HOB Filter Caught My Office on Fire!

[pwmin]

Woke up to a great call the other morning. I had to go in on my birthday to clean up some water because the FX5 tube melted and dumped half the water on the floor. Luckily, it's this weird asphalt with rubber stock mats in the office. Looks like the Pengiun 350 pump got hot and caught on fire and it hit my wood light stand and was hot-boxing the joint. We built the office really well and it was sealed up tight. Took them a long time to find the fire. The fire department even left as they figured it was a false alarm. If not for the smoldering wood, they might not have caught it before it got way worse. Our building used to be a lumber yard and is all wood. There is a support beam right outside of my office.

 

[Desert Bus]

Are the fish okay?

 

[PhishMon84]

hope everyones ok!!

was the heater in the HOB?

 

[pwmin]

There was only 1 fish in that tank (a starry blenny) and a couple inverts, but everything was fine. The spiders are all good, too. I had 4 active fish tanks from 10-90 gallons. The heater was in the tank itself.

 

[Midwater]

Many people do not realize how dangerous fish keeping can be.

 

[jjohnwm]

Yep...cheaply made heaters and pumps and lighting fixtures...mounted near to, or above, or directly submerged in...water. I get the impression looking at tanks belonging to friends and family and co-workers that about 20% of them have GFI protection.

Statistically, the most dangerous form of hunting is...turkey hunting. Sounds innocuous and harmless, until you think about it. Guys hiding under trees, fully camouflaged but foolishly showing flashes of white or blue or red in their socks or at the necks of their T-shirts, while other guys are creeping around with loaded shotguns looking for birds whose heads are white and blue and red. It's a recipe for disaster.

It's the same with fish-keeping: sounds like a kinda goofy, kinda nerdy and totally harmless hobby...until you think about all those electrical cords and motors and lights...and all that water...

Glad you caught it in time.

 

[PhishMon84]

Yep...cheaply made heaters and pumps and lighting fixtures...mounted near to, or above, or directly submerged in...water. I get the impression looking at tanks belonging to friends and family and co-workers that about 20% of them have GFI protection.

Statistically, the most dangerous form of hunting is...turkey hunting. Sounds innocuous and harmless, until you think about it. Guys hiding under trees, fully camouflaged but foolishly showing flashes of white or blue or red in their socks or at the necks of their T-shirts, while other guys are creeping around with loaded shotguns looking for birds whose heads are white and blue and red. It's a recipe for disaster.

It's the same with fish-keeping: sounds like a kinda goofy, kinda nerdy and totally harmless hobby...until you think about all those electrical cords and motors and lights...and all that water...

Glad you caught it in time.

When I was younger and dumber I was the hunting dog for my boss and his buddies, they dropped me off on one side of the woods and went around to wait on the other. Mind you, I was 16 and the go-for at the brick laying company.
The only instructions given at 4am, by Budweiser slinging good ole boys was “run through the woods, make a bunch of noise- then duck!

 

[troublesum]

WOW!!! that's crazy. Always in the back of my mind when I'm at work or on the go i always worry about flooding, my tanks blowing out or my heater malfunctioning and killing my fish, But the last thing on my mind is my tanks catching fire. Now my OCD has a new worry to live in my head.
Glad everything and everyone is OK

 

[Reese11]

Woke up to a great call the other morning. I had to go in on my birthday to clean up some water because the FX5 tube melted and dumped half the water on the floor. Luckily, it's this weird asphalt with rubber stock mats in the office. Looks like the Pengiun 350 pump got hot and caught on fire and it hit my wood light stand and was hot-boxing the joint. We built the office really well and it was sealed up tight. Took them a long time to find the fire. The fire department even left as they figured it was a false alarm. If not for the smoldering wood, they might not have caught it before it got way worse. Our building used to be a lumber yard and is all wood. There is a support beam right outside of my office.

That’s crazy man, glad your fish made it and it was caught in time before it got to a major situation. I one time had a wall outlet in my house make a clicking/sparking noise when I went to plug my dolphin pump back in. Turns out one of the hot leads was installed poorly and got disconnected from the back side of the outlet and was welding itself to the inside of the box. That was the clicking/spark noises we heard. It could have been a lot worse but thankfully only the wall outlet needed to be replaced and we were okay. After that happened I was going to check every outlet in use just in case, to make sure all connections are tight, it can be scary if and when something like that happens. It’s not talked about much but fish keeping can definitely be a hazard without the proper protective power strips. How long had your Penguin 350 pump been running until that happened?

 

[PhishMon84]

I've had heaters crack and smoke in a sump that ran dry. fortunately i caught it before heading to the inlaws for the weekend.
I've had the backflow valve on an fx6 fail and drain a 180 down to 8" of water. I've had an eheim 2262 blowout at the pump and completely flood my basement.

scary stuff! i guess i should take this as an opportunity to be neater