Welcome Guest, Please Login or Register!
Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Support RL
Home Forum Aquarium Log Gallery Sponsors RHO Bookstore

grounding probe??

Go Back   Reeflands Forum > Equipment > Tanks, Filtration & Basic Equipment
Sponsored Links
Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-18-2001, 09:33 PM   #1
Governor
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Holbrook, NewYork, USA
Posts: 1,799
grounding probe??

will using a grounding probe eliminate the chance of electric current leaching from my PH?

mark
FishKid is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links

Old 08-18-2001, 11:57 PM   #2
Governor
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Rohnert Park, CA, USA
Posts: 1,102
Send a message via AIM to icemark
It will help, but the only correct solution will be to replace the offending device.

It may also pop your GFI, if there is sufficent voltage leaking and you plug in the Ground Probe.
__________________
Play well

Mark
www.mazdamark.com
icemark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-19-2001, 12:02 AM   #3
Governor
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Holbrook, NewYork, USA
Posts: 1,799
the faulty powerhead has been disconnected. but here is my dilema, either I get the grounding probe, and pray for the life of me that it works, or buy a new powerhead, and forgo the grounding probe for a little while longer, I cannot get both. its an either, or situation... would it be a safe bet that the new unit would not leak any current?

mark
FishKid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-19-2001, 01:29 AM   #4
New in Town
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 3
your guess is right, you can get by without a ground probe for a while, but you need to remove or replace the defective powerhead as icemark pointed out.
dr.harris is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-19-2001, 10:41 AM   #5
Governor
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Holbrook, NewYork, USA
Posts: 1,799
I wish there were a way to salvage the piece of garbage. but there isnt, so in the trash it goes!

mark
FishKid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2001, 03:11 PM   #6
Just Moved In
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 35
Hi FishKid,
Best thing for you to do to make absolute certain there is no stray voltage from heaters, lights, etc. is to get yourself a voltmeter from wal-mart and test the water. You may be surprised at how much current is actually there that you can't feel.
Aframomum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2001, 05:47 PM   #7
Just Moved In
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: England
Posts: 31
Just a thought,if the ground probe was connected to the earth in a plug then plugged into an extension lead along with the other electrical equipment inside the tank and the extension lead connected to a powerbreaker at the source of power,would this then shut off at the first signs of any electrical leak into the tank
stingray is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2001, 06:04 PM   #8
Governor
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Rohnert Park, CA, USA
Posts: 1,102
Send a message via AIM to icemark
Stingray,

Only if there was a GFI in the circuit
__________________
Play well

Mark
www.mazdamark.com
icemark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2001, 07:29 PM   #9
Just Moved In
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: England
Posts: 31
Excuse my ignorance,but what`s a GFI.

Thanks for the reply btw
stingray is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2001, 10:41 PM   #10
Governor
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Rohnert Park, CA, USA
Posts: 1,102
Send a message via AIM to icemark
Here in the states there is a outlet that replaces the standard wall power outlet, and if it senses (for lack of better word) an Ground Fault (i/e the powered head that fishkid mentions has a bad seal, and shorts the voltage to ground) the GFI cuts the circuit. Hence the name Ground Fault Interrupter.
__________________
Play well

Mark
www.mazdamark.com
icemark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-26-2001, 12:30 PM   #11
Mayor
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Posts: 664
Mark I would get a grounding probe anyway. There is ambient current in your water which you may not feel, but I'm sure your fish and corals do. I tested my 110 with a voltmeter when I first got my tank and measured current in my water, a grounding probe eliminated that.
__________________
Jim

begun this clone war has...

Yoda
razorbackfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-26-2001, 01:29 PM   #12
Citizen
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Wheatfield,In. US
Posts: 113
ditto on Razorbackfan's last post.a ground probe will help with the stray voltage you will not feel yourself,i'm an electrican,and after i had the same problem with a leaky power head. checked my tank with a digital(works the best) meter, and found i still had some stray voltage in the tank after bad power head was replaced. stray voltage can be present in a tank even with no "bad" electrical equiptment. it just happens,,,i have shown many fellow hobbiest's what voltage is in their tanks and after a ground probe is installed, as per the meter it "goes away". if i had them when i do this i could sell a ground probe EVERY time! it's one thing to protect your tank life,,,but who's gonna take care of your tank when YOU get NAILED from an electrical malfunction in your tank?it does not take a 110 volts from a bare wire in the tank to kill you!,believe me ,,a LOT less is deadly .Iwork with 138K(138,000!)volts ,and believe me my aquariums get my upmost respect!one last tip b4 i get off my salt bucket,,,, when possible do tankwork one-handed,with the other not on the tank(in your pocket?) a good reminder/habit to use when it's possible."better" to have electricity go down your body to ground than ACROSS your heart!(what's inline between arm to arm?)plus unplug anything you can do without during work, ie: waterchange etc. i'm sure i am not the only lucky one to survive knocking a striplite in or breaking a heater when moving rock etc. i've so far lived through my mistakes ,just don't want to help the odds,,,sorry for the long post/ramble, but it's the old,,,"if i can save one fellow reefer,,,"I've already had to go get stuff from a guy's widow, that's NOT the way i want to aquire frag's-n-fish
junkzoo is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:01 AM.



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0 Release Candidate 3
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.1.0 ©2007, Crawlability, Inc.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76