A really dumb accident

[Jim Morcombe]

Unfortunately I am sometimes pretty tired when I get home and end up doing
aquarium maintenance when I should be sleeping.

This leads to all types of dumb mistakes - and I do mean dumb!

(I have tried leaving the maintenance for times when I can cope, but then it
never gets done)

Last night I had a beauty! Managed to drop an aquarium light into the
aquarium while it was on. Tried to catch it before it fried all my fish.
Ended up giving myself quite a nasty shock.

But none of the fish were affected :)

Jim

[Flash Wilson]

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 16:14:09 +0800, Jim Morcombe > wrote:
>Last night I had a beauty! Managed to drop an aquarium light into the
>aquarium while it was on. Tried to catch it before it fried all my fish.
>Ended up giving myself quite a nasty shock.
>
>But none of the fish were affected :)

When I was a kid, the ceiling collapsed in my brother's bedroom,
where the fishtank lived. We were all worried about if he'd been
squashed in his cot, etc. Later we realised how many chunks of
plaster were in the tank... a water change later, and all fish
were absolutely fine, except for a shubunkin that actually got
squashed. I was quite surprised!

--
Flash Wilson Webmaster & UNIX SysAdmin
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Solaris / FreeBSD / Linux
Apache/Bind/Exim/Sendmail
http://www.gorge.org Perl / Shell / SQL / HTML

[Frank S]

> Ended up giving myself quite a nasty shock.

The brain damage will probably make things even worse in the future :)

-Frank

[Rick]

"Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
...
> Unfortunately I am sometimes pretty tired when I get home and end up doing
> aquarium maintenance when I should be sleeping.
>
> This leads to all types of dumb mistakes - and I do mean dumb!
>
> (I have tried leaving the maintenance for times when I can cope, but then
it
> never gets done)
>
> Last night I had a beauty! Managed to drop an aquarium light into the
> aquarium while it was on. Tried to catch it before it fried all my fish.
> Ended up giving myself quite a nasty shock.
>
> But none of the fish were affected :)
>
> Jim
>
you may just want to replace that switch with a ground fault breaker.

Rick
>

[Michi Henning]

"Rick" > wrote in message
news:wJ0Pb.178809$X%5.21668@pd7tw2no...
>
> "Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Last night I had a beauty! Managed to drop an aquarium light into the
> > aquarium while it was on. Tried to catch it before it fried all my fish.
> > Ended up giving myself quite a nasty shock.
> >
> > But none of the fish were affected :)
> >
> > Jim
> >
> you may just want to replace that switch with a ground fault breaker.
>
> Rick

I second that. An earth leakage detector (that's what they are called here in
Australia)
is a *very* good idea for a fish tank. You can get portable ones that are built
into
a powerboard for as little as US$ 40.00, I think. These things really do save
lives.
Even if you sat in a bath tub and dropped your hair dryer into the water, you'd
have
a decent chance of surviving the experience with an earth leakage detector
(and you'd have no chance surviving it without one).

Get yourself one of those things and be safe.

Cheers,

Michi.

BTW -- here in Oz, we've just had legislation introduced that makes it
mandatory
to fit earth leakage detectors to a house before it can be sold. Similarly, all
new
houses must have those detectors fitted. About bloody time too -- it's not
funny
how many people have died over the years due to some silly mishap and for lack
of a $40.00 bit of equipment...

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

[CJ]

OHMYGOSH! You have lived (and survived!) my worst nightmare! I did
maintenance a couple of times just shuffling my lights around on top of my
aquarium, on top of the filters, on top of each other, whatever....but I got
too worried about just what happened to you, so now - like it or not, I
totally unplug everything and set the lights off on the floor. I can't
really see very well in there, (I have a tall tank) but it's such a relief
not to have to worry that any slip or bump could send those lights into the
tank. I keep thinking I'll shop for just the right kind of light to set up
close to the tank on the outside for when I'm doing maintenance, but I'd
doubtful I could find just the right kind of thing.

Glad yours turned out as well as it did.
---------------------------------------------
Managed to drop an aquarium light into the
> aquarium while it was on. >
>

[Jim Morcombe]

Michi

I'm in Perth.

Does the legislation cover W.A.?

These things are fitted in the Meter Box where the fuses are?

Jim


Michi Henning > wrote in message
...
> "Rick" > wrote in message
> news:wJ0Pb.178809$X%5.21668@pd7tw2no...
> >
> > "Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > >
> > > Last night I had a beauty! Managed to drop an aquarium light into the
> > > aquarium while it was on. Tried to catch it before it fried all my
fish.
> > > Ended up giving myself quite a nasty shock.
> > >
> > > But none of the fish were affected :)
> > >
> > > Jim
> > >
> > you may just want to replace that switch with a ground fault breaker.
> >
> > Rick
>
> I second that. An earth leakage detector (that's what they are called here
in
> Australia)
> is a *very* good idea for a fish tank. You can get portable ones that are
built
> into
> a powerboard for as little as US$ 40.00, I think. These things really do
save
> lives.
> Even if you sat in a bath tub and dropped your hair dryer into the water,
you'd
> have
> a decent chance of surviving the experience with an earth leakage detector
> (and you'd have no chance surviving it without one).
>
> Get yourself one of those things and be safe.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Michi.
>
> BTW -- here in Oz, we've just had legislation introduced that makes it
> mandatory
> to fit earth leakage detectors to a house before it can be sold.
Similarly, all
> new
> houses must have those detectors fitted. About bloody time too -- it's not
> funny
> how many people have died over the years due to some silly mishap and for
lack
> of a $40.00 bit of equipment...
>
> --
> Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
> ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com
>

[Jim Morcombe]

If I turn the lights off first, I can't see a thing. So I have to leave
them on.

This is the second mis-hap of this type I have had, so I am definitely going
to get one of those earth leakage detector things.

Jim


CJ > wrote in message
...
> OHMYGOSH! You have lived (and survived!) my worst nightmare! I did
> maintenance a couple of times just shuffling my lights around on top of my
> aquarium, on top of the filters, on top of each other, whatever....but I
got
> too worried about just what happened to you, so now - like it or not, I
> totally unplug everything and set the lights off on the floor. I can't
> really see very well in there, (I have a tall tank) but it's such a relief
> not to have to worry that any slip or bump could send those lights into
the
> tank. I keep thinking I'll shop for just the right kind of light to set
up
> close to the tank on the outside for when I'm doing maintenance, but I'd
> doubtful I could find just the right kind of thing.
>
> Glad yours turned out as well as it did.
> ---------------------------------------------
> Managed to drop an aquarium light into the
> > aquarium while it was on. >
> >
>
>

[Tedd Jacobs]

"Jim Morcombe" in...
> Unfortunately I am sometimes pretty tired when I get home and end up doing
> aquarium maintenance when I should be sleeping.
>
> This leads to all types of dumb mistakes - and I do mean dumb!
>
> (I have tried leaving the maintenance for times when I can cope, but then it
> never gets done)
>
> Last night I had a beauty! Managed to drop an aquarium light into the
> aquarium while it was on. Tried to catch it before it fried all my fish.
> Ended up giving myself quite a nasty shock.
>
> But none of the fish were affected :)

wouldn't the fish be unaffected, because like birds that sit on a power line,
they are not grounded?

[Michi Henning]

"Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
...
> Michi
>
> I'm in Perth.
>
> Does the legislation cover W.A.?

I suspect not. From what I can remember, it's a Queensland state law
that came into effect last year.

> These things are fitted in the Meter Box where the fuses are?

Yes, that's where they typically go. Or, if you want to secure just a specific
appliance, you can buy them integrated into a small powerboard. If you use
the type that goes into the meter box, you need one for your light circuits,
and
another one for your power circuits (assuming you want to protect both).
Usually, hot water is on a separate circuit, as is the over and hot plates.
Usually,
these are left unprotected.

Any electrician will be able to install one for you.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

[Michi Henning]

"Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
...
> If I turn the lights off first, I can't see a thing. So I have to leave
> them on.
>
> This is the second mis-hap of this type I have had, so I am definitely going
> to get one of those earth leakage detector things.

Sounds like a sensible thing to me! :-)

The term used by the electrical trade is "RCD" (short for Residual
Current Detector). Don't ask me why people keep inventing new terms
for these things... In the US, they are known as GFCIs (Ground
Fault Circuit Interrupter); in Germany, they call them
"Fehlerstromschutzschalter" (yes, that's really one word ;-), which
translates as "Fault current protection switch". Go figure... :-)

BTW -- if you don't have an RCD (or GFCI, or whatever), do *not*
ground your aquarium. If you touch a live appliance and are also
in contact with the grounded tank, current will flow from the appliance
through you to ground, which is bad news. If the tank is not grounded,
there is a chance that you won't be grounded either, in which case
you won't get a shock at all.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

[Rick]

"Michi Henning" > wrote in message
...
> "Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Michi
> >
> > I'm in Perth.
> >
> > Does the legislation cover W.A.?
>
> I suspect not. From what I can remember, it's a Queensland state law
> that came into effect last year.
>
> > These things are fitted in the Meter Box where the fuses are?
>
> Yes, that's where they typically go. Or, if you want to secure just a
specific
> appliance, you can buy them integrated into a small powerboard. If you use
> the type that goes into the meter box, you need one for your light
circuits,
> and
> another one for your power circuits (assuming you want to protect both).
> Usually, hot water is on a separate circuit, as is the over and hot
plates.
> Usually,
> these are left unprotected.
>
> Any electrician will be able to install one for you.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Michi.
>
> --
> Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
> ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com
>

ground fault breaker...remove the existing plug in and install the same type
of plug in except it has a built in breaker. Any water or condensation will
trip the plug circuit which can then be reset simply by pressing the reset
button on the plug. Things may be different where you are compared to
Canada.

Rick

[Jim Morcombe]

My aquarium is on a wooden stand so I guess that means that it wasn't
grounded.

The shock I got was nasty, but really just enough to scared the living
daylights out of me.

I hate to think what would of happened if this had happenned with one of my
aquariums on a metal stand. When the light dropped in, water splashed
everywhere.

Jim

Michi Henning > wrote in message
...
> "Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
> ...
> > If I turn the lights off first, I can't see a thing. So I have to leave
> > them on.
> >
> > This is the second mis-hap of this type I have had, so I am definitely
going
> > to get one of those earth leakage detector things.
>
> Sounds like a sensible thing to me! :-)
>
> The term used by the electrical trade is "RCD" (short for Residual
> Current Detector). Don't ask me why people keep inventing new terms
> for these things... In the US, they are known as GFCIs (Ground
> Fault Circuit Interrupter); in Germany, they call them
> "Fehlerstromschutzschalter" (yes, that's really one word ;-), which
> translates as "Fault current protection switch". Go figure... :-)
>
> BTW -- if you don't have an RCD (or GFCI, or whatever), do *not*
> ground your aquarium. If you touch a live appliance and are also
> in contact with the grounded tank, current will flow from the appliance
> through you to ground, which is bad news. If the tank is not grounded,
> there is a chance that you won't be grounded either, in which case
> you won't get a shock at all.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Michi.
>
> --
> Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
> ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com
>