FIRE!!! Yikes!!!

[Scooterman]

I am not an electrician but a power strip does not have moving parts to wear it down so only ambient factors (temperature changes, dust, humidity, etc) can wear it out or damage it.

You must also take in account of the voltage surges & spikes daily (It may be several hundreds) that hit these items, each blow takes away from the protection on the surge devices, & switches. These items DO indicate a replacement time frame & life expectancy.

 

[splachie]

I would also like to know if you had any GFI breakers inline. I have wired my tank with 2 15 amp circuits that each have a GFI plug. I would presume that these would pop if something ever shorted that badly.

Casey

 

[fishgills]

Wow, glad you were home that's scary.

 

[wrightme43]

Bump, wondering how many people have installed fire alarms and better power supply equiptment after this. Also thought it would be good reading for some of the people just getting here.

 

[wrightme43]

This is the thread that got me to do this to all of the tanks I maintain. Everybody got the powerpanels. They seem to be working very well.

 

[snobanker]

I like that power panel, where did you get it?

 

[mattseattle]

here is one place you can get them. they run about 30 - 35.00 a piece

http://www.acekaraoke.com/american-dj-pc-100-a-8-port-power-center.html

 

[wrightme43]

I got mine from www.musiciansfriend.com 29.99 plus shipping. They send them quick. Its also brker protected and has a fuse on the back bigger in amps than the brkr so if all goes to hell the fuse will blow. Whats really cool to me about it is the lighted switchs. Also it is numbered front and back. Pretty dang handy Item. Also when mounted sideways it saves a ton of space under my stand. And it just looks cool. LOL Steve
Its called the american dj power panel if you want to find it that will help. LOL I am kinda dense sometimes. Steve

 

[yooperjim]

Just terribl! I'm constantly thinking about fires, especially with all of those wickedly hot MH lights. This might be a good opportunity to check the total power or wattage plugged into your strips, there must be a rating somewhere about that. It's also an opportune moment to point out the affects of air quality on your systems. As long as there are pumps that use air from the room there will be opportunities to pollute your system. I found this out the hard way...My cat tipped over a bottle of ammonia (the cleaning kind) while I was at work, and even though the ammonia was nowhere near the tank, the fumes were terrible. Every fish in my tank died within a few hours.

Jim (a newbee who doesn't even have a reef yet!)

 

[highlands]

I had an IceCap 660 VHO ballast go. It had been running for months without a problem. It was mounted up on the wall above the tank. No salt spray (tank covers + hood), no salt creep, clean install. Sparks and smoke. Fortunately I was right there, sitting at my desk when it blew and I was able to quickly unplug it. Out of warrantee. Bummer. I bought another and that has been running fine for years.

 

[sryder]

wow, a real eye opener to all of us. im glad to hear everything is ok for you. if you need any help painting mojo is always available..lol nikki or mojo, I was curious if a new forum on aquarium safety is in order? there is alot of true dangers associated within this hobby that especially newbies would not relize. fires being one, animal toxicity another, chemicals in the hobby, shocks, etc....

 

[szidls]

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2578
Hey sryder here's a link to a reefkeeping dangers thread.
Scott

 

[sryder]

wow, old thread but great stuff. good job nikki....

 

[Al G.]

New fire thread on RC w/pix. Scary!

Fire!

 

[NaH2O]

Wow - thanks for putting up the link. Makes me so thankful I changed out my powerstrips and added AFCI (Arc Fault) to the subpanel.

 

[RegalFlush17]

I do have to prech the importance of a GFCI outlet. They are so critical and prevents these type electrical fires from occuring. These outlets are designed to detect ground fault caused by leakage currents, and the power is shut off in a fraction of a second. On another note, I believe that the excessive evaporation into the surrounding air can cause this because the increased humidity in the surrounding air can condense on the powerstrip if close enough to the display tank. This has happened to me and I learned from it that GFCI's are essential when dealing with electricity and water. And no they won't burnout your powerheads. The wave timer that was previous mentioned turns the powerheads on and off which wears out the motor eventually with 12 to 18 months, inn my experience.

Goodluck

 

[Jiddy]

I cant believe that :shock:

 

[NaH2O]

I just checked on my smoke alarm near the tank, and the dedicated fire extinguisher I have located in the same room as the tank. I thought this thread deserved a Bump to remind everyone of Fire Safety and our reef tanks.

 

[spongebob lover]

wwouu that's crazy .
Thank god i haven't gone through something like that :shock: that's really really scary and i think it'd be more if you are by yourself and you don't know what to do .

 

[NaH2O]

I wanted to add a little something to this thread. One of our new stations conducted a smoke detector test. There are three types of smoke detectors, and one is good at detecting slow smoldering fires, which are more common. The other type of smoke detector is the ionization alarm, and it took much much longer in the tests to detect the smoldering fire....26 minutes longer in one test. The third type of detector is a dual ionization and photoelectric detector. The results were enough that our state fire marshall is putting together a statewide meeting with fire officials across the state.

Here is a link to the investigation. It is worth looking at. We're going to be adding the second type of smoke detector to our home, as we have ionization smoke detectors throughout our home. Deadly Delay

What type of smoke detector is in your house?