Make sure you have drip lines! I didn't...

OceanLyons · #1 01/05/2008, 05:52 PM

Many times I have seen the little diagram on packages demonstrating a drip line. Never really paid too much attention to it.

Wish I had...

This happened a couple of weeks ago. Could have caused a fire. Could have lost my tank. Luckily, I may have only lost my auto. top-off. The sponge on where the water comes back into the tank became clogged. Overflow of water came out of my HOB skimmer, traveled down some electrical cords into my surge protector. Crazily, pumps and such that were connected to this surge protector were still running. Water poured out of the surge protector.

Lessons learned...

1. Make sure you have drip lines.

2. Do routine maintenance.

random_ryan · #2 01/05/2008, 05:55 PM

nice. luckly you didn't loose your house to a fire. I am sorry this happened to you.

OceanLyons · #3 01/05/2008, 06:00 PM

I was a little scared when I saw this. Burning down the house probably would have made me leave the hobby. I just wanted to spread the word so nobody else makes the same mistakes I did.

GustavoAZ · #4 01/05/2008, 06:25 PM

Don't just rely on drip lines, routine inspections are your best preventative measure. Any fluid can wick. It is possible to wick water from any submerged pump etc. under the insulation of the wire and into an electrical outlet. You would never even know it until to late. Always do a visual on your electrical cords for anything odd and keep salt off of them.

Glad to hear you only what you did.

Helfrich’s Chic · #5 01/05/2008, 06:32 PM

Same thing happened to me years ago!!! Was freaky, I was still in High School, and just blamed on my brother

Kentanner11 · #6 01/06/2008, 12:16 AM

dp

Kentanner11 · #7 01/06/2008, 12:18 AM

Looks scary! did you go all firefighter and pull out the fire extinguisher? lol! Or Jackie Chan and rip the cord from the wall? lol!

LowerUnit · #8 01/06/2008, 02:22 AM

It amazes me that the surge protector or house breaker doesn't pop before the spark & arc damage. If you had a GFI type outlet I don't think the problem would have got that bad.

Smo · #9 01/06/2008, 08:05 AM

Thanks for the reminder.

I have drip lines installed but you should also look at your check valves.
Have one installed on a battery powered backup air pump and it went bad. It was the Tetra model with a black filter inside. The spring wore out and became weak; thus causing water to s-l-o-w-l-y drain from the tank, out the damaged check valve, and into my GFCI which I could never figure out why it was tripping off and on for months.
After tripping many times I unplugged one of my power strips and saw salt water on the prongs. Got the flashlight out and looked at the water creeping out of the GFCI.

Dried out the GFCI and replaced the check valve. All has been fine ever since.

So 'check' those check valves too!

kirstenk · #10 01/06/2008, 11:32 AM

Very scary Darlene!! I am glad nothing serious happened. I will be checking this kinda stuff out today. This type of maintinance can be over looked/put off and can cause the absolute most damage.

jasonh · #11 01/06/2008, 11:36 AM

Yeah this kind of thing is scary. Luckily my wife got on to me about it a while back. I have all my power strips mounted on the wall, so all cords automatically have a drip loop.

kingfish83 · #12 01/06/2008, 12:44 PM

ok ok i'm a little lost on the drip line, What is a drip line and does it do?..........Man i feel dumb asking this Q.
Also the reason why i'm asking, i'm moving into my gf's house and put my tank on the second story plus changing the outlet to a GFCI.

Philwd · #13 01/06/2008, 01:07 PM

A drip line is making a loop out of your cord BELOW your outlet so any water that runs down the cord drops off the loop and not into the outlet. This assumes the outlet is on a wall and not the floor.

Wow Darlene. I assume you were home to catch it.

kingfish83 · #14 01/06/2008, 01:24 PM

thanks.

Kentanner11 · #15 01/06/2008, 01:39 PM

ps nice piano!

OceanLyons · #16 01/06/2008, 02:08 PM

Fell asleep around 9pm. All was well with the tank. Woke up around 6am. Went to go check on the tank as I do every morning, and discovered the mess. I was in a true freak out/Thank god mode as quickly hit the off switch on the surge protector. Then began cleaning up the mess.

I had cable guys scheduled for that morning, and they were surprised that the breaker hadn't tripped or that the surge protector didn't shut off. I don't know much about electricity except that it hurts, can cause fires, and doesn't mix well with water.

Another thing to do...
Periodically check your smoke detectors!

aykfc · #17 01/07/2008, 01:08 AM

Happened to me. Well I forgot to put the O-ring back in my phos reactor....it leaked onto my power strip. My mom noticed a strong err odor and upon examination I noticed that my power strip was leaking. I now use a GFI for everything

jhendu · #18 01/07/2008, 01:19 AM

Wow. I was topping off earlier today and had a little water splash onto a strip and could here it popping. Had to get out the canned air to blow all the water out of it. I think I'll make it this weeks goal to relocate the power strips.

vanmle · #19 01/07/2008, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by OceanLyons
I was a little scared when I saw this. Burning down the house probably would have made me leave the hobby. I just wanted to spread the word so nobody else makes the same mistakes I did.

Burning down my house would do a lot more to me than just make me leave the hobby. Glad everything is OK with you.