anyone ever have their system mysteriously trip?

[roons]

i get a call this morning early at work , "your tanks off", you know the dreaded call..................i figure best place to start is the lights, the only ones on at that time were my 2 moonlights and my fuge light.............i had her unplug them and reset the gfi, "ok everything is fine now" , are the heaters on ? "yes"................so i figure must be something up with one of the 3 lights, i get home , plug em all in , nothing happens......................i cant troubleshoot unless i know what is tripping it.................is it possible to have a surge in current going into house slight enuff to trip a gfi but effect nothing else? im stumped at this point

[roons]

:wave:

[So Cal shaggy]

My system sometimes will trip if the TV, both washers, both dryers, computer and lights in two or more rooms are all turned on at the same time

[greatgman]

is the gfci old or new?
wall mounted or external?
an older gfci is more sensitive to voltage fluxuations.
dont qoute me on this!
i would start with a new gfci
if it is newer or fine than just take it back or keep it for a backup

[roons]

2 years old , wall mount, plus i have all items plugged into 6 ways with surge protectors , plus i have a grounding probe in sump.......

[unsane]

Mine tripped the other night, turns out it was a "industrial" powerstrip I had the light timers plugged into.

[roons]

what does that mean?

[Amphiprion]

Also look at pumps, etc. I had a shorted magdrive that would trip the GFCI every time.

[brian3]

Many GFCI's act up ocassionally. They realy were not meant for aquarium use with equipment submerged continuously in water. Mine failed in a couple years and needed replaced. I have redundancy just in case one fails the tank still has circulation.

[dougc]

I have found that my GFCIs start mysteriously tripping when something is going bad, usually a heater. If there is some current leakage into the water, it may not be enough to trip the GFCI by itself, but some other anomaly will cause it to trip. Usually, this kind of trip will become more frequent as the underlying bad powerhead or heater gets worse.

I have had GFCI's trip because a little bit of water gets in a plug. This usually won't happen again.

Usually, when I suspect a bad GFCI, it turns out to be a real problem, not the GFCI. The easiest way I have found to check for electrical problems is to use a voltmeter. Put one probe to a good ground (metal ballast case or, carefully, the ground hole in a wall outlet) and the other end into the water in your tank or sump. You should get no voltage if everything is OK. If you get any reading, you should start unplugging anything that has contact with the water (pumps, heaters, etc) until the voltage drops to 0. This usually will locate the failing appliance, but I did once have a GFCI trip repeatedly because of a bad exhaust fan motor that was nowhere near any water.

[gflat65]

I have a GFCI breaker that trips whenever I turn a six strip outlet off. The surge is enough... Sensitive breaker. If I unplug the pumps, etc., no trips...

[The Marmot]

GFCI?...ground fault circuit interupter?....does that mean "circuit breaker"? if so thats where i would start also. I'm am NO electrician, but I know a little...it could be that everything running on that one circuit is enough to keep the breaker teetering on the verge of tripping...upping the capacity would prevent it...again..I'm no electrician, all I know for sure is: if you unplug something from an extension cord with you're mouth...you may want to unplug the other end from the wall first! Been there...done that...it sucks

[sunfish11]

Well, if I plug the vaccuum into the same circuit as the tank...its lights out baby.

[gflat65]

A GFCI is technically a circuit breaker, but not necessarily one that goes in the circuit breaker box. The wall outlet breakers work the same, but only kill power to the things plugged into that socket (or downstream sockets tied to the GFCI). They work by dropping out power when they see a surge (like loose voltage in a tank grounded by your hand-good death provention;)). Depending on the age and build of your house, you might be able to up from say a 15A to a 20A circuit (alot of the times in newer homes, they run the same wiring), but it takes a heavier guage wire to go higher in most cases. If you overload your wiring, you're asking for a fire. I only run about 8-11A at full load though the 20A breaker and it still trips easily. It's all about the surge...

[reefkoi]

You should add up the watts on your lights and the amp draw of pumps and heater e.t.c. I was amazed I had to separate my MH's because if they were all on the same circuit I would pull around 20 amps and get an occasional trip. You might be suprised at how many amps you are pulling on a reef tank and you may only have a 15 amp breaker.
Also yeah the vacuum cleaner is a killer most need to be on a separate breaker from anything in the house! houses should have a "vacuum" labeled breaker in the panel LOL

[gflat65]

It certainly adds up quickly. I'm upgrading from a 125 and 75 with a 10 gallon frag tank on the same circuit (3-250W DE's and 2-160W VHOs on the 125, 130W pc on the 10, and 220W VHO on the 75, along with returns and circulation, etc.) to a 125 and a 180 on the same wall... I'm going to have to add electrical service for that. I probably should have already. WHen I said 8-11A, that was before going to the 3 de's (had a 250W DE and 2-175W SE's). What I did to measure (after adding up wattage and dividing by 110V) to get an actual was to use a clamp ammeter and found the wires going to the breaker in the breaker box. The clamp ammeter surrounds the wiring so you don't have to try to connect leads for + and -. Be careful doing this, though. You could easily loose your life if you catch a bare spot on some wires in the breaker box. 110 is nasty stuff. At least 480 will usually throw you (though still not recommended as recreational fun;)). If you try to measure with a clamp ammeter, I recommend killing the breaker to the entire house (main throw) and find the wires you need and put the ammeter in place. Inspect for bare wires before turning the main breaker back on. Turn the ammeter to amps and see what it tells you with everything running. An electrician or a process maintenance tech (or engineer, etc.) should be able to help out if you know one...

[roons]

ive had no problems for 2 years, so it isnt an overload or anything, everything was fine today.................ill try that voltmeter test..........................