Warning... Electricity kills!!
- Thread starter Potts050
- Start date
I recently did an inspection of custom manufactured lighting in a fish store in the metro Toronto area. The owner was having problems with his GFI receptacles tripping when he turned on his actinic lighting. He is using high efficiency electronic ballasts which are prone to creating harmonic distortion on the branch circuit that feeds them. The GFI sensor sees the noise as a fault and trips, isolating the circuit.
Class A GFI's which are typically installed in commercialy available receptacles marked as GFCI's (Ground Fault Circuit Interuptors) are certified to trip at 5 milli-Amps. This may be too low if your using electronic ballasts for high efficiency lighting. I recomend that you use a Class B GFI breaker for your fish room branch circuits that can be 'dialed' up to a maximum of 30 milli-Amps leakage before tripping.
Be advised however that a solid contact with a 20 milli-Amp current across your heart can be fatal. Reduce the sensitivity only as low as necessary to prevent nuisance tripping....
Class A GFI's which are typically installed in commercialy available receptacles marked as GFCI's (Ground Fault Circuit Interuptors) are certified to trip at 5 milli-Amps. This may be too low if your using electronic ballasts for high efficiency lighting. I recomend that you use a Class B GFI breaker for your fish room branch circuits that can be 'dialed' up to a maximum of 30 milli-Amps leakage before tripping.
Be advised however that a solid contact with a 20 milli-Amp current across your heart can be fatal. Reduce the sensitivity only as low as necessary to prevent nuisance tripping....
The standard for certification of aquarium hood lighting does not require GFCI protection as yet. There has been a high incedance of residential fires caused by faulty wiring of these devices and the standard is due for review.
An arc fault receptacle will detect intermittent arcing and sparking in the fixture that may result from salt or corroded metal reducing the clearance between the exposed live parts of the socket and the fixture housing and then isolate the circuit.
I recommend you consider using these devices to protect your aquarium lighting if you experience nuisance tripping with a GFI and can detect no leakage current.
http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/afcifac8.PDF
http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric_basics_arcfault_protection/
An arc fault receptacle will detect intermittent arcing and sparking in the fixture that may result from salt or corroded metal reducing the clearance between the exposed live parts of the socket and the fixture housing and then isolate the circuit.
I recommend you consider using these devices to protect your aquarium lighting if you experience nuisance tripping with a GFI and can detect no leakage current.
http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/afcifac8.PDF
http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric_basics_arcfault_protection/
Dr Joe;527790; said:
What are you talking about. This is a quote from the link you provided.
"Fatal or non-fatal injury from an electric shock, usually causing electrical burns, arc burns, and thermal contact burns.
Electrocution is also frequently used incorrectly to refer only to a fatal electric shock"
Its better to have multiple GFCIs. Running your tank on ONE GFCI will knock out your entire tank if one thing goes wrong. While your at work, your tank will have no heater, no filtration, no air and will end of with fish belly up when you come home.
Problem with wikipedia is there are to many morons who post incorrect info on there. Just look up the definition of electrocution in a dictionary, you'll find only two defintions for the word.I got 3..... 20 amps dedicated circuits running only my fish tank and each circuit with GFI and other plugs are in the load side same thing to the other circuits....and if that trip when I'm gone I got a back up hooked up so it will continue to run for atleast 8 hours....always protect yourself...and if you lost a fish,,,oh well!!! that's better than u..u can always get a fish...but cant replace u...safety first.. I always protect myself when I'm working or think smart. I seen people burned and get hurt working around electricity...it's NO FUN
Presently all my tanks are running off of regular outlets. Seems its time that I go safe...
Question that I have not found the answer from google:
I have all my tanks in the basement, all on the same circuit. If I instal a GFIC outlet in the outlet closest to the fuse box on this circuit, will this protect all the outlets downstream? If this is so then I only have to instal one GFCI outlet and not 3....
Burt
Question that I have not found the answer from google:
I have all my tanks in the basement, all on the same circuit. If I instal a GFIC outlet in the outlet closest to the fuse box on this circuit, will this protect all the outlets downstream? If this is so then I only have to instal one GFCI outlet and not 3....
Burt
Yes it will but I strongly reccomend getting single GFCI's.
How about loosing $100-$300 worth of fish while your at work? Single GFCI for each item will save you and your fish. Fish are replacable but they fell pain and suffer like us too.
How about loosing $100-$300 worth of fish while your at work? Single GFCI for each item will save you and your fish. Fish are replacable but they fell pain and suffer like us too.
