stray voltage help!

ok i def think i have stray voltage coming from some place, cause my cuticles tingle a lil bit when i put my hand in the water, not really a zap but more of a tingle.

i have a ground probe and a gfci hard wire socket , not yet installed because ive been nervous as there seems to be alot of contradicting info on this subject.

1) i live in a apartment , and there are 4 wires currently in the wall, the hot and then the one going to the next outlet in the circuit, this is not my concern, my concern is the box its self is not grounded to the lil green screw, does this mean that there is no ground? or can it be grounded
somewere else?

2)now then say i get that all figured out and i ground it and get the probe in the water, if i have stray voltage wont this complete the circuit and cause CURRENT that could be worse for the fish and environment than with out the probe.?

3) brings me to my last ?. Is the best thing to do is find the source of stray voltage and eliminate it, how can i do this ? do i need an expensive meter?


hope i dint overload this but please help.!! me do the right thing

 

There will always be some stray voltage in the tank.
As for being sure of your ground, here is what I did: Go to Home Depot or where ever and get the blank socket that plugs into the wall. Just hook up the end of the ground probe to the ground of the blank, plug it into your strip/wall, and your done. Easy as pie and under 5 bucks

 

Excellent, excellent, excellent. I do believe that you have to have a three pronged wall socket for it to work right......I am not sure on that, but it would make sense. If Bogie or Sparky would chime in, I would be appreciative.

Also, since you live in an apartment, I would have the apartment fix it guy do the work for you. If you do it wrong and something goes awry, you are going to be screwed seven ways to Sunday. You do not want to put yourself in a position of liability.

Good luck.

 

Yep, the three pronged one. If you want blue, I would PM reefsparky. He would be able to explain things a lot better than I ever could.
And for me, its a condo. Its all my responsibility

 

Good luck!

 

Wow. Cool Spark. Thanks. That is useful.

 

^ and there ya go

 

thank you! im gonna go pick up a voltmeter today after work, yes i have to work sunday to keep up with the tank lol.

thank you, thank you


oh were is the cheapest place to get a meter? an auto store?

 

Did you get that multi-meter and finish the test yet?

 

Auto stores tend to jack their prices a bit to increase margin. Go to a large store....Fred Meyer, Smiths, Kroger, Walmart etc. Any large chain will give you a good price.