fishish Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 (edited) I've got an issue with a switch in fuse box tripping EVERY time i try to plug in any more equipment for my tanks. I plug something in, switch trips, all the power outlets in the house go off I currently have a 90 litre heated and filtered tank with 3 betta boys in it. It also has a 2x T5 globe 3ft light for my plants. Other than that, all I've got is a breeding set up in the making. I bought a stainless steel shelving unit from Bunnings and have on it a 2.5 foot tank with a PK boy in it at the mo, low water level. Its unfiltered, no light (i have a T8 but not yet plugged in -see below!) but only one wee fish so filter not YET a problem. Theres also a err... i guess it would be about 40 litre tank with 16 golden barbs in it. Its heated but also not filtered. I've been doing 50% water changes every couple of days and it seems fine. Although water smells really funny??? So what can I do???? There are two power outlets nearish the shelves, the one just below is the one I'm using but clearly its overloading. I ran an extension cord to the other one and tried plugging in the light and pump but it tripped too. I bought an air pump that is for 40-60 gallons (150 litre) so HIGH power. Plan was to rig it up to 3x sponge filters, one in 2.5ft spawn/growout tank and two in smaller tanks then set up some kind of drip system I suppose for jarred fry. Big house, 3 bedroom with 3 rather technology obsessed 20 somethings so I suppose we're using a lot of power. House is rather old though I guess, our main water pipe burst a few months ago for eg, was all rusty *edit* have determined its the air pump thats doing it. I have the T8 light up and running, no problem. Plugged in pump and trip goes the switch unplugged, turned on switch in fuse box, ran an extension cord to another room, plugged in air pump and..... looking like I'm not going to be able to filter my tanks???? OMG! *freaks out* Edited November 2, 2010 by fishish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishish Posted November 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 Where theres a will theres a way! lol Fuse box does not like extension cords. I had one connected to the powerboard located on third shelf so that powerboard could reach wall socket near the floor. I disconnected it and connected the powerboard to the wall socket directly by moving powerboard down near the floor and.... problem solved! I now have all fitlers, lights, heaters up and running no problems... yet! lol wish me luck So no number of attempts to connect several things to several wall sockets independantly all over the house via extension cords would work. Solution was remove just one extension cord. My boys ain't too happy about the trillion times the lights flicked on and off since yesterday If anyone has the know how to elaborate on the electrical reasons behind all this I'm all ears! Just trial and error this end, no idea whatsoever! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadoh Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 ANy chance there is something wrong with the extension cord? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishish Posted November 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 Could be. I tried several different ones. They're all quite old though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delyall Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 Are the equipment your plugging in old? They could be faulty and therefor setting off the safety switch... Id be nervous plugging things in if it keeps turning the power off Glad its sorted out now though :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishish Posted November 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 (edited) Id be nervous plugging things in if it keeps turning the power off Why? I'd stick my nose into any odd corner personally... but then maybe this is why I'm accident prone? Equipment ie air pump, filters and air tubing yada yada are all brand new. Power board is pretty new too, just the extension cord could be suspect I suppose. I kinda think that isn't the problem. I'd put my money on there being something to do with how electricity travels over distances that has something to do with it. Just an uneducated guess lol Edited November 2, 2010 by fishish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delyall Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 Lolz, well if you plug something in and the safety switch turns off the appliances, then that means you have some faulty something around there, whether it be wiring of the house or the actual thing you plug in... I live in the bush, so Im always a bit cautious with anything that could cause a fire Im sure your things are fine Again, Im glad you got it sorted :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volvodriver Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 Basic way to test if any particular item is the problem, plug them straight into the wall one by one and see if it trips it, then plug one of them into the extension cord and see if it trips, do the same to the powerboard. If all that works chances are you're simply overpowering either that plug or the whole house, plug things in one by one into the powerboard till it trips, try plugging that/those items into another plug and if they work it's just that you've got too much stuff going through one powerboard/plug. Basically each bit of equipment draws a certain % of the current from the wall socket, if you exceed that it'll trip the safety switch. At the same time, god forbid if you exceed the current in the whole house... rent power from next door? lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishish Posted November 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 (edited) Thanks Why can a faulty item trip it? What exactly is 'faulty'? As said above seeing as i tried multiple extension cords one by one and they all tripped it, I don't know that it is a 'faulty' cord, its just something to do with using an extension cord in general in addition to a multi plug power board. I've pretty much done the plugging in one by one thing and it was always when plugging in the air pump that it tripped. However I removed the extension cord and plugged power board directly into the wall socket, i then added everything one by one again, the last appliance being the water pump and it did not trip! Sum: if i want 3 heaters, a light and an airpump attached to three filters i cannot have the extension cord. If I DO have the extension cord then I can only have the above MINUS the air pump. Is the extension cords presence upping power requirements? It must be??? Why though, why do they need power themselves? I guess more power to travel longer distances? It can't be overpowering at that one socket becuase i tried running extension cord into another room for the air pump ONLY with the other items at the original wall socket and that tripped it too. So addition of extension cord must be overpowering the ENTIRE house. Edited November 2, 2010 by fishish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volvodriver Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 You got it in one there, power will very gradually be lost through the cord over distance, that's why they say to always use the shortest possible extension cord to cover the desired distance, but by the sounds of it that's not the actual problem. I would say that it's not the air pump that's causing the problem if it's working in some senarios, it's just the straw that breaks the camels back every time. Depending on how old the house is it may or may not have multiple circuits which means that it may just be one circuit being the problem if that's the case you would find in your fuse box more than one switch labled 'wall socket' (or similar) and you may be able to balance your appliances across both circuits (i remember my old family home if you wanted to boil the kettle at the same time as the washing machine was on you had to take it into one of the bedrooms to do it lol). I'm surprised that it's the pump that's causing the problem though, if you plug the pump in first and one of the heaters in last does it allow everything but the last one? Heaters draw alot of current compared to alot of appliances so my money was on them being the problem. Is there a wall plug near the tanks that could be utilised if you run an extension lead to whatever it's currently powering? Alternatively, unplug something less important like the fridge or tv? Fish come first Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishish Posted November 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2010 (edited) i remember my old family home if you wanted to boil the kettle at the same time as the washing machine was on you had to take it into one of the bedrooms to do it lol lol well thats not quite as weird as my mum cooking crumpets on a bar heater on the wall because the toaster kept tripping the switch haha No multiple labels of 'wall socket'. Some are labeled with lovey ambiguous names like 'power' errr... yes lol two like that and the others are all different. The one that is tripping has a little button, the switch itself is next to that. Both together are labelled "Residual current device". Anyone know what that means? I didn't actually know that people say to use the shortest possible extension cord lol I don't think my boys can deal with any more filter and lights flicking on and off every 2 mins right now so will try the reversed plugging in order another time :P Edited November 3, 2010 by fishish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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