Electrical Outlet Issue - none near my aquarium

[ZachM4]

I wouldn't with the constant draw of a tank set up pumps lights heaters and so on

 

[cilyjr]

I have mixed feelings on this. So it is likely nothing terrible would happen provided you ran a very heavy duty cord I mean the 8 or10 gauge ones that cost about 100 bucks. Rule of thumb is if the cord is getting warm even slightly then you are exceeding the load and need to get a heavier cord or split the load between 2 or more cords.

That being said the proper thing to do would be to either run a new wire and put in a new gfci. Or move the tank to the wall where the receptacle is and again putting in a gfci. I don't have any problems with the portable ones that was linked above but they are a little sensitive and they break easier then installed ones so test it often. I wouldn't use all 5 plugs either

 

[dannyp02908]

My biggest issue with even heavy duty extension cords is that regardless of wire gauge, they are meant for temporary use. Really, the expensive ones are made for temporary high current draws from power tools and such. I have seen first hand the results of a constant heavy load on an extension cord. Let's just say, that the extension cord and the device cord fused together. That's just shy of a full on fire.

My final 2 cents
Do it right or don't do it at all. An aquarium is not worth the risk.

 

[Bao]

How much power are we talking about here?
What kind of equipments and how much power are they drawing?

 

[Jokes]

Thanks for the advice everybody. I've decided to completely rearrange my entire living room area and do some unorthodox arranging of my furniture and aquarium to get it as close as possible to a wall outlet. I really didn't want to risk using an extension cord. Thanks again.

 

[ro_nicu]

I would ask your landlord anyway before you wake up to something ablaze due to crappy wiring in the building.
Any reasonable landlord will probably just offer to install a dedicated outlet where you need it. I would.

 

[cilyjr]

I would ask your landlord anyway before you wake up to something ablaze due to crappy wiring in the building.
Any reasonable landlord will probably just offer to install a dedicated outlet where you need it. I would.

I doubt it I think most landlords would say don't put in the tank.

 

[dannyp02908]

Landlords I know would say no tank. But if you get an electrician and get an estimate, the landlord may be willing to add the circuit or allow you to pay for the additional circuit.

For me, when I set up my aquarium, I added 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits. I was glad I did as when I opened up the panel, I could see that a lot of the wiring was older and really only meant for 15 amps and even that I wouldn't trust today.

 

[cilyjr]

I also added 2 dedicated 20 gfci circuits they run the tank and the pond. That's it. The pond is only a pump and uv.

 

[AnthonyF]

Have you thought about just asking the landlord if they would let you drop an outlet in? They might even like the idea of having another outlet assuming its done correctly by a licensed electrician. Its a simple thing to do so I wouldn't see it really costing much.

 

[cilyjr]

An electrician is gonna charge ya 100bucks to walk in the door. Running a wire can be a real pita especially if it's going up between a floor joist and t tight spot to get into the wall and electricians don't like blind drilling. I'll bet it would cost more then people think. I would guess around 300 bucks assuming it takes them about 1and a half hours

 

[ro_nicu]

you might want to ask your landlord anyway; better than waking up that people underneath or the landlord blame you for the floor / their ceiling bowing, cracking or whatever else. some of the old houses are just not designed to support such a load; a tank will weigh at ~ 10 pounds for every gallon of total capacity. if you prefer not to ask at least make sure the tank is as close as possible to major structural members like the outside frame, the middle (load carrying) beam, etc. I lived in a room where the neighbor upstairs had a walk around tank, the ceiling always looked suspect to me (concave) and would I have known I would have raised hell for having to sleep with a 1000 pound tank on top of my head and the frame bowing under the load, ....
things changed meanwhile but I would still caution against anything that could get you in trouble.