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Re: The Importance of Drip Loops -- Don't be heartless



Neight Goetz reminded us of the The Importance of Drip
Loops!!

> . . .the water started to drip down
> the cord to the...you 
> guessed it my surge suppresor. However my surge
> suppressor did not trip. I 
> had an ac adaptor for my phone blocking the trip
switch.
> Soon afterwards I 
> smelled something burning...NOT GOOD!! I unplugged the
> suppressor from the 
> wall and examined the unit and the surge suppressor,
it's
> pretty warped. 
> Luckly no fires!
> Please, make a drip loop.

It's important to keep electrical connections dry.  But
please also use a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter)
for your aquatic electrics.  Neight might have been having
a short between the the hot and neutral wires, which won't
trip a GFCI.  But the odds are that, if a spill will short
the hot wire to anything, it will also short it to ground
(maybe through you, maybe through the water literally to
the ground and maybe even through the ground wire).  All of
those situations will trip a GFCI and the odds are also
that they will trip the GFCI before they trip your heart.

The safety rule should be "Use drip loops on your
electrical cords and be sure the loops are lower than the
GFCI into which the cords are connected."

Scott H.

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