What is this...???? (equipment id)

[dadstank]

what is this? i am thinking it is a ground of some sort.

if it is, can i just plug it in and drop it in the sump? does it give any kind of shock to anything in the tank?

--what exactly does it do?

thanks. :wink:

 

[dadstank]

so, uh i guess y'all would like a photo?

 

[Anonymous]

that's exactly it is. Commonly called a 'ground probe'

It will give any errant stray voltage a place to go, rather than your animals.

Good to use!

B

 

[dadstank]

so, if it has not been used in years, its cool to just drop it in say right now?

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, you can use it right now. There are no moving parts to fail or anything like that.

 

[Anonymous]

So are the hot & neutral plug prongs there just for decoration and to make sure you fit it in the plug firmly?

 

[bleedingthought]

Yeah, I was wondering what the ground wire was for.

 

[bleedingthought]

So are the hot & neutral plug prongs there just for decoration and to make sure you fit it in the plug firmly?

From the picture, it looks like the two prongs are made out of plastic. So, probably just for it to fit right/fimly.

 

[dadstank]

should i leave the extra groud alone or actually do something about to ground it?

 

[Anonymous]

If your outlets are grounded I would just leave it alone.

 

[Anonymous]

I think for it to be grounded, you have to take the screw out of your electrical outlet, place the screw into that little grounding wire apparatus dodad, and replace the screw? The stray voltage is then grounded into your homes electrical system.

Speaking as a blonde, might I also recommend that any electric device that is anywhere near saltwater needs to go through a GFCI circuit? I think that is more important than the actual grounding probe...