Shocking find this may save a life

If you live in an area that gets storms that are that severe and you frequently have lightning strikes very close to you, I would suggest that you remove the grounding rods and use gfci outlets instead. Your grounding rod is attached to a rod that is literally driven into the ground. When lightning strikes, there is a voltage gradient created in the ground surrounding the strike. If it strikes close enough, you will actually end up introducing that voltage into your tank through your grounding rod. just my 2 cents though... others chime in..

 

Thanks--That's what I'll do

 

Sorry, but can't provide you with a yes or no. I'll make the response as simple as I know how. If you have no problem with stray voltage, then a grounding probe wouldn't be of paramount importance.

If you have a problem with stray voltage because of faulty equipment, a grounding probe should help more than it hurts.

If your premises gets hit regularly with lightning, there is the chance that it will introduce some stray voltage into your tank, but the choice is yours.

You can either:
a. Have some stray voltage introduced whenever lightning strikes, or
b. Have stray voltage full time because of faulty equipment. :-/

To me, the choice is easy. I'd use the grounding probe if I had issues with stray voltage--even in an area experiencing a high incidence of lightning.


Hope this helped!

 

Yes. That's about your only option. All ground related wire in your premises ultimately leads to the equipment grounding electrode conductor. That's the wire that attaches the ground rod to the main breaker panel.

 

To be 100% safe during a severe lightning storm, the only thing you can do to make sure your tank is separated from the power lines and the earth's ground would be to unplug everything (pumps, powerheads, heater, and ground probe) in your tank until the lightning passes by. The GFIs, surge protectors, and circuit breakers may still blow, but your tank will be off the circuit.

 

Hi everyone, I'm brand new (as in this is my first post, LOL) to this forum and to SW completely. I just purchased a 55g tank and started setting it up. I filled it with water a few days ago, and today I was just thinking about this issue. I have toddler triplets, so I'm super concerned with safety. It's not "if" but "when" will an accident happen.
So I realized today that I needed to do something about the potential electrical hazard posed by the new tank, came on here, and saw this thread.
I know nothing at all about electrical stuff, so the conversations about voltage and circuits went right over my head.
I did read the article about probes linked in the thread, but that also confused me.
My question is this:
What do I need to do to best protect myself, my children, and my fish from accidental electrocution?
Is switching out the outlet I'm using for the tank to a GFCI sufficient?
What does that involve? I'm pretty handy with do-it-yourself stuff around the house. I've installed dimmer switches, ceiling fans, hard-wired lights, garbage disposals, etc. Is this something I can do myself? Or am I better off hiring an electrician?
This is important stuff, and I don't want to screw it up.
Thanks so much for your answers!
-Margie

 

Putting the tank's outlet on GFCI is a must. To directly answer your question, yes, it's enough. It's the single most bang-for-the-buck safetely oriented move you can make to help you avert disaster. In the event of a ground fault, a GFCI will trip in 1/40th of a cycle, which is nanoseconds.

It's never easy to tell someone they can safely do such a thing. But if you're handy, and can sucessfully isolate that outlet with your home's circuit breaker; killing the circuit will create a safe working condition for you. Switching the outlet to a GFCI is fairly straightforward. If you can install a regular receptacle, installing a GFCI is no harder. That's not the only aspect of the job, though. You will have to know it's wired correctly, which involves not only the correct installation of the receptacle, but correct continuity to the other receptacles on the circuit. You may or may not want the receptacles downstream of your tank's receptacles to be GFCI protected. The installation of the receptacle can be done in such a way to accomplish this. You have to know the difference, and know what you wish to do.

To be sure, it's best left to a qualified electrician; but if you have the requisite chops to install a receptacle while maintaining the circuit properly, an electrician is not a must.

Good luck!