Near Disaster Please Read and Take Note!!

[bprinehart]

Well, I'm still shaking. My wife and I were sitting here in the living room watching TV, all of a sudden there was a loud pop that came from the area of our aquarium, the actinic lights, and pumps all shut off. I walked to the aquarium, and found that the Coralife Power Center was smoking and a blue flame was arcing over the entire surface. I immediately pulled the power cord from the wall, and threw the unit in the kitchen sink. I want to make it very clear that there was no leakage from the tank, or overflow plumbing and no evidence of salt creep on any of the plugs or outlets on the unit.

 

I purchased the unit at TFP when I first started my tank up, and only recently became aware of the dangers associated with this unit while planning to upgrade it when I move everything to the 75.

 

Google Search

 

There's also a thread on RC about a fellow aquarist's house that suffered a fire and the inspector fingered the unit in question:

 

RC Thread

 

I also had read that coralife had addressed these issues previously, but I wanted to go in another direction anyway. I am so THANKFUL that this occured while we were both home and awake. Had this happened while we were sleeping, or God forbid at work the outcome could have been much, much, much different.

 

I firmly believe these units are dangerous, and represent a serious fire hazard, and I urge everyone who may happen to be using one at the moment to reconsider and replace it immediately. I am going to be spending the rest of my night performing inspections on every piece of electrical equipment associated with my aquarium, and this may be a good time for others to do the same. I'm terribly upset by this whole incident, and had to share it.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

-Brian

Edited December 28, 2007 by bprinehart

[vaironman]

that makes me worry. Time to get those DC8s of the ACII controller up and running. Another thing to do.

[NRehman]

Reminds me to confirm that I placed all electrical connections on a non-combustive surface and all wires with drip loops - all backed up by GFIs..

[davelin315]

A GFCI will not protect against an arcing wire. I should know, it did nothing to prevent the light burning up in my daughter's room last year. They sell Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters now, but supposedly they are not meant to work in tandem with a GFCI. I beg to differ, as I have both installed and the GFCI works, the breaker itself works, but I haven't had an opportunity to test out the arc fault yet.

[bprinehart]

A GFCI will not protect against an arcing wire. I should know, it did nothing to prevent the light burning up in my daughter's room last year. They sell Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters now, but supposedly they are not meant to work in tandem with a GFCI. I beg to differ, as I have both installed and the GFCI works, the breaker itself works, but I haven't had an opportunity to test out the arc fault yet.

 

And I certainly hope you don't have to.

[treesprite]

very scary incident. Thanks for the heads up.

[Antiguan]

Glad to hear you avoided a potential disaster, and thanks for sharing the information.

[ArtC]

that makes me worry. Time to get those DC8s of the ACII controller up and running. Another thing to do.

 

You're aware of the safety recall on specific serial numbers of DC8?

 

http://www.neptunesys.com/recall.htm

 

If your DC8 has a serial number between DC81000 and DC81633, please stop using it and fill out the online form here. We will then send you a replacement DC8.

[Brian Ward]

hmmm... I'm using one of these on my BC29. Guess I need to do the changeover to the RK2 immediately.

[tygger]

Glad nothing serious happened and thanks for the reminder... I read about the similar incident a while back. Was there ever a recall on these coralife units?

[jnguyen4007]

Glad to hear that you avoided the disaster. That fire could have been a whole lot worse. I will now have to push up the time frame to set up my ACIII just so I can reduce the risk of this fire happening in our house. My tank is down on the ground level and the mainfloor is on the second floor. If the fire happens, we might not know until it had spread.

 

Thanks for giving us a head's up.

 

James

[NRehman]

A GFCI will not protect against an arcing wire. I should know, it did nothing to prevent the light burning up in my daughter's room last year. They sell Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters now, but supposedly they are not meant to work in tandem with a GFCI. I beg to differ, as I have both installed and the GFCI works, the breaker itself works, but I haven't had an opportunity to test out the arc fault yet.

 

 

Dave,

Thanks for the AFCI info. Forgot about it. Fortunately, my wiring is in a concrete basement away from flamable items. However, I will check the AFCI out.

[HowardofNOVA]

Reminds me to be thankful for RENTERS insurance that I've been carrying for years!

 

...you do have Renters Insurance for those renters out there don't ya??

 

Also, one of the BIGGEST problems I see in tanks (MINE INCLUDED and need to change ASAP) is having a TON of power cords, wires, etc laying close to tanks with little protection! Remember drip loops and keeping the plugs up high above the water lines to reduce exposures!

 

Safe Reefing Everyone!

[Origami]

Wow, Brian. Glad you and your family are safe.

 

 

 

Was this a single or a dual power center? I don't even know if that makes a difference, but thought I'd ask. How old was the unit?

 

 

 

I'm concerned as I've got one on my first tank (a 90g setup) right now. I'll be looking for a replacement, I guess. Please stay with this thread and let me know which way you're headed as far as a replacement goes. I'd be very interested in knowing as it may well direct which way I go as well.

 

 

 

Thanks and, again, glad you're safe.

 

 

 

Tom

[jnguyen4007]

Wow, Brian. Glad you and your family are safe.

 

 

 

Was this a single or a dual power center? I don't even know if that makes a difference, but thought I'd ask. How old was the unit?

 

 

 

I'm concerned as I've got one on my first tank (a 90g setup) right now. I'll be looking for a replacement, I guess. Please stay with this thread and let me know which way you're headed as far as a replacement goes. I'd be very interested in knowing as it may well direct which way I go as well.

 

 

 

Thanks and, again, glad you're safe.

 

 

 

Tom

 

 

Most likely those whom recently purchased an ACIII in a group buy will be switching over to the timer on that if they haven't already. I will have to do that over the weekend. I upgraded from a regular light timer to the coralife (the one with two timers knob on it), so now I'm upgrading again. LOL.

[txaggies07]

Crazy...glad you caught it early.

Edited December 28, 2007 by txaggies07

[MOT]

WOW, I'm glad you caught that and thanks for letting us know. I have a coralife timer on my tank right now. I'm gonna have to do something about that. If anybody has any suggestion please post em. Thanks, Tom

[lanman]

A GFCI will not protect against an arcing wire. I should know, it did nothing to prevent the light burning up in my daughter's room last year. They sell Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters now, but supposedly they are not meant to work in tandem with a GFCI. I beg to differ, as I have both installed and the GFCI works, the breaker itself works, but I haven't had an opportunity to test out the arc fault yet.

 

I just got a quote this morning... the NEW NEW GFCI/ARC breakers are $200 each.

 

bob

[bprinehart]

Wow, Brian. Glad you and your family are safe.

 

 

 

Was this a single or a dual power center? I don't even know if that makes a difference, but thought I'd ask. How old was the unit?

 

 

 

I'm concerned as I've got one on my first tank (a 90g setup) right now. I'll be looking for a replacement, I guess. Please stay with this thread and let me know which way you're headed as far as a replacement goes. I'd be very interested in knowing as it may well direct which way I go as well.

 

 

 

Thanks and, again, glad you're safe.

 

 

 

Tom

 

Hey Tom-

 

It was the dual timer unit. After about a month and half the timer stopped working. So I just plugged my MH into their own separate outlet with timer, only my actinics (PCs ATM) were plugged in. The unit was only about 8 months or so old. Those who have mentioned GFCI/AFCI are absolutely right, my GFCI (Entire room on its own GFCI breaker/circuit) wouldn't have helped in this case, as I suspect after speaking with several other members about the incident, that it probably was an arc fault. I'm curious as to whether maybe the startup voltage of the MH lamps could have melted or somehow arc welded the connection inside. I'd also like to mention that I did have drip loops on all my cords. When I first started doing IT and Telecomm work, I was a cable jockey for a few years, and had it beaten and drilled into my brain to have a drip loop and proper ground on every electrical connection. I've left a VM with ESU customer service but as of yet haven't received a response, which by itself is annoying.

 

For a replacement I've just installed a new power strip, and am currently using regular timers for my lights. I'm getting ready to upgrade to the 75 soon, and I'm constructing an enclosed power box for my electrical connections.

 

Thanks again to everyone who expressed concern, I appreciate it, and it just confirms that I'm in the right community of reefers here at WAMAS.

 

BE SAFE!

 

Happy New Year Everyone!