house outlet when we go on vacation and monitor everything over the internet via an Aquacontroller.
 
Adding an additional outlet or expanding existing outlets so you can use more in-wall GFI's isn't difficult. Install them in parallel so one tripping won't cut the power to the others. Put some water movers on one GFI and other water movers on another, and you'll be covered well enough.

There are books at Lowes/HD that clearly explain how to add and expand outlets. And if you do manage to install the GFI improperly, it trips as soon as you turn the breaker back on.

Our house (new construction) has about 15 different GFI's and none of them have ever tripped when they shouldn't, and at our last house we had 5 or 6 in-wall and in ten years they never tripped wrongly either. I had a plug-in GFI for awhile and that did trip sometimes when it shouldn't, like after power outages, like Marko9 said.
 
The amount of ampres that our circuits draw that our fish tanks are plugged into can very diffinatly kill you. A very small amount of electricity can defibulate your heart. Just FYI. The electric code says any outlet within 3 feet of a water source be GFCI protected.
 
I see my 'little issue' has created some discussion. At least something good can come of it!
I firmly believe that everything near the tank should be on a GFCI, my recent problems not-with-standing. If I were planning a new setup(which I will be when I finally sell this house) I would do as suggested earlier, and install multiple GFCI's. 1 per item would be nice, but problematic and cumbersome. I would definitely recommend putting the powerheads or CL pump on a different circuit than the system pump. I would also put a backup heater on a seperate circuit from the main. Other than that, just split up high amp items such as lighting and chiller to even out the loads. So, minimum of 2 seperate GFCI's. Ideally the chiller could be on it's own.
 
I'm setting up my 180g, and I'm not familiar with electricity and how they work, besides plug them in and they come on. I know what triping the breaker is, that's when I have too much stuff on one breaker and it can't take it so it trips in the back and I have to switch it back on. But as for as for the new tank, I want to put in a new breaker switch just for the tank set up, how can I go about doing this?? do I need an electrician to come in and install some stuff for me?
 
Everything near water should be on a GFCI. Your best bet is to have a seperate 15-20amp circuit installed. Also some equipment such as heaters are known to trip those power strip GFCI's but not when the GFCI is hard wired.

I run my return pump on 1 circuit and run the power heads or closed loop on another circuit. That way is one trips the tank still has circulation.

I'm sure there is a good electrician here that would help for cheap!
 
Well i know of three of us but i dont know how cheap we are. lol were not an object to be used and abused.. =P
 
d&ksac, how do you think I should go about doing my circuits/breakers etc..? I'm pretty clueless as how this will work. I ran 100g before with pumps/metal halides/chiller and I just plugged it into two separate wall outlets in the living room. but with the 180g, it need more electricity and so I don't know if all my stuff will trip the breaker in the back. also what's the difference between breakers/circuits? you think I can have you check out the circuits etc.. at my house before I put in the tank? thanks
 
One breaker=one "circuit"

Plug a radio turned up loud into various outlet boxes, turn off breaker switches one at a time to see which outlets are on which breakers. Label the breakers (Sharpie).

The breaker switches you're concerned about will have either a "20" on them in white letters or "15". These are the amps limits of each breaker. Most wall outlet circuits outside the kitchen and bath will be 15. Figure a max of about 1500 watts per 15 amp breaker and 2000 watts for a 20amp breaker. Don't forget to account for non-aquarium items connected to those same breakers.

A safety thing, anytime you're touching things in your breaker (panel) box keep one hand in your pocket, wear rubber soled shoes, and don't be standing on wet ground. It's very unlikely you'll touch something live since there are safety covers over the (hot) wires in the box but if you follow these tips you will reduce the opportunity for electricity to travel through you.
 
He needs new circuits for the new tank. The circuit he has wont hold the load. Im going over there tomarrow to see what its gonna take to give him a couple dedicated 20 amp circuits for his 180.
 
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