Electricity in water

[shiraz]

10 minutes go, i wanted to manually remove some of the hair algae from my tank and put my hand in the water. When my fingertips touched the water, i felt a small tingling feeling on my finger and when i put my whole hand in, my elbow was twitching! It's most definately something like an electric surge in the water caused by some faulty pump. I believe this topic was brought up before in the old SRC but i forgot what the consequneces were and all, so has any1 here experienced the same fate as me?

Does any1 know how long the surge will last in the water after everything was shut down? I switched off all the pumps, put my hand back in and i still got a small shock though not as strong as before. Fishes and corals are as healthy as ever. Pumps don't have warranties do they?

[huskiesg]

10 minutes go, i wanted to manually remove some of the hair algae from my tank and put my hand in the water. When my fingertips touched the water, i felt a small tingling feeling on my finger and when i put my whole hand in, my elbow was twitching! It's most definately something like an electric surge in the water caused by some faulty pump. I believe this topic was brought up before in the old SRC but i forgot what the consequneces were and all, so has any1 here experienced the same fate as me?

Does any1 know how long the surge will last in the water after everything was shut down? I switched off all the pumps, put my hand back in and i still got a small shock though not as strong as before. Fishes and corals are as healthy as ever. Pumps don't have warranties do they?

Tagging along as I experienced the same thing last night while cleaning the tank walls. Feels like insect bites ..

[scooter blenny]

beware of fire risk. check or replace equipment IMO.

[Bob]

Don't think is a electrical shock.Your whole house will trip (blackout) if it is.

Maybe you got stunk by something.

[flubberina13]

Don't think is a electrical shock.Your whole house will trip (blackout) if it is.

Maybe you got stunk by something.

Yup...my whole house blacked out back then and my ozoniser 'kaputted' in the process and I experienced muscle aches after the shock.

If it is stings from bristle worms, then you will have a bit of warm sensations and itchiness.

[JCHO]

As long as the leakage current not more than 30mA your home ELCB (Circuit breaker) will not trip. Confirm this is a leakages. Don't play2.

Cheers

[Bob]

As long as the leakage current not more than 30mA your home ELCB (Circuit breaker) will not trip. Confirm this is a leakages. Don't play2.

Cheers

30ma = 0.03amp.

I don't think there isn't any device in your tank that has less amp than that.

[woonming]

i got shock today ! and i tho i am dead..

whole arm numb and in a dazza for 10min..

[Cookiemunster]

Please be careful guys. Try to use a test pen to test for voltage leaks.....it will light up.

Isolate by turning off all pumps then on each one till the leak is detected.

Don't ignore it as it could become a more serious problem.

Voltage leaks can kill fishes and corals as well as yourself of course. But weak leaks like tingling sensations can cause a disease in fishes known as lateral line disease esp prone in tangs.

Always try to avoid using any 220Vac devices in the tank unless its a powerhead or pump. Try to go for reliable brands such as eheim.

I think life is more valuable than a cheap made in ###### brand pump etc.

And for heaven's sake, if you want to DIY something esp involving high voltage pls make sure you know what you are doing. Saving some money is not worth the risks involved.

[shiraz]

tingling still there even when i switch off all the equiptment! hmm and it cant be sings or wounds because even my dad got the tingling when he touched the water... really worried now... 30mA... hmmm it's actually possible for such a small current to leak from an equipement... thats what i learnt in school actually

[bum]

i had that experience...

turning off stuff didn't help...

finally got a ground probe, the 'shock' feeling went away.

better be safe than sorry,

think there was a DIY probe in the DIY section.

i bought mine for about $30

[Golden Tooth]

Does tapping on one powerpoint plays a part?

IMO with my brother's tank, he reduce the amount of plugs tapped from 1 point to remove the electrical shock.

[shiraz]

im using 2 points... with many many plugs! errmmm t5lights, mh light, main pump, 2 ph, skimmer pump, chiller. equally divided... guess u need the ground probe..

[woonming]

Simple reefer seahorse could help DIY a ground probe. just PM him

[shiraz]

okie thanks ming!

[Cookiemunster]

A ground probe is just a simple titanium or stainless steel soldered to a copper wire and shorted to a three pin plug (earth) connected to your house mains.

Use titanium if possible as it will not rust. Stainless steel will do too.

[dersuz]

Is a earth leakage normally below 30mA, might due to a lot of reason. So you need to unplug all your plugs, switching off yr equipment will not help. Then plug and switch 'on' one by one, if you have a multi-meter use it to test the leakage amphere to determine or worst use yr hand to touch the water.

What is the brand of your chiller? Higher wattage tends to have higher earth leak if they comes with a 2 pin plug.

[Achilles Tang]

Make sure that those 2 prong plugged equipment (esp the rounded prongs without the grounding prong (or European type plug where the ground plug is from the electrical power point itself and not on the plug)... are changed to our local 3 pin plugs so as to ensure that your equipment is properly grounded.

A lot of electrical stuff from Germany and UK needs to have their plug head changed.

I haven't had any shocks after I installed a titanium grounding probe a few years ago and made sure that all two pin plugs are changed to 3 pin ones.

[Limpc]

Hi AT,

A little correction here from my understanding.

By merely changing 2 pin to 3 pin, does not improve the safety of the device because the earth pin is still unconnected. There is still no path for leakage current to flow since the earth pin is not gounded to the device.

I believe your gound probe takes care of all possible current leakages.

My 2 cents.

LimPC

[Achilles Tang]

I'm an electrical idiot, btw... but I am very sure that grounding is extremely important.

As long as I there is some form of grounding... electricity will find its path down the earth pin (which of course must be connected!!).

Power heads without a grounding wire... it's silly to put a 3 pin plug on it!

I am referring to equipment which has European plugheads (the earth pin is not there).

[Limpc]

You are right with the European plugheads, AT.

For all reefers, it's advisable to use the earth pin wherever possible.

LimPC

[chrislwp]

I got such experience too.. Strange thing is when I put my

Thumb, index, middle and last finger.. nothing happen..

But when I put the fourth finger I feel the shock..

I slowly isolate the root cause by switching off those equipment main switch one by one.. but still cannot find.

[Achilles Tang]

You have a ring on your fourth finger?

[chrislwp]

You have a ring on your fourth finger?

Good judgement, the fourth finger usually wear ring.

But i dont wear any ring at all.. furthermore I am standing barefoot, but on carpet. So unlikely current can pass through me to the earth..

Just a slight touch of water surface with my fourth finger tip can feel the shock and little pain..

[Achilles Tang]

Perhaps your nerves on the fourth finger are more sensitive than the rest... weird...

You don't have to be grounded to feel a shock I think... getting shocked by static electricity even while wearing shoes, izzit the same as getting an electrical shock?