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Unread 06/26/2007, 08:52 PM   #15
Hop
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Western Colorado
Posts: 8,548
Quote:
Originally posted by Freds
I'm not an electrician, but as it was explained to me:

"Our electrical system uses the earth as a ground. It is illegal in every municipality in the US to use the ground as your neutral. You could place a hot wire to one side of something and a ground to the other and you would get a circuit.

What that means is that if you use a grounding probe you're adding a neutral to your water, add a "hot" such as leaking voltage and no more posts for you, ever. Grounding probes should NEVER be used without a GFCI. To do so is a serious health hazard."

Again I'm not an electrician but the above is paraphrased from a conversation I had with an electrician.
I'm not certain how to take the post I stated that he needed a probe and a GFCI. The electical code he spoke of is not a "law" and the electrical police are not going to come knocking We are talking about 1. keeping your fish safe from stray current which is unhealthy and can lead to several ailments and 2. Your safety working around a tank!

I'm fairly certain you were just passing on information and not meant to be confrontational

Bottom line is to keep yourself safe first and then provide a quality environment for the critters...

And bureau13 was right that it's not going to fix the problem, but it might save your life down the road when something really fails! Next time it might not me a little voltage leak from a pump


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