I feel electrical shock from my tank

[Jan]

Everytime I put my fingers in the tank I get a shock. It's strange because it only happens when my fingers are barely touching the water. Why is this happening? How do I fix it?

[Ryan S]

Everytime I put my fingers in the tank I get a shock. It's strange because it only happens when my fingers are barely touching the water. Why is this happening? How do I fix it?

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/miscellaneous_t...g_probe-ap.html

[F&Fmgr]

+1 ground probe

[rocko918]

Do this.

 

Stray Test

[Origami]

I expect that you have some component leaking electricity. Try unplugging all of your components and bring them online one by one while checking for the leakage (preferably with voltmeter).

[wdytat]

I had a Stealth heater causing the same issue in my water prep barrel.

 

//ended up being water leaking into the unit and causing some lovely shocks.

Edited February 4, 2010 by wdytat

[Jan]

"Usually the only time it is noticed is when a person reaches in the tank with a nick on their finger, quickly feeling a tingle or even a jolt. After that unpleasantness has passed"

 

This is exactly what has been happening. I thought it was just the salt water irritating tiny cuts in my cuticle.

 

Do this.

 

Stray Test

[Coral Hind]

Every tank will have some minor reading of voltage that shows on a voltmeter due to the nature of the equipment we use.

[Jan]

Could be why some of my snails died for no reason? So I should just shut things on and off until I find the problem and forget about the voltmeter?

 

Every tank will have some minor reading of voltage that shows on a voltmeter due to the nature of the equipment we use.

[cabrego]

It is nearly impossible to remove all stray voltage without installing a grounding probe. I recommend a voltmeter test since it is the safest and you can determine which components are leaking the voltage. For example, at one point I had about volts leaking into my tank, 30 of which were coming from a large return pump. Upon further inspection I noticed a damage wire and I replaced the pump.

 

It is not uncommon to have 5-10 v leaking from a powerhead or heater.

[Coral Hind]

Please do not freak out about what your meter is reading. If you have a GFCI on the circuit you are fine. What you are seeing on the meter is what I call a "ghost" reading, others call it capacitive coupling. It is just an induced voltage reading. Is this voltage real? Yes, it is, but it

[rocko918]

I got no readings when i did test with my volt meter. Same 1 Melv used.

[davelin315]

I would never be content with feeling that stray voltage because of fear of where it could lead. You've got a ton of water that is highly conductive and electricity leaking into it. Is it worth the risk of getting that huge shock? Not to me. I have one submersible pump in my system and if I could figure out a good way to get rid of it, I would, but it's too difficult to remove that powerhead as it feeds my calcium reactor and all of my other pumps are simply too much for it.

 

I would get a GFCI plug and plug things in one at a time until it pops, you can easily find your culprit that way. Or, if things are easily removable, put the voltage meter into a bucket and test each thing out in the bucket. Please be careful, though, as moving something that already has a leak could spring a larger leak and cause lots of problems. If it's a heater, then you'll want to know sooner than later as water in the heater is bound to cause it to crack open in the long term and then you'll have more issues in the tank with all of the metals in the heater leaking out.

 

When dealing with electricity in tanks, I believe in being as safe as possible and having as many levels of protection as you can. As I said before, a small leak can easily turn into a larger leak or something worse. David is certainly right that it may be nothing, especially if it's not tripping a GFCI, but you might discover that the GFCI is faulty (usually faulty with tripping too much and not the opposite of tripping not at all), but better to be safe than sorry.

[Coral Hind]

I got no readings when i did test with my volt meter. Same 1 Melv used.

 

Do you use a grounding probe?

[rocko918]

When i did the test i removed the grounding probe. When i was done with the test i reinstalled the ground probe.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Unplug your components one at a time until you determine which one is causing the problem.

 

Try your heater first.

[treesprite]

You indicated that it's only when you are first touching the water, and did not say that it continues after hand is fully immersed, so I will ask you, is your hand right next to a metal light fixture when this is happens?

 

Does it happen only when you touch the water in either just the tank or just the sump?

 

Do you have carpal tunnel syndrome? If so, try mimicking the precise reaching and motion gesture when not near the tank, to rule that out as a reason for feeling a shock sensation. I didn't realize that is what was causing me to have a "shock" problem until after I spent a lot of time and worry testing all my stuff.

[davidm]

Everytime I put my fingers in the tank I get a shock. It's strange because it only happens when my fingers are barely touching the water. Why is this happening? How do I fix it?

 

Jan, I sent you a PM about whether two issues had a similar cause.

 

Also strongly second the need for putting all plugs on a GFCI and also the need for a good grounding probe.

[reefmontalvo]

Jan,

 

double check and maxi jet pumps in your tank. I have also noticed if you have a ground probe in the tankif your outlet was not properly wired then you can also have some of the neutral side (the white wire) leak current into the tank. I had this issues to solve the problem I just unplugged the probe no more light shock. Now I would also check and pumps in the fug or slat creep near anything that requires electricity since this is a clear indicator that water is splashing and conducting back into the tank.

[khalid]

Check your Koralia I had one of those cause that problem in my old tank. I got zapped pretty good one time when I was standing barefooted in some water I spilled and then stuck my hand in the tank.

[cabrego]

Please do not freak out about what your meter is reading. If you have a GFCI on the circuit you are fine. What you are seeing on the meter is what I call a "ghost" reading, others call it capacitive coupling. It is just an induced voltage reading. Is this voltage real? Yes, it is, but it

[Coral Hind]

Check your Koralia I had one of those cause that problem in my old tank. I got zapped pretty good one time when I was standing barefooted in some water I spilled and then stuck my hand in the tank.

 

I hope you had a GFCI on that tank. Standing in water while working on an unprotected tank is like russian roulette.

[Mountaineer]

When adding a grounding probe does it matter if the probe is in the sump or the display?

[Coral Hind]

When adding a grounding probe does it matter if the probe is in the sump or the display?

 

It doesn't matter. The water in the pipes would allow anything to flow to the sump or display keeping both at the same potential.

[Coral Hind]

So, what is the bottom line here? Understand your point that it is possible that some voltage COULD be induced by non-static magnetic fields (e.g., pumps) but in my mind one still needs to determine the root cause and act accordingly (i.e., install grounding probe or replace equipment).

 

Sure grounding probes should be installed, but more importantly a GFCI should be used. My point is, don't freak out and think that you need to replace pumps because you have a voltage reading. My advice to Jan would be to first install the GFCI with pumps and heaters plugged into it and see what happens. If that trips, then I would look for some faulty equipment. To me it makes no sense to even play around with a meter in the tank if you think something is wrong until a GFCI is in place.

 

By the way, the GFCI (if operating correctly) will trip if the potential voltage is grounded by human touch or probe, that is precisely the point of having one. GFCI senses the faulty ground (your body) and trips the circuit before you get shocked. If GFCI didn't do this they would be pointless. The caveat is that there is probably some minimum current threshold that must be met for the GFCI to sense that faulty circuit...

 

I'm not sure if this was directed at me. To add on to the info you posted. The GFCI is designed to trip normally at only 5mA, that is .005 amps, of ground fault. It doesn't care about the voltage, it is only watching the current. Like it is always said, it is the current that kills you, not the voltage. That is coming from a guy that has had 7,620v go in from both arms and exit his feet. You mentioned that the GFCI would trip before you got shocked. That is not exactly true. You can feel a shock sensation at .001 amps, far below what it takes for a GFCI to trip. At .01 amps it becomes severely painful and at about .1 it becomes lethal.