Nice chunky shock.....GFCI didnt trip!

[SaltCreep]

I got a real waker upper a minute ago......

Finished doing my weekly water change and went to plug the return pump back in. Most of the time I do this with wet hands and it's no big deal.....this time there was enough of a trickle running down the forearm and onto the plug that I got a signifigant ZAP !


The tank kept running too!

I went to get paper towels (and check my undies) and when I got back the GFCI had just tripped.
About 2 minutes too late....
I was under the impression that a GFCI would protect you from that kind of zap. This was a good 2 seconds of juice, not a quickie.

Ah well...at least I'm awake now.

 

[DawnOctopus]

That's one of my biggest fears! That's why I keep towels everywhere, it's easier to wipe your hands off before you plug in than do a whole load of wash for your pants

Glad you're okay.

 

[Jennifer]

I sort of see this as 1 of those common sense things ..........
Water+Electricity = Electric shock

Glad you were not hurt. It tingle's your whole arm for a bit and wakes you up better than any coffee.

Gfci's are suppose to keep you from Dieing not from a getting a small shock. There is a delay in their function, but also they are prone to failure. Gfci's should be tested periodically to see if they are functioning properly.

 

[focus]

Odd, I thought they would trip in milliseconds. Dropped a small Coralife Fixture in my tank once while my arm was in the tank,thank God they have built in GFCI, just felt a tingle before it tripped still works today and the light is over 16 years old.

 

[Fish Ace]

I would check the installion of it first.

 

[rjdudek]

GFCI units are not intended to prevent all shocks. They are only intended to stop lethal shocks. What your describing may not have even been a ground fault when it got you, it could have been a low power arc fault, depending on what was wet at the time and then became a ground fault as the water moved deeper into the outlet.

For the extra 20.00 I always buy arc fault breakers with GFCI built in or add them to the outlet on an AFCI / breaker for the tanks. This covers me on faults from hot to neutral and on hot to ground. The only thing left is dropping the pump on my foot.

 

[Dragon2115]

Yowch, glad you're ok and I hope that never happens to you again..

GFCI's can be problematic. Inductive loads such as motors can degrade GFCI's to the point where they either don't trip properly or they trip for no good reason. The internal circuitry of standard units don't hold up well with the inrush current that occurs when the motor is powered up. There might be some out there that are rated for inductive loads but I don't use GFCI's so I've never looked to see.