# Shocked by my plastic marineland heater



## jestep (Nov 14, 2009)

I was cleaning my tank this morning, arm deep in it, when my upper arm touched my hanging light fixture, which is metal and has a grounded case. I received a severe shock as something in my tank was grounded to the water. Unfortunately my house doesn't have GFI outlets, and this hurt quite a bit (actually still hurts throughout my entire forearm). Luckily it was my right arm and I was able to throw myself off the tank after a second or two.

Anyway, after troubleshooting, I determined it was my Marineland Stealth Pro heater, which is "Shatter-proof submersible aquarium heater with safety shutoff". What a bunch of BS...

My main complaint is that there is absolutely no way to tell if the heater is messed up. Glass heaters usually are broken or have a crack in them when they ground out your tank. This thing looks as new as the day I took it out of the box.

99/100 times someone is shocked it's a heater, and apparently plastic ones are no exception.


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

You can get a power bar with GFCI protection.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Damn! Well lucky you are ok and all. I'm sure the tank volume helped a lot in reducing the shock delivered to you, so it could have been worse. I also get small shocks sometimes when my arm touches the reflector of my lights, which is strange since the lights aren't connected to anything electrical and the only thing they touch is the glass bulb so I really don't see how the electricity is conducted from them, in any event its mildly annoying.

Anyway, that is pretty epic  This story is up there along with the guy whose DIY CO2 exploded, the guy whose Jebo lights caught on fire, and the guy whose piranha nearly bit his finger clean off, oh and not to mention the guy who crushed a snail with his finger and the shell cut him, only to give him a terrible infection nearly requiring the amputation of his whole arm!


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## jestep (Nov 14, 2009)

It's not as epic as those you mentioned (Staff infection from a shell would really suck), but no fun. Forgot how much getting shocked hurts.

Funny thing is the heater may have been shorted for months or even from day 1 which was about 2 years ago. Since I've never grounded myself (thick carpet and usually wearing shoes), I may have been playing with a live tank for while. Switch light fixture to one with a metal case, and bam! Anyway, I would highly recommend testing a tank every 6 months or so. Household electricity (US at least: 120v 60Hz) is about the most dangerous for humans.


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## Asphenaz (Oct 7, 2009)

Wow, I'm glad all you got was a shock. I would second the recommendation of at least a GFI power strip.


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## JERP (Feb 4, 2003)

Test each outlet connected to aquarium devices (incl. light) to make sure that the earth ground and the hot and neutral are correctly wired. Device grounding doesn't help if it's not connected at the outlet.


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## jestep (Nov 14, 2009)

Asphenaz said:


> Wow, I'm glad all you got was a shock. I would second the recommendation of at least a GFI power strip.


It's connected to a surge protecting power strip. I'm guessing that the resistance of my arm was still high enough that the current wasn't seen as a ground fault. In this case a GFI may not have helped anyway.



JERP said:


> Test each outlet connected to aquarium devices (incl. light) to make sure that the earth ground and the hot and neutral are correctly wired. Device grounding doesn't help if it's not connected at the outlet.


I tested all the outlets afterwards. I originally thought the light was shorted as it was new and that something was wrong with the ground line. After the light case, and the outlets checked out ok, I realized that there was something shorting to the water, and I just grounded it to the light with my shoulder. Testing from water to ground with a voltage meter confirmed that something was fully shorted into the water. Never would have thought the plastic heater would be the problem.


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## JERP (Feb 4, 2003)

OK, just checking. When I bought my house, every outlet in it was wired incorrectly. The outlets were two prong unpolarized outlets. That's what I get for being the second owner of a 40 year old house.

FYI, A surge protector does not provide GFCI protection unless specifically stated. A surge protector protect against excessive current and is meant to protect devices and a GFCI is meant to protect people. You probably know this, but your comment implied otherwise.

Many moons I tried to summarize the differences in a different post. It's accurate enough for this discussion.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/equipment/28989-gfci-outlets-we-should-all-have-3.html#post216073


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

jestep said:


> It's connected to a surge protecting power strip. I'm guessing that the resistance of my arm was still high enough that the current wasn't seen as a ground fault. In this case a GFI may not have helped anyway.


Don't kid yourself! Long before triggering the surge protection circuit, a person would have been dead. Surge protector protects equipments while GFCI protects people.


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## felixm (Jan 20, 2007)

A GFCI will protect you from the smallest for currents. I work at a haunted house most of it is out doors and every thing is on a GFCI much to my dismay sometimes but they do save lives. We've had them trip out just because the humidity in the are was to high and it was effecting a power amp.

Get yourself one of these to test the circuits in your house, they make some that can test a GFCI outlet.


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## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

You can also install a GFCI receptacle on the outlet feeding the aquarium. They're no more difficult to install than a regular outlet although they do take about a 60% more space in the outlet box. 

Most states are starting to adopt the 2008 NEC and just about all the GFCI's sold these days have to meet the new code. If you can find an "old style" GFCI outlet at your local electrical distributor, you could probably snag it cheap. There's nothing wrong with it - it meets the 2005 NEC requirements - it just doesn't meet the current electric code. I put several the rent house I'm living in and they've saved me from myself a couple times!


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## jestep (Nov 14, 2009)

Marineland just replaced the heater which is nice. They said that recurrent drying of the heater can cause the seal to crack letting in water. 1 - 3 water changes a week probably accelerated the damage to the seals. They also said that it's not possible for a dangerous voltage to be introduced to the water, but I measured a full 120V in the aquarium which is very dangerous. Also did a resistance check from the heater to water, and it was very low (almost 0) in addition to the resistance of the water so disregard the non-dangerous voltage theory.

Also, went ahead and installed a GFI outlet for the aquarium, even though I don't own this house. My Milwaukee PH controller trips the GFI every time it turns on, which is a pain, but probably worth dealing with vs getting shocked again. Had to run an extension cord to another circuit for the PH controller.


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## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

If your pH controller is tripping the GFCI, you're having more than 5ma worth of current going to ground somewhere which isn't good. I would advise chasing that down and addressing the issue as quickly as you can to prevent someone getting zapped again!


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## jestep (Nov 14, 2009)

I've measured the surge at ~15mA, which exceeds the 5mA GFI outlet by quite a lot. 5mA is the current residential GFI standard in the US. Milwaukee Instruments confirmed that a 15 - 20mA surge is not uncommon when the solenoid switches on. The only solution I've found for this would be to install a datacenter 100mA or commercial 30mA outlet.


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