i got shocked...ouch! please read.

[trojan09]

ok so today i was setting up my new fish tank rack in my fish room in the garage. i was working on a tank that had one of my oscar in it. so i got everything set up and i plugged in the power head and then i noticed that i didnt stick the power head to the wall with the suction cup yet. so i put my hand in the water and got the shock of my life! i took my hands out super fast and then starred at my tank for 5 seconds. then i realized that my fish is getting shocked too! so i unplugged the power head and my fish was fine. haha i just wanted to share with you guys this story that happend today. but one question....why did it shock me!?!?! im guessing cause it was on a metal stand. and guesses?

 

[Bderick67]

Surprised that being in the garage that it's not a GFCI protected outlet. Anyway buy a GFCI and plug your tank items into it. It could save your life.

 

[bob965]

A metal stand doesn't cause electrical shocks, faulty components do. The most likely culprit is the heater. All aquarium equipment should be plugged into GFCI protected outlets.

 

[Bderick67]

A metal stand doesn't cause electrical shocks, faulty components do. The most likely culprit is the heater. All aquarium equipment should be plugged into GFCI protected outlets.

The stand contributes if it is the path to ground. Many people have faulty components in their tanks and never know it.

 

[Potts050]

ok so today i was setting up my new fish tank rack in my fish room in the garage. i was working on a tank that had one of my oscar in it. so i got everything set up and i plugged in the power head and then i noticed that i didnt stick the power head to the wall with the suction cup yet. so i put my hand in the water and got the shock of my life! i took my hands out super fast and then starred at my tank for 5 seconds. then i realized that my fish is getting shocked too! so i unplugged the power head and my fish was fine. haha i just wanted to share with you guys this story that happend today. but one question....why did it shock me!?!?! im guessing cause it was on a metal stand. and guesses?

You received an electrical contact injury because you provided a low resistance path for electrical energy in your powerhead wiring to get back to the supply transformer that feeds your electrical service.

In other words you were grounded to the floor of your garage which touches the soil beneath the concrete slab. Current probably flowed from your defective powerhead, through your hand, up your arm, across your heart, down your legs , through your feet, through the slab and the soil beneath to the ground electrode for your service and then back through the neutral conductor to the XO on the transformer. Fortunately for you, all those series reistances dropped the voltage enough so that you only recieved 1000 th's of an amp shock. If you had received much more it could have killed or maimed you.

At the beginning I mentioned 'contact injury'. Any electrical shock you are subjected to can damage your heart and if not diagnosed very quickly can be permanent. It is cumulative, getting worse each time you receive a shock.

At the moment you may feel as thoiugh nothing is wrong and can laugh about what happened. It may take several days but you could go into cardiac arrest. See your doctor and have your heart rythym monitored to make sure its as it should be. If the problem is caught early, the damage can be repaired.

PLEASE INSTALL GROUND FAULT PROTECTION ON ALL YOUR AQUARIUM EQUIPMENT. YOUR LIFE AND YOUR HEALTH IS PRECIOUS TO MORE THAN JUST YOURSELF.

Please read more here;
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40560

 

[bob965]

The stand contributes if it is the path to ground. Many people have faulty components in their tanks and never know it.

If the stand was supplying a path to ground, that would make you less likely to get shocked, not more. A metal stand has less resistance than a human body.

 

[Bderick67]

If the stand was supplying a path to ground, that would make you less likely to get shocked, not more. A metal stand has less resistance than a human body.

Oh you are so very wrong. Without completing the the circuit with a path to ground there is no getting shocked. If the OP sticks his hand in the tank water(ungrounded) and touches the metal stand which is grounded your telling us he would not be shocked

 

[bob965]

Oh you are so very wrong. Without completing the the circuit with a path to ground there is no getting shocked. If the OP sticks his hand in the tank water(ungrounded) and touches the metal stand which is grounded your telling us he would not be shocked

Yes of course. Guess I misunderstood what you were saying in your other post.