Well, I didn't get the GFI in this weekend ! Mother's day and other things.
I would be curious if any of the group tried the same measurments with a
digial meter.

The place I grabbed the ground was at the INPUT to my main water meter. (
this should be connected directly undergound to the street feed. I don't
think I have a better place to connect it. No 8 foot ground stakes.

I'll post my results when I get the GFCI installed. I agree with George that
if a small amount of current was flowing to ground the GFCI would probably
trip. Yes I could have the high voltage because of a sensitive Digital VOM -
it's a FLUKE 12. I'll see if I can borrow a cheap analog and try the
measurements Before I put in the GFCI.
Russ


"pausto" wrote in message
...
"Russ J." wrote:

I didn't realize my question would spark such a controversy!

Here is an update.:
My tank ( 75 gallon FO) is quite near the water meter into the house. I
have
a Fluke Digital VOM used for work. Model 12 -- pretty good unit. I
measured
the AC voltage from the copper inlet pipe to the tank water -- by
sticking
the probe into the water. Was I surprised. I measured 48 VOLTS AC !!!! I
then began unplugging equipment. First the heater. - dropped 6 volts to
42
VAC. Next the UV - Dropped 2 more volts. Then the Empereor 400 dropped
another 2 volts. Then the Flouresent lamp dropped 2 more volts. Then the
Eheim filter -- another 2 volts. Then the skimmer another 2 volts. When
EVERYTHING was unplugged - I still had a reading of 32 Volts AC. I put
the
ground probe in the water attached to the water line. Voltage went to
.009
Volts AC. I watched the fish to see if proximity to the probe changed
their
behavior - Nope. I reconnected everyhing and the voltage went to .011
VAC.
That's an increase of only 2 millivolts. I'm going to keep the ground
probe
in the tank and see if the LLE on the Tang begins to reverse. I'll post
my
results.
( I'll also be very careful not to drop anything in the water !)

Russ

Digital meters are notorious for detecting stray voltages that
have no appreciable current flow producing ability. Try
re-reading with a cheep analog meter (I keep one taped to the
back of my Fluke

Paul