Kevin Garrison November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 So... my wife just called... she was very stressed and shaken. She had been in the basement doing laundry and came up to the smell of something burning. Then she noticed the smoke coming out from under the fish only tank... She opens the door the cabinet to see flames which she managed to put out by unplugging and smothering. My $50 Coralife dual timer just went up in flames... literally. Along with it, it took at least one plug to my coralife PC fixture, hopefully it's just the plug that is dead and I can replace it. I won't know what other damage I have until I get home, but at least she was home to prevent it from spreading and burning the house down. She's gotten the sump back up and runing, for now that will have to do. Moral of the story... don't be stupid like me, make sure your wiring is sound and that if there is any possible way something leaks that it can't run down wires and hit your power strips. That's the only thing I can figure happened. Now I get to see how much my stupidity is going to cost me when I get home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme_tooth_decay November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 Sorry to hear it. Those coralife power strip/timers are well documented fire starters. IMO they should be recalled. tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integral9 November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 I've got 3 of those things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaze98 November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 So sorry to hear what happened, glad to hear that your wife is safe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tygger November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 Man, Im glad to hear that nothing serious happened. Definitely not the first time I've heard of these things catching on fire or being related to a fire. I got rid of mine long ago... it's just not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 glad to hear it got caught, yes I've heard many a time they are known to start fires. Unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidk November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 glad to hear it got caught, yes I've heard many a time they are known to start fires. Unfortunately. I had something similar happen to me with my Coralife timer/power strip. Each time I worked on my tank (acrylic with cutouts on top), any water that gathered on the top of the tank would run down the cord into the strip. I had no idea until one day the strip started crackling and smoking terribly. I replaced the Coralife and now have a loop in the line and the timer/power strip at a higher elevation than the bottom of the loop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 Glad it was OK. Another reason I dislike anything coralife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkb8 November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 Yup, first thing I thought before reading the post - must be coralife. Name says it all. Should be coradead instead. If anyone has one, replace it. Also, drip lines are a good thing to consider Very glad to hear it was caught in time. Imagine if she was not home or in the basement ... !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison November 6, 2008 Author Share November 6, 2008 Thank you for the support guys, I am now gald I didn't put the digital one back into play yet... it won't see one of my aquariums again, that's for sure. I kept looking at it saying "I really should get that timer strip back up and running", glad I was too lazy, one fire is enough. From what my wife told me when she smothered it, there were 12" flames coming off it. Not sure about anyone else, but that's a bit... extreme... Again thanks for the kind words and support, I'll update the post with the full damage once I get to examine it tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 (edited) Kevin, I think you should report the incident to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Also, encourage them to Google "Coralife Power Center fire" to research other incidents of this happening to aquarists. https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx This is unacceptable. It's happened too often and the CPSC doesn't seem to even know about it. Edited November 6, 2008 by Origami2547 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefmontalvo November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 The main thing is your family is safe. When you get home I would check to see if your ground is sound then start the install process of a GFI circuit to all your outlets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefchick November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 Same thing happened t me with my last tank - and that tank was in my son's bedroom at the time. Now that was SCARY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 good to hear that someone was home before it got out of control. when I worked at Fox Mill Pets back in the day, we had a similar situation while the store was closed. when we opened the next morning, the whole tank had shattered and all the livestock was dead. I can't help but ask- Fish for dinner tonight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdytat November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 Glad you were fortunate to have someone home that was able to take care of the issue timely. And I hope she was not injured in the effort. Good luck getting things back to order. I'd certainly fire a letter to the vendor and manufacturer to let them know of your incident. Origami2547 makes a great point as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison November 6, 2008 Author Share November 6, 2008 Glad you were fortunate to have someone home that was able to take care of the issue timely. And I hope she was not injured in the effort. Good luck getting things back to order. I'd certainly fire a letter to the vendor and manufacturer to let them know of your incident. Origami2547 makes a great point as well. No injuries other than her stress level which makes her fibromyalgia worse for the wear. I did send an email to the mfg, I am also planning on calling them. Where it goes from there is up to them and the answers they give me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 I'm glad everyone and your house is ok! If people are writing or talking to the company and they won't do anything after so many incidents, there must be someplace to contact that ideals with these sort of things or is a consumer advocate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevearlen November 6, 2008 Share November 6, 2008 ugh i have a couple of these. any thoughts on recommended replacements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison November 6, 2008 Author Share November 6, 2008 ugh i have a couple of these. any thoughts on recommended replacements Outdoor rated equipment that will hold up to rain. So here's the aftermath, lovely, isn't it?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison November 7, 2008 Author Share November 7, 2008 Well so far the good news is that it did not fry my pc fixture. plugs are replaced and all 4 lights work... well all 4 plugs work, I lost a bulb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind November 7, 2008 Share November 7, 2008 Did water get on it or the timer just fried? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison November 7, 2008 Author Share November 7, 2008 Did water get on it or the timer just fried? I didn't see any evidence of water, no wet spots on the wood, etc, so I can only assume it, like the others before it, just fried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver November 7, 2008 Share November 7, 2008 i didn't see this thread til now..i'm very sorry to hear about what happened Kevin and i'm glad everyone is ok.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefmontalvo November 7, 2008 Share November 7, 2008 I didn't see any evidence of water, no wet spots on the wood, etc, so I can only assume it, like the others before it, just fried. So have you owned others in the past and you had the same problem? And is that an older model? The ones I have been seening are digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison November 7, 2008 Author Share November 7, 2008 So have you owned others in the past and you had the same problem? And is that an older model? The ones I have been seening are digital. I have a digital one, it never got put back into service after the move to Chantilly, I was referring to the ones on the internet as far as the others. Seems this is a constant problem that originally started with the timer not turning and overheating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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