During the summer months, I've had them blow just from humidity -- nothing
else wrong. I've had them blow when watr spills into them. Then, I had
another one overload and shoot sparks thru the bottom of it, scorching the
carpet underneath.... The breaker for the house blew (but not the tap
strip.) I've had tehm scorch and catch fire, without blowing. (I
actually had a powerfilter cord completely scorched fora bout 4" by flames
shooting out of the tap strip.)
The thing to remember is that tehy're not GFI's - they're surge
protectors. IF you get a sudden change in voltage, they'll pop. They're
meant to protect things like your computer from sudden jolts of
electricity, not to protect your fish tank or fish room. Install a GFI.
There are those oens that you just plug something into, or you can replace
the outlet. It's not that hard -- but do remember to ground and test it
properly.
Joshua.
On Wed, 10 Dec 2003, Jim Graham wrote:
> Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 09:57:21 -0500
> From: Jim Graham <jimbob54_at_voyager.net>
> Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> Subject: NANFA-- fishroom fires etc
>
> A couple of things.
> One of my friends used and still uses outlet strips plugged into each other to
> extend power around his fishroom. I was over visiting one day and he shows me
> one that is all blackened and half melted. I don't know if it actually had
> caught fire or not but it was certainly headed that way.I don't know if it was
> from being wet or just broke down from being in a humid environment. His other
> trophy was a 20 inch box fan with the plastic grills melted off. He has a wall
> hung gas heater that looks like a little fireplace for heat and he apparently
> had the fan a little too close.
> I think a lot of folks think breakers will protect you from fires but the
> melting power strip didn't pop the breaker and certainly could have started a
> fire.
>
> Jim Graham
> Hastings MI
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/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
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/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org