GFCI or No GFCI, Power outage notifications

[goatous]

A recent post about a GFCI outlet tripping and crashing his tank got me thinking about what would happen if I lost power for an extended period. I don’t have an Apex, so using the built in heartbeat functionality to monitor the tank for power failure isn’t an option for me.

Fast forward to this past Sunday, I just returned home from a short vacation and checked the tank and everything is looking good. I go out and mow the lawn and when I come back in the tank is off (no power). I check the in-stand GFCI outlet and I can’t reset it even though it does have power. The GFCI failed after 1.5 years of use. I was VERY lucky because I was home at the time and the tank was only off for ~2 hours and no deaths/stress was observed.

This got me re-thinking about removing the GFCI outlet altogether and replace with regular outlet or go with a GFCI breaker in the electrical panel or simply replace the GFCI outlet with another.

I ended up removing the GFCI outlet that was inside the stand and replaced it with a standard outlet and replaced the wall outlet with GFCI. The new wall GFCI outlet continuously performs self-tests to assure that it is working properly and also has an audible alarm when it’s tripped. Getting the GFCI out of the stand and to the wall should help with longevity because it isn’t dealing with moisture and it is in a spot where I can see if it needs to be replaced.
I like the fact the new GFCI performs a self-test and if the self-test fails there’s a little light on the face that illuminates indicating the outlet should be replaced.

The alarm is nice too because it will let me know if it is tripped. The alarm doesn’t help if I’m out of the house so I’m looking into other wifi or G3 type notification via SMS. I have found some options are available for those of us without an Apex.

For now, I decided to not replace the electrical panel breaker with a GFCI breaker because I’m worried that it may be more likely to trip with multiple things on the same circuit. I would like input from any electricians if they think a GFCI breaker is the better way to go.

I don’t know if lower reliability risk associated with the use of GFCI outlets outweigh the risk of not having a GFCI outlet and the potential of killing everything with stray voltage. To me, it’s a gamble either way and would welcome others thoughts.

I would also like to know if anyone is using anything that sends power outage notifications. I know it can be done with Apex, but I don’t have an Apex.

Thanks for your comments and ideas.

 

[#theMatrix]

Madjoe set up his current system with gfci at 1st. But when a faulty something or other kept tripping gfci he decided to remove it.
I think...i may be wrong.

But...generally most now are not going to gfci route becase of the manual reset. Sure you can prevent a failure but
You can put main things like return pump heaters and power heads on non gfci or even a power strip with breaker built in to prevent the gfci from tripping.


Good luck.

 

[oceanfreak09]

I don't run any GFCI for fear of moister shutting down electrical and causing a system crash. I just rely on my breaker box. I also have my system grounded with a ground probe that plugs in to an outlet. I don't have an apex as well so I have a wi/fi plug in outlet that you can get at Home Depot which lets you turn on and off the outlet from your smart phone.(if you download the app kasa) this can be check periodically whenever you like just by looking at your smart phone.(to see if you have power or not.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[madjoe]

Madjoe set up his current system with gfci at 1st. But when a faulty something or other kept tripping gfci he decided to remove it.
I think...i may be wrong.

But...generally most now are not going to gfci route becase of the manual reset. Sure you can prevent a failure but
You can put main things like return pump heaters and power heads on non gfci or even a power strip with breaker built in to prevent the gfci from tripping.


Good luck.

Wasnt my current system was my old fowlr system . Kept tripping at 3am i mean it tripped because faulty pump and what not but still sucked ass so i just removed it old power sucking equipment makes em trip also. My new system had two power outages but thats cause we disnt know outlet was on a switch and accidentally hit switch on way out the door lol. Luckily a mp40 was plugged into a dif outlet. Second time was a faulty dj strip which i just eliminated. Now i run everything on reefkeeper and apex soon to be only apex if i can get it to be reliable. And a ground probe