Wiring Question for Sump Area

[Redfish]

I am not an electrician, so this will seem like a dumb question to those of you that know a thing or two on this subject. I was reading a tank build post last nite ( I have seen this before in some other builds also ) under the tank inside the tank stand this man had placed about four on and off switches, the same kind you have on the wall in your house to turn your lights on and off, he also had about four double wall sockets mounted inside the tank stand, just like the ones in your house that you plug a lamp into. The wires from these switches and wall sockets were run thru gray PVC pipe that you see electricians use, all very neatly done, not like my sump area with wires running here and there. Now to my electrical question: How is he getting power to these switches and plugs ( he didn't show this in his pics) Are the wires in the gray PVC running from these plugs and switches separated where they come out from under the stand on the back side of the stand and wired into a wall socket or are do they just have a plug on the end of the wires like an extension cord plug on the ends and you just plug it into a wall socket that is on the wall behind the stand? This was very neatly done, he had the two external return pumps under the stand where and he could just switch them off with the flick of a switch, not like under my tank where I have to grab the wire and trace it out with my hand to make sure I wasn't unplugging the wrong thing.

[FishVet]

The BEST way would be to run a circuit with a dedicated circuit breaker in your panel for ONLY that socket. Then you could just wire off as many outlets as you wanted under the tank...you probably don't have enough to short anything. That would be safer as you could install a ground fault interrupt (GFI) to protect everything.

The short answer is, yes, you can run everything off the one outlet and splice in multiple outlets under the tank, with no more load than if you plugged in a couple surge protectors. The only problem is you wouldn't have a surge protector! I would imagine that if the circuit is GFI protected you'd be safe but that's a question for an electrician.

I'm going to do this soon, and it'll just involve removing the outlet from the wall, adding PVC to protect the wiring from tank spillage (IMPORTANT) and then splitting it into probably three outlets that I'll secure to the tank. You can buy "outdoor" outlet boxes cheap at Lowe's that will be waterproof and allow you to tie into the PVC. They're usually "double outlets", in which case you can install two plates, one a switch and one a outlet with two plug-ins. Just run through the switch then to the outlet. It's pretty easy.

DON'T FORGET TO KILL THE BREAKER FOR THAT OUTLET BEFORE YOU START CUTTING WIRES!!!

[FishVet]

I didn't exactly answer one of your questions. No you can't just do it with extension cords. You have to splice the wiring yourself.

[Redfish]

I won't be doing this myself, was just wondering how it was done. I guess if you were to wire up your tank this way, it would make things look nice and neat, but you couldn't just move your tank to another part of the house on a whim , your wifes whim. One more question: Working from the socket mounted under the tank back to the wall where the wire goes thru and up the wall to the power box. Your wire is coming out of the back of socket into the grey PVC pipe which runs to the back of your tank stand this is the question part: Between the back of the stand and the wall,, will there just be a piece of wire running to the wall or will the grey PVC pipe keep running from the back of the tank stand to the wall ? Seems like if it was just the wire, this wouldn't look to good, not that anyone could get back there to see. Now that I think about it All you would have to do is run the PVC out the back of the stand, down to the floor, then run the PVC across the floor to the wall, done. No loose wire running across the floor and would look neat. I still don't know if I would like my tanks elecrical hooked up straight to my power box this way, I guess it would be just as safe as if you were pluging it in to a walll socket.

[FishVet]

First of all: who CAN move a tank on a whim? Water, live rock, keeping fish alive...the wiring would be the LEAST of my problems moving my tank!

Whether you're wiring into an existing circuit or going straight to the box, the PVC should run all the way until you're inside the wall for safety reasons IMO. I don't know about looks (a lone wire would be easier to conceal than PVC) but just imagine an accidental splash behind the tank. I wouldn't want any wire out there to grab the moisture. Better safe than sorry.

And this is a question for an electrician (I'm just a DIY guy), but I would think you'd actually be safer going straight to the box with a GFI outlet instead of plugging in with a power strip. Most power strips are just that; "surge protector" is a lie in most cases

I wouldn't worry much about power load. If the circuits in your house can't handle what's under your tank, you probably shouldn't have a tank.

[FishVet]

Full disclosure: When I do this, I'll be wiring multiple sockets off of the one that's already there. So I'll remove that socket, strip the wires, and split into at least three plates (probably two with switches). The reason for this is only because I have a cathedral ceiling in the living room, and accessing that supporting wall to drop the wire down from the attic will be more trouble than it's worth. And that's not even figuring the task of getting around all the insulation.

[bluwtr]

Hey Fishvet. What you need to do, is 1)CUT the power. Easiest way is to either plug a radio into the outlet and turn it up so you can hear it at the breaker panel or use a light and have someone report that it went out. Regardless, still test with a tester. 2) Remove the the plate and outlet from the wall. 3) mount a junction box over the hole with the two origional wires (not counting the bare ground) inside. 4) Run three seperate lines inside gray PVC conduit. The easiest way to do this is buy stranded wire at Lowe's. Get Black, white and green. the stranded pulls easier through the conduit. 5) Connect all of the black together; all of the white wires together and then the greens will connect to the bare copper ground. 6)Wire all of your circuits on your board with the switchs (if using). You won't have enough room to put that many wires in a standard 14cui box sot you have to use the junction.

HTH,

Wes

[FishVet]

@bluwtr...I think that was meant to be directed at Redfish, but yeah, you pretty much laid out the process as I would do it.

I have all the breakers labeled and mapped...one of the first things I did when I moved in to the house. It comes in handy often. It's pretty convenient knowing you only have to hit breaker 14, and that the tv will go off but not the hall light...

I disagree that you can't splice thrice in one standard box. You can take the outlet plate and replace it with a blank plate with a single hole in the middle, then run the conduit through that. You have a completely empty box to tie everything in, and it'll be waterproof on the outside with a little electrical-safe sealant.

NOTE: For the not-electrical savvy reading this, there is an easier (albeit not as neat) way to have switches. They do make power strips with surge-protection capability, that have switches for each plug. You can get one at Lowe's for 30 bucks or so. You anchor all your power cords to the inside of the cabinet with hooks or cable ties to get them out of the way, and mount your power strip with a couple screws right inside the doors. Then some scotch tape and little pieces of paper with "SKIMMER" and "LIGHTS" and "POWERHEAD", etc will complete the process, giving you labeled, surge protected, switched outlets. I did this on my freshwater tank

[bluwtr]

Hey, Fishvet yes, you are correct! Don't know why I addressed to you on the reply. Brain fart I'm sure.

I stand by what I said about having room though. You are talking about the potential of having 12-15 (inc grounds) wires in the receptacle box--main line in (3), outlet 1(3), outlet 2 (3) and outlet 3 (3) then, if the outlet is feeding other outlets down the wall, you've added another hot, neutral and ground. Even if you use 14ga wire, it would be VERY crowded to say the least. When you mount everything to a junction box, you will have plenty of room to work. Using plastic conduit is cheap, water proof and versatile. In addition, with it being behind the tank it will not cause aesthetic issues.


You have to remember that a standard receptacle box is 14 cubic inches. A small junction box is 32 cubic inches. You can also use flexible PVC conduit to avoid hard fittings.

Just FYI and HTH.

Wes