So a freakish thing happened last night and it could have gone extremely badly.
I’m doing some construction in my basement so everything in my fish room is a mess. I moved the bucket that my ato pump was in and the tube feeding the tank got pulled out of the sump and over time it leaked maybe a couple cups of water on the floor.
I was doing some plastering on a wall in that area where the water was, so I put one hand on the ground (in the water) and the other was on and off touching the metal corner trims you put on drywall so you get perfect corners on your walls. Every time I’d touch both, I’d feel a little bit of electric current on my fingers, nothing too crazy to shock me. Earlier in the day, electricians were doing some work on the house so I started wondering wtf they had done. Then I started looking for the source in the pump and other equipment area but didn’t see water anywhere else, all electric devices were dry. Then I had one hand on the ground (in the water again) and I put my other hand in the sump trying to check wires and I actually got zapped pretty good.
That’s when I freaked out and pulled out the volt meter. I started testing everything and realized there’s something wrong. Water in my sump with the grounded water had a current of 86v. I checked multiple other things and got different readings. Such as 30v on my chiller, 20v on my pump, etc... lastly, I check the Frag tank and I was getting 120v reading!!! Clearly the issue was in the Frag tank. So I started unplugging stuff and as soon as I unplugged the wave maker that had been making a little bit of noise, the current was gone. I couldn’t believe it. I was so close to losing everything in my system, including potentially my house..!
Lesson learned:
Check your equipment. When you see something starting to act up, do your diligence and check/replace it. Don’t wait for it to fail.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’m doing some construction in my basement so everything in my fish room is a mess. I moved the bucket that my ato pump was in and the tube feeding the tank got pulled out of the sump and over time it leaked maybe a couple cups of water on the floor.
I was doing some plastering on a wall in that area where the water was, so I put one hand on the ground (in the water) and the other was on and off touching the metal corner trims you put on drywall so you get perfect corners on your walls. Every time I’d touch both, I’d feel a little bit of electric current on my fingers, nothing too crazy to shock me. Earlier in the day, electricians were doing some work on the house so I started wondering wtf they had done. Then I started looking for the source in the pump and other equipment area but didn’t see water anywhere else, all electric devices were dry. Then I had one hand on the ground (in the water again) and I put my other hand in the sump trying to check wires and I actually got zapped pretty good.
That’s when I freaked out and pulled out the volt meter. I started testing everything and realized there’s something wrong. Water in my sump with the grounded water had a current of 86v. I checked multiple other things and got different readings. Such as 30v on my chiller, 20v on my pump, etc... lastly, I check the Frag tank and I was getting 120v reading!!! Clearly the issue was in the Frag tank. So I started unplugging stuff and as soon as I unplugged the wave maker that had been making a little bit of noise, the current was gone. I couldn’t believe it. I was so close to losing everything in my system, including potentially my house..!
Lesson learned:
Check your equipment. When you see something starting to act up, do your diligence and check/replace it. Don’t wait for it to fail.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk