This is what happens when saltwater meets electricity

[Lionel]

So, Luckily I was at home for lunch when this happened. I work with power generation and other electronics at work, so the first thing i did was kill the main breaker. I always keep my stuff up off the floor, where water has no possibility of leaking from the tank to encounter any of my electrical stuff on the tank. Well, during maintenance this weekend i moved stuff around, and left a tunze 6055 power supply sitting on the floor behind my tank, upside down. You'll see in the pictures to follow where the water got inside, at the voltage selection switch. My tank overflowed, not even two gallons of water, but it ended up dripping right onto the power supply.

I looked right behind my tank, trying to find the source of the smell, right as a small mushroom cloud of smoke erupted from the power supply.


This could have been catastrophic had it happened in the middle of the night, or when I wasnt home to know what to do.


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b193/pvtrosalia/new%20pics/1-7.jpg

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http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b193/pvtrosalia/new%20pics/4-2.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b193/pvtrosalia/new%20pics/5-1.jpg

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http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b193/pvtrosalia/new%20pics/7-4.jpg

[IridescentLily]

Thank goodness no one was hurt.
I think there are special Angels that watch over reef keepers. ;)

[sikpupy]

I find it very intresting how saltwater helps electricity right along in burning something down!

Glad you were there and caught it!!

[SkolPaFisken]

Any chance you have any "used" tunze powersupplies for sale? I assume 'as-is' condition?!

Kiddin; I have burnt a few pieces myself (albeit not Tunze!)

Thanks for sharing!

[Lionel]

From working around electricity and sensitive electronics for so long, Due to training I knew i had to immediately remove the source of electricity first before anything else. Had my wife or anyone else found it, they might not have done so, and could have been severely injured or killed trying to unplug or move the thing.

I made a mistake that could have been a hell of a lot worse than it turned out. Sometimes it's the little things, attention to detail, that keep you out of trouble. In over twenty years of keeping aquariums, i've never had any sort of electrical accident like this one.

God was definitely watching out for my family today.

[Hephalump]

Man you are lucky. I learned the same lesson a much harder way. I used to keep all my gear plugged into power strips UNDERNEATH the tank...till one day I overflowed like 10 gallons all over it. I ran to the breaker and flipped them, but in my haste I missed the one that was to the outlet my tank was on. Darn near electrocuted myself to death yanking the plug from the wall...

That was years ago though, and these days I keep all my powerstrips mounted to the wall above and to the side of my tank.

[Skinnysloth]

Glad to hear no one got hurt. It could have been a lot worse.

[Lionel]

the smell of burnt electronics is still lingering in my house.

[AcroporAddict]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15310326#post15310326 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lionel
From working around electricity and sensitive electronics for so long, Due to training I knew i had to immediately remove the source of electricity first before anything else. Had my wife or anyone else found it, they might not have done so, and could have been severely injured or killed trying to unplug or move the thing.

I made a mistake that could have been a hell of a lot worse than it turned out. Sometimes it's the little things, attention to detail, that keep you out of trouble.

Here is my usual question to people that have incidents like this happen: did you have the Tunze power supply plugged into a GFCI outlet, which is a basic safety procedure anyone keeping a reef should do with all their aquarium electrical devices?

Glad your house and family are OK.

[400M1963]

Same goes for sump/refugium lights I see so many hobbling together under their tanks. A disaster just waiting to happen. GFI is not optional, make sure wall outlets anywhere near your rig are protected. If that clamp, wire or bracket is pulled -- TILT -- game over ...

[sikpupy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15313475#post15313475 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lionel
the smell of burnt electronics is still lingering in my house.

Bleeeeeeech!! :(

[AcroporAddict]

Every piece of aquarium equipment I have is pluggged into a GFCI protected outlet. No exceptions

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15313975#post15313975 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 400M1963
Same goes for sump/refugium lights I see so many hobbling together under their tanks. A disaster just waiting to happen. GFI is not optional, make sure wall outlets anywhere near your rig are protected. If that clamp, wire or bracket is pulled -- TILT -- game over ...

[YoungReefer06]

What is bad about GFCI's you ask? I went home to my parents house for the weekend and thought the tank would be fine. The night I left a storm came (and that is when I presume the GFCI tripped) and guess what? No one was there to press the button to turn it back on. When I came back to my apt I knew something was wrong when I opened the apt door to the smell of rotten seafood....

[Dustint21]

Will Tunze warranty that? Sorry had to ask! Glad you and the house are ok!

Dustin

[AcroporAddict]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15315018#post15315018 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by YoungReefer06
What is bad about GFCI's you ask? I went home to my parents house for the weekend and thought the tank would be fine. The night I left a storm came (and that is when I presume the GFCI tripped) and guess what? No one was there to press the button to turn it back on. When I came back to my apt I knew something was wrong when I opened the apt door to the smell of rotten seafood....

Given the choice of my tank livestock dying and burning my house down, I'll take the former.

Also a good reaon to not have all your eggs in one basket, or all your electronics on one circuit. You should have your powerheads and your return pump on separate circiuts, both GFCI protected, of course, in case one trips.

[Lionel]

I agree with the separate circuits, but it's hard to do when you live in a rented home, or base housing, like i do. I didnt lay out the electrical here, nor am i permitted to make any sort of modifications.

[Dingo44]

What can someone do who is living in a rented place where you only have access to one outlet? I want to put a GFCI on my tank but I'm afraid it'll trip when I'm not home and I'll come home to rotten seafood... How can I have seperate GFCI circuits to have redundancy when I can't make modifications to the apartment?

[YoungReefer06]

Yeah, I live in an apt and coming home to just about everything dead was heartbreaking. The few things that survived were some Zoanthus sp. and Protopalythoas sp., a Goniastrea palauensis brain, and a Favia favus brain. All fish and mobile inverts died, as well as all sps and mushrooms.

What I figure killed the organisms was a lack of oxygen. I came to this conclusion since it was probably not low temp since it was summertime , probably not high temp since the metal halide light was off, probably not light as not all coral died and the fish died, and not a dissolved waste spike since there is a large amount of live rock and sand in the tank.

When it first happened I took out the GFCI as I was very angry with it... I have since put it back in line with mostly everything plugged into it (skimmer, light, return pump, heater, fuge pump, etc.). However I have a Koralia 400gph circulation pump just plugged into a standard surge protecter so that if this happened again I will at least have one pump going to keep oxygen at saturation.

Fortunately for me I have been able to quickly and completely restock the tank with nothing but the best high end and LE zoos, sps, and other corals. I have only added one fish, a young royal gramma, but will add more fish as time comes.

Kyle

[psykokid]

Thank goodness you were home, that could have been realy messy. Electricity is no joke..

[mihamlet]

wow....scarry!

[EddieJ]

What most people don't realize is that a GFCI is NOT going to do much to prevent a fire. GFCI are designed to save you from electrocution. The are not designed at all to prevent fire. What you should have is an AFCI. AFCI's are designed to prevent fires from arcing. When saltwater comes in contact with electrical equipment it arcs and starts a fire. a GFCI will NOT prevent this. A GFCI is designed to break a ground fault to save lives. A AFCI is designed to detect arcing on the circuit to prevent fire.

Simply put, you install a GFCI to save your life. You install a AFCI to save your house. Of course, a AFCI saves your life from fire.

[redfishsc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15310326#post15310326 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lionel
From working around electricity and sensitive electronics for so long, Due to training I knew i had to immediately remove the source of electricity first before anything else.

Man, I'm glad to see that you were there to stop the mayhem!!!


I know about stopping the electricity all too well. I bought a used Chevy truck once, and whatever the previous owner had installed under the seat had a hot power supply (U connector) still under the seat I didn't know about. It snaked it's way to the door jamb one day when I went into the bank for a check deposit. I came out to a C1500 filled with thick white smoke.

In the end, I managed to get the battery disconnected and fire put out, with serious damage actually only done to the wiring harness (still way over $1,000 in damage parts/labor)--- and I was absolutely covered from head to toe with fire extinguisher powder--- I emptied a whole huge fire extinguisher into that truck, at POINT-BLANK range!! :eek2: :eek2:


God was definitely watching out for my family today.


I'd certainly say so! ;)

[bgibb42]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15346529#post15346529 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EddieJ
What most people don't realize is that a GFCI is NOT going to do much to prevent a fire. GFCI are designed to save you from electrocution. The are not designed at all to prevent fire. What you should have is an AFCI. AFCI's are designed to prevent fires from arcing. When saltwater comes in contact with electrical equipment it arcs and starts a fire. a GFCI will NOT prevent this. A GFCI is designed to break a ground fault to save lives. A AFCI is designed to detect arcing on the circuit to prevent fire.

Simply put, you install a GFCI to save your life. You install a AFCI to save your house. Of course, a AFCI saves your life from fire.

As a professional electrician, I have read this thread with great interest. EddieJ is absolutely correct about the differences between AFCI's and GFCI's. The way to rectify problems such as this would be install AFCI breakers on the circuits that provide power to all of your equipment, and to install GFCI receptacles to plug that equipment in. This way, you are protecting your house from dangerous mishaps such as the one above, and you provide personal protection from electrocution.