Electricuted?

[clamm]

Problem here Nate and others I have had GFI's cheap and very expensive go off with no issues at all. I mean the gfi trips I reset it and can put my hand in the the water (after testing with a volt meter).

I really like the idea of saftey that GFI's add, but are they reliable?

Has anyone else ran into issues where gfis seem to trip for no reason.

All and to solve the problem I would just buy another gfi outlet and install it and Im fine for another few months. I love them, but dont trust them. If im around I have the GFI on, but when I went away for vacation...I plugged them into a regular outlet.

I just dont have 100% trust in them.

 

[MarkO]

I know I shouldn't be saying this, but I don't use a GFI on my pumps. I know I am at risk of getting zapped pretty bad, but I also make sure my equipment is in good shape and the outlets are away from the water.
But by no way am I saying others should do this!

 

[Jim Tansey]

When I setup my tank I installed a 20 amp GFI in my circuit breaker box in the basement, it would often trip for no reason I could find, finally replaced it with a regular breaker.

Jim

 

[sw300galma]

I see you all replacing GFCI's with non and it kills me....

It's like saying..the Dam fire alarm keeps going off so I'll just take the battery out instead of fixing it...

GCFI Don't usually go off for nothing....

I bet on 90% of you that have had a problem with it, if you start to trouble shoot, you'll find your problem.

Mine was going off and I started by un plugging everything and plugging one thing in at a time...

I traced it down to a powerstrip that had condensation in it....

Everything was fine, technically it could have ran..but i'd rather be safe than sorry myself..

But I guarrantee....One ZAP and you'll be installing you GCFI's again...

A lady on another forum was just asying how she got zapped and now has lost the feeling in her right arm forever. And caused numerous other nervous system damage she now has to goto therapy..


I got zapped the other day by my heater i usually keep in my mixing bucket and power head...It works fine..I touched the water...it was warm, went to move it via the cord and ZAAAP! OUCH!~

So that's now gonna go on a GCFI..

 

[Matt L.]

I guess what I'm getting at is how much copper would need to be disolved to reach the toxic level.

I just want to know in general terms, like to reach the toxic level in 100g of seawater, you would need to disolve how much copper wire? is it like an ounce, a pound, bairly enough to see??

Okay, this answer involves a Dr. Ron study, but I think the results can be safely applied to answering your question.

Dr. Ron found that copper concentrations of 100ppb were overtly lethal to invertebrate life. This is equal to a concentration of 0.1mg/L, or for 100gal, 37.8mg. Copper has a density of 8230 kg/m^3, therefore, 37.8mg has a volume of 4.6 mm^3. So for 100gal, all you'd have to do is dissolve 4.6 cubic millimeters of copper in the entire tank, and according to Dr. Ron, the copper concentration would be overtly lethal. I believe 4.6 cubic millimeters has the same volume as 4.6 microliters, which is just a very small drop.

And to make matters even more scary, Dr. Ron found that copper was toxic at concentrations of 10ppb (one thenth of the lethal concentration). Therefore, you would only need to dissolve 0.46 cubic millimeters, and that volume is so small, you'd never even notice it off of a 12 guage wire.

Its a good thing copper isn't toxic to us vertebrates in the same concentrations!

Matt

 

[~Flighty~]

Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for. So you could pull the wire out and see no difference and still have a problematical dose. It isn't like you would have to have an inch of wire dissolve away for problems to start.

(moving all copper objects far away from tank and little hands)

 

[sw300galma]

i must have jixed myself, my powerhead on my mixing bucket just started to zap me, just as i felt a sharp prick on my arm, i looked over and saw a blue spark jumping from the cord to my arm. The gcfi tripped and saved me. Turns out the cord just like on my heater frayed from being hung over the side of the bucket. I didn't notice the fray because the insulation was cut like a flap, so you wouldn't even see it unless you bent it a certain way.

 

[Michael Mota]

I am a true believer in GFCI circuit. I have the whole tank running on a 20amp GFCI. One day I came home to find the tank had shut down and as I reset th GFCI it would only keep tripping off so what I did was disconnect each and every piece of equipment for the tank and as i hooked them up to the circuit again I finally found out that my problem was a lighting ballast. it would work on a regular circuit but not on the GFCI circuit. Now I have two GFCI's for the tank. This may have saved my life and I really would not want to think what could have happen if I had my hands in the tank with that bad ballast on.Please use them on your tanks it just may save you a lot of pain not to mention your life. IMHO