Reminder to use gfci! And smoke alarms

Noticed this morning when i left that the hallway light had burned out...was not that concerned. Was talking to curt and found out that our front bathroom light was out also. Decided we had to have blown circuit. Curt started to smell something in the computer room where goldies tank was (door was closed) and he opened it up and there was a room full of smoke (apparently my smoke alarm in that room was out!) he said that the gfci was completely melted and burning. Once he unplugged it from the wall all the other lights popped back on! If it wasnt for that gfci it would have certainly bursted into flames

what we gathered was goldie (who loves to spit water and can spit very very far) got mad and spit water out of her tank right to the plug.

If we had not had the gfci then chances are it would have set the house on fire, and as we had no working smoke detectors in that room (now not sure of others) it could have gotten out of control.

Just thought i would share this important reminder. I actually had a small fire when i first started the hobby, so that fire made me aware of importance!

 

And always have drip loops.

 

Adding to this point...Test your GFI's regularly. Since yours melted, it obviously was not working properly. A properly working GFI circuit will kill any load on that circuit after the GFI. For an aquarium setup, I highly recommend running a dedicated circuit (or 2 or 3) just for the aquarium. Don't just change an existing receptacle in your room to a GFI, as that somewhat defeats the purpose.

Glad everything is okay, and make sure when you replace that GFI, that the LINE and LOAD sides are hooked up correctly, and test the GFI.

 

I am very happy that Nothing was damaged... And more happy that you didn't get hurt!

 

Yeah i didnt think about that....it should have killed it all together!
We will be rewiring all the circuits while we put back the reef tank and be moving goldie into the living room (that is why she is mad...we dont see her enough) and each tank will have its own circuit then!

GOLDIE CAN ACTUALLY SHOOT WATER ACROSS THE ROOM. WE HAVE BEEN ON THE COMPUTER BEFORE AND SHE HAS SPIT WATER AND HIT US WHILE WE WERE ACROSS THE ROOM! GOLDEN PUFFERS ARE SOOO MUCH FUN! THEY ARE LIKE LITTLE PUPPY DOGS AND DEMAND ATTENTION!

 

didnt know they spit water.. thats interesting.. I agree, that GFCI was not functioning properly. I have my system on two seperate breakers both with GFCI's.