Does anyone have a good contact to the owner of coralvue or reef octopus? Or have a direct dial to Carlos who handles their technical problems that he actually picks up? I've called their number and only can talk to a receptionist anbd have asked the owner to call me back and he has not. Long story short I bought a SRO 8000ext through pure reef 5 years ago and the skimmer pump died within 2 weeks. They replaced the pump and over the last 5 years the same thing has been happening every 6mo to a year. Finally after 5 (2 of which i paid for) pumps and like 10 impellers had been destroyed A guy named Nick who worked there finally tried to figure out why the pump was doing this and why I was having this many issues. He determined with reef octopus that my iwaki pump wasn't feeding enough flow to the skimmer and that was causing the heat issue to blow up the pumps. I made an agreement with Nick that if I purchased a new pump through them that it was not going to be warranted until I added a dedicated pump and fixed the flow the issue and he approved it. I did this by adding a Jeabo 12000 that only serves the skimmer and it was approved in an email that he was satisfied with the repair. Over the weekend I smelled burning plastic and went down to by basement which is where my equipment is to find the attached pictures. The delay pump the skimmer is plugged into was pretty much on fire. I unplugged it and sent pictures asking what could have caused this as i fixed the flow and they're now reneging on the agreement we made in the beginning of Feb and Nick is no longer there to confirm this pump should be warranted because i fixed the flow and i still have no answer what caused this. I'm strongly considering getting an attorney involved as afire would seriously put me and my family including our 6 month daughter at risk.
Coralvue Contact and help
- Thread starter sbmille2
- Start date
Looks like that outlet socket shorted out. Is that part of the delay you mentioned?
it's plugged into a surge so that shouldn't happen. Asked my electrician that does a bunch of my commercial work and he thinks something in the delay was loose cause an arc but in order to find out he'd have to take apart the delay and cut the pump and until i have a go... from coralvue i don't want to mess with the equipment.
There's a big difference between GFCI & surge protectors vs arc fault protection. It would seem to me that the delay was your problem to begin with. Have you tried a new power cord and bypass that delay all together?
Both of the 4 outlet banks are each on their own 20A breaker that my electrician installed and are gfci outlets. I think the delay is part of the problem, yes its messed up over the years plugged in a delay, plugged directly into the wall and into a surge protector without the delay.
They're not near the water or anywhere they could get wet so not that should not be a problem
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 135
Definitely arcing in the delay. The MOVs in surge protectors have a finite amount of energy they can consume and thus a finite life. Interrupting a motor circuit can cause very high voltages. This will happen every time it operates. And eventually, wear out the MOVs. After that, the arcing just gets worse until it becomes an effective short. In a designed control system, delays and other logic relays would not control the motor load directly. Usually, a specially designed relay that was designed to reduce the arcing is used as an interposing relay. These types of relays are referred to as "contactors" in the industry.
^^^This^^^
I would tend to believe the Delay is also what burned up all of the pumps as well, not an insufficient amount of water supplied to the skimmer. The arcing in the delay box either fried the pump controller and/or possibly the pump motor itself. GFCI's will not trip unless there is a current loss, that's what a ground fault is. Current is lost to the ground. In an arc fault, current is not lost and if the amperage of the arc doesn't exceed the amp rating of the breaker, the breaker will not trip. That is why there are still electrical fires in houses. GFCI's protect against electrocution, AFCI's protect against fire.
Solved! Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters vs. Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters
There are two electrical upgrades that should be installed to protect your home: ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) and arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs).
www.bobvila.com
Umm.... I know you're dealing with a mess, but can I see your display? This setup looks to be impressive with all that's going on here.
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 135
I can tell you from experience that turning a small maxijet pump off will cause an arc fault breaker to trip.
Last edited:
As much as I like looking at the behind the scenes of every system, I'd love to see a FTS of this display as well!
Supposedly AFCI breakers have gotten much better over the last decade. My new house is loaded with them as I believe it's part of the code now in non-water environments for new construction. So Bedroom, living room... most every where other than bath, kitchen & laundry rooms.
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 135
The point I was trying to make was that even a small motor can create an arc.
And you are correct it appears the NEC requirements for AFCI have been expanded from bedrooms to essentially all living spaces. It used to be just bedrooms. If I remember the initial requirements were created from fires from electric blankets. Apparently, the constant bending and crimping of the heating elements would eventually cause them to break and then potentially arc across the break. My guess is that the expansion is probably due to "cheap" switches and fixtures as well as poor installation.
Agree the delay is the issue here as above. However, you have an open sump, what is your humidity level in that area? Even with dehumidifiers- Moisture and salt will creep out over time and as a matter of best practices, all electrical should have drip loops just in case- although probably not your issue.
yea I'll take some later. my tank goes in cycles because i'm bad about testing. All my sps will do great and then i'll have a a good amount of die off and i'll get back everything in check and reload..... now that i have a maintenance guy helping me hopefully it says great this time!
have dehumidifier and doubt that's the issues because the only piece of equipment to ever have issues is this (knock on wood!)
