PLEASE READ!!! HEATER DEFECT--FIRE--TOTAL LOSS!!!

[FishyMel]

How awful! I am so sorry.

 

[jennymit21]

such a beautiful tank that was.....so sorry! Best of Luck on rebuilding.

 

[Atari]

That's one of those things we never think about but I guess it could happen to any of us :?

I'm glad noone was hurt too. Please keep us updated on the developments with the heater manufacturer.

 

[EL Diablo]

Really sorry to see what happened.

 

[Sparky]

ACoS wrote:
so sorry to hear about this...

I got one word "SUE!"

fishfreak wrote:
Thats one of the problems now a days.

Ditto.

I feel for you. That looked like alot of hard work there to go away in few minutes is devastating. I hope that never happens to me. Maybe with a little luck, you can contact the Company and they can help offset the cost of this. Some are very concerned when it comes to a defect in one of their products.

It should be possible to at least save the LR, you think? You may have to cure it again, but I would think that is could be reusable. Man I hope things work out for you. I had a similar experience with a Sunbeam heating blanket. Fortunately I was home when it went haywire. When I contacted the Company to inform them of the potenial problem with their product, they were very concerned. They reimbursed me for the cost of three blankets that I owned (only one was bad) they also replaced my mattress and box spring (and neither were damaged, and I told them that), and sent me 3 new blankets of much higher quality than the ones I purchased. All I wanted them to know was that they may have a problem with one of their products. Sometimes it is just better to deal with the companies upfront and honest. Too many people today just jump up and get a laywer and sue.

Mike

 

[arizona reefer]

wow. thats crazy. sorry to hear about your loss. well good luck with the insurance and thanks for the head up on that heater

 

[Menagerie]

I just wanted to add my condolences. That is every fish keeper's nightmare.

 

[luntiz]

What type of lighting did you have? Are you sure it was the heater? I've read a lot about VHO "Waterproof" Endcaps that have caused fires of that magnitude.

 

[jeffw85]

Hey folks, thanks for all your support. Yes the heater was definitely the culprit. The Osyssea 500w aquarium heater. It is a digital thermostat unit which is comprised of 4 components. The piece that failed was the temperature control connector. FYI--this unit did not short out--It simply overheated enough to ignite the cabinet. The circuit breaker didn't kick until the water poured out the back. Incidentally the water extinguished the fire instantly before the 20 or so fireman even had a chance to figure out what was going on. Fortunately the fire was contained to the wall directly behind the tank but the smoke damage was tremendous. The whole office is covered in suit. I will contact the manufacturer if they can be located. "Made in China" It will be initially more so a courtesy call to make them aware of the unit failure. I doubt I will be sueing them myself. My insurance company will probably want me to subrogate as replacing the tank is probably just a fraction of the total cost for repair of my office. Re: luntiz comment--no it wasnt a vho issue, look at the pics closely, particularly the bottom right of the cabinet, fire travels up, not down. Additionally, LR was pulled immediately and hauled off to the LFS. The owner of the LFS was awakened by my wife at 3am. He was here in less than 10 minutes, laying the rock in his very new minivan right on the carpet, within 1/2 of getting access to the tank the LR was already sitting at the LFS holding tank. Those are the kinda people I like to do business with. Kudos to him, The LR was the ONLY thing that appears to have been salvaged from this mishap.

Anyway--Thanks again for all your comments, Please--get those heaters out of your tanks and off the shelves of the LFS. Also note that the cause of this fire was determined with immediate conviction by the local fire & arson investigator who has appeared on national telvision shows for his expertise in his field. Upon close inspection it's a no brainer what started the fire.

 

[Atari]

Kudos to your LFS guy indeed!

Although I've never heard of this brand of heater and I'm not even sure they are available in this country, I will definitely be telling my LFS about this.

 

[fishfreek]

Additionally, LR was pulled immediately and hauled off to the LFS. The owner of the LFS was awakened by my wife at 3am. He was here in less than 10 minutes, laying the rock in his very new minivan right on the carpet, within 1/2 of getting access to the tank the LR was already sitting at the LFS holding tank. Those are the kinda people I like to do business with. Kudos to him, The LR was the ONLY thing that appears to have been salvaged from this mishap.

Yes some very serius kudos to him.

 

[Hammer]

Would a GFI inline stop or lesson the chance of short circuit fire? 35$ is not bad in heine site. Hoping to help to save others from this....Hammer

 

[dralarms]

Sorry for your loss. Wished I could help out. Almost had a fire myself the other night. I was doing some work in my sump and noticed a smell. found that my light plug was melted and almost shorting out. When you get ready to start putting your tank back together let us know. Might not be able to help much but at the very least drop some ls (full of pods) to you.

 

[Sparky]

I don't know what good if any a GFCI would have done. They sense an imbalance of a sort in the current. Where as this seems to be a case of "overcurrent".....heat is generated by current and basically how a heater works anyway. Circuit breaker should have caught that if it was over current. If it was a short caused by overheating of the heater then GFCI may not have caught it in time since it is a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter. It senses a ground fault and not neccesarily a shorted circuit. Now maybe an ARC fault interrupter may have been better at that, who knows?

Electricty can be a good thing but, it can also be very destructive. I teach all my new electricians to "respect it" but don't be afraid of it. It's a tool.

Mike

 

[noone]

Jeff, what LFS do you go to?

 

[krap101]

yeah im really sorry 2. but im wondering how the heater caught the cabneton fire? because is the heater in the tank or in the cabnet? because if it was in the tank the water woulda put it out. so i guess it was in the cabnet?

 

[Atari]

krap101, read the post again. It wasn't the heating element that started it, it was the temperature control connector.

 

[Hara]

Hopefully things will be resolved soon and you will be on your way to mending your losses, both financially and emotionally. I am so sorry for your losses.

 

[jeffw85]

Circuit breakers protect the circuit from shorts and current overload, not from overheating of a unit on the circuit. . The control unit basically acted like a electric stove if you catch my drift. Eventually the circuit breaker tripped but only because 175g of water came pouring down on all the electronics under the tank.

 

[phases99]

Man, that picture sent a shiver down my spine. Sorry for your loss