Caesar777
THE FROGURT ISALSO CURSED
The importance of a drip-loop...
Well, last night I was setting up a new tank—a 35 tall AGA with glossy black finish stand and canopy, and ultra-thick 3/8†glass, really nice—while watching Johnny Depp on Jay Leno. I’d removed the entertainment center that had been holding the television, so it sat on the floor next to my 25 reef. Abruptly I noticed wisps of smoke and a few electrical zaps, and saw that the power strip (which had been attached to the entertainment center and now hung next to the reef) was sizzling with water! I immediately hit the power switch on it and looked see where the water could be coming from, and soon found the cause: the heater’s cord was coming up from the outlet of my Remora Pro, and trailing water down it in a continuous, but light stream (thus not visible, but obvious when touched)… I left to watch the rest of the interview in another room, and afterwards I realized that I had another power strip available to use. I dried the cord, unplugged everything—this time making sure to have a drip loop—and plugged it all into the new power strip while the other one could dry, and left it at that.
This morning—afternoon, really; my day off—I slept in rather late and forced myself to get up so that I could let the dog out to pee, and walked over to the TV to turn it off—it had been on all night, and when you’re woken up by Ellen Degeneres shouting at you, it’s rather jarring—and I stepped in a horribly wet puddle. I thought it was dog pee, but smelled and realized it was water. I wondered where the hell it could be coming from. As I looked around for the source, I realized that the foot-wide puddle spread about two feet past the tank, and was originating from the back or side. Oh god, a leak? Looked closer…The 96-watt Sunpaq ballast was sitting on the floor in a puddle of water! Turns out my drip-loop had worked—the corrosive, conductive salt water had continued streaming down the heater cord all night, and collected in a puddle directly below the drip loop. I threw a towel down, dried off the ballast (should have unplugged it first, I know) and dried everything around, then checked the power strip (since my initial look proved to find no obvious burn marks). No water had reached the outlets—it all ran down the cord, below to the drip loop, and onto the floor.
The enormous puddle (not so huge—I remember flooding the store a couple of times when I worked there; try ten-foot puddle!) was really not such a big deal in comparison to what could have happened. Salt water actually conducts electricity quite well—better than fresh water—and, in addition, it’s quite corrosive. Had that much run down to the power strip, it would have easily caused a fire. Imagine that electrical sizzling I saw next to Johnny happening all night, and with more water.
Let it be a lesson for everyone…
Well, last night I was setting up a new tank—a 35 tall AGA with glossy black finish stand and canopy, and ultra-thick 3/8†glass, really nice—while watching Johnny Depp on Jay Leno. I’d removed the entertainment center that had been holding the television, so it sat on the floor next to my 25 reef. Abruptly I noticed wisps of smoke and a few electrical zaps, and saw that the power strip (which had been attached to the entertainment center and now hung next to the reef) was sizzling with water! I immediately hit the power switch on it and looked see where the water could be coming from, and soon found the cause: the heater’s cord was coming up from the outlet of my Remora Pro, and trailing water down it in a continuous, but light stream (thus not visible, but obvious when touched)… I left to watch the rest of the interview in another room, and afterwards I realized that I had another power strip available to use. I dried the cord, unplugged everything—this time making sure to have a drip loop—and plugged it all into the new power strip while the other one could dry, and left it at that.
This morning—afternoon, really; my day off—I slept in rather late and forced myself to get up so that I could let the dog out to pee, and walked over to the TV to turn it off—it had been on all night, and when you’re woken up by Ellen Degeneres shouting at you, it’s rather jarring—and I stepped in a horribly wet puddle. I thought it was dog pee, but smelled and realized it was water. I wondered where the hell it could be coming from. As I looked around for the source, I realized that the foot-wide puddle spread about two feet past the tank, and was originating from the back or side. Oh god, a leak? Looked closer…The 96-watt Sunpaq ballast was sitting on the floor in a puddle of water! Turns out my drip-loop had worked—the corrosive, conductive salt water had continued streaming down the heater cord all night, and collected in a puddle directly below the drip loop. I threw a towel down, dried off the ballast (should have unplugged it first, I know) and dried everything around, then checked the power strip (since my initial look proved to find no obvious burn marks). No water had reached the outlets—it all ran down the cord, below to the drip loop, and onto the floor.
The enormous puddle (not so huge—I remember flooding the store a couple of times when I worked there; try ten-foot puddle!) was really not such a big deal in comparison to what could have happened. Salt water actually conducts electricity quite well—better than fresh water—and, in addition, it’s quite corrosive. Had that much run down to the power strip, it would have easily caused a fire. Imagine that electrical sizzling I saw next to Johnny happening all night, and with more water.
Let it be a lesson for everyone…
