Oh that tingly feeling

How exactly are you checking the voltage of water to ground?

 

black lead to screw, red lead to water I even tried in on my ac return which is right next to it and get the same readings(insulated inside, metal return box)

 

not to jack the thread, but i have a question, how in the heck can stray current come into your tank if its not from fauly wiring inside the tank itself??????? or is it?? im so confused

 

lights leak, stray voltage man......correct me if I'm wrong Sparky, but also motors for powerheads, pumps, anything electrical around water.... Splain Sparky if you would.

 

Nano brings me to my next question. Without confusing the matter, when you have a ground probe in the water, the water should be at earth, or zero potential.

Do this: take the ground probe out of the water, and put the red lead in the water, and the black lead into the 3rd hole of the receptacle.

If you still have stray voltage in your water, then the ground probe is required and will collect this voltage and bring it to ground.

If you no longer read stray voltage in your water, let me know.

 

I did it and 0 with red in water, black in 3rd hole(don't even go there! )

So what now Sparky, what are your thoughts? Is the power coming in off the outlet? I'm sure it's well grounded, hubby rewired the whole house last year.

and btw, nothing seems effected, just my fingers when I stick em in the water

 

You are introducing voltage into your water with your ground probe. There is voltage on your ground circuit, and the ground probe is acting as a lead when you place it in the water. The fact that you have voltage on your ground circuit is probably a testament to your husband doing things correctly in his wiring. Now you have to find the culprit, if you wish to continue using the probe.

This is the second time I've read of this happening. Jimw369 had this happening too. He felt the sensation of shock when he had his ground probe in the water. The proof that it wasn't stray voltage from a tank component, is that he unplugged everything in the tank--and felt a shock when he put his hand in the sump where the ground probe was.

In your case, I'd probably keep the probe out of the water until you locate the source of voltage in the premises. If you keep it in there, you're really doing the opposite of what you put the probe in there to do!

Don't have a cow--unless you have real evidence that you have stray voltage in your tank, you'll be ok without the probe. Thing is--you're now challenged to somehow test for stray voltage without a zero potential reference (what your ground should be, but isn't.)

 

I gotcha! I've kept it out, since I checked the water. I don't have cows, I have babies(well used to)

Maybe this all has something to do with living in GA???

Hubby comes home the day after tomorrow, till Sunday and I have a little "Honey Do" list for him, just add that to it. He can cut the grass, since I fixed the a/c. haha

 

Just a note. A fraction of a volt on your ground circuit in your house won't be a problem, and isn't cause for a posse to hunt it down. Only thing is, you can't safely use a grounding probe in your aquarium since it would cause you to introduce voltage into the water--the very thing you're trying to avoid.

If your husband felt sporty, and had nothing to do, and you were hell bent on a ground probe--buy an 8' ground rod, drive it into the ground outside, connect a wire to it by an approved method (a ground clamp, or acorn, as they're sometimes called) and run that wire to your aquarium, and put a ground probe on the end. (Much easier said than done). Then you'd have your own dedicated ground for the tank, and ooh, wouldn't your neighbors be envious.

 

We do it all the time for generators, giant sledge hammer, and it only takes him 4-5 minutes! He's good like that ......you should see how we get them out! LOL

LOL neighbors? I have neighbors?????