Help! Fluval nano 13.5 POSSIBLE electrical issue?!?!?

[Trainer]

Hi everyone! I need a sanity check here.

 

I'm just getting back into the reef hobby.  

 

Picked up a used Fluval Evo a few days ago.  I love the tank.

 

I think I've got a problem here though.  It seems to me the circulation pump has an electrical fault.

 

I had the tank running and went to adjust the directional nozzles and felt some tingling on my fingers when I touched them.  I sort of dismissed it at the time as vibrations from the pump motor.

 

It's a day later and it was bugging me a bit, as I've had my fair share of electrifications and it felt too similar.  

 

I went and grabbed my voltage tester (one of those tiny pen shaped ones electricians use to check if a wire is live).

 

Well it goes into alarm as I get closer to the nozzle.   Even if I dip the probe in the water near the nozzle, but away from the cords.

 

I decided to do a process of elimination. I can leave everything plugged in, except for the pump in question, and the trouble goes away.

 

Soon as I plug in the circulation pump, the stray electrical current shows up again according to my tester.

 

OK, so sanity check.    

 

That's not normal right?  Time to replace pump and carry on.

[Trainer]

OK weird....

 

I had an accessory pump I wasn't using that came with it, and thought I would plug that in.   

 

However now my tester alarms with that pump also.  So I don't know what to think.

 

Can anyone confirm with their setup that this is normal or not?

 

I'm questioning life at the moment. 

[Trainer]

Maybe this is normal??

 

We have a smaller 5 gal fresh water and same thing with that tank. 

 

This must be normal???   

 

Weird that it only seems to do it with the pumps and not the heater or the skimmer.   

 

 

 

 

[Staticmoves]

2 hours ago, Trainer said:

Maybe this is normal??

 

We have a smaller 5 gal fresh water and same thing with that tank. 

 

This must be normal???   

 

Weird that it only seems to do it with the pumps and not the heater or the skimmer.   

 

 

 

 

I’ll go check mine for you

[Staticmoves]

4 minutes ago, Staticmoves said:

I’ll go check mine for you

That’s my holding tank in the basement, new about a year back.

same happens on my DT upstairs.

ive never had a tingle though when my hand goes in the water.

[Trainer]

4 hours ago, Staticmoves said:

That’s my holding tank in the basement, new about a year back.

same happens on my DT upstairs.

ive never had a tingle though when my hand goes in the water.

 

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Wow.  Thanks for doing that.  Lol, we have the same fluke tester!   

 

Gotta say though, that's a bit of an eyebrow raiser.   

 

Thanks again.  

[mcarroll]

Some voltage is normal thanks to induction, so a simple indicator is not a good test.  

 

You need a multimeter that will give you a number so you know if it's "trace induction" or actual device leakage from a defect....which might be 110 volts!

 

What brand pump is it?  If it's no-name, replace it with a better pump and don't look back.  (I'd consider doing that even if the pump was OK.....keep the no-name as a backup or for doing water changes, etc.)

[Trainer]

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Some voltage is normal thanks to induction, so a simple indicator is not a good test.  

 

You need a multimeter that will give you a number so you know if it's "trace induction" or actual device leakage from a defect....which might be 110 volts!

 

What brand pump is it?  If it's no-name, replace it with a better pump and don't look back.  (I'd consider doing that even if the pump was OK.....keep the no-name as a backup or for doing water changes, etc.)

It's the Fluval pump that comes with the Nano 13.5.

 

And yes, I took a multi meter and measured current from water near the pump, to earth contact in the power socket and it's near zero.   So yes, just induction.    The tingling must have just been the vibration from the pump.