Tank Placement - Above house wires

[amc78cj7]

Just finishing up building my new cabinet. And picked up the new tank from GLA last week. Now I'm in my basement working from home and look up to see all the household wires run along the floor joist directly below where my tank was going to go. :doh: They run about 12 feet from that location and then down into the breaker box. I imagine if the tank were to flood it would run through the subfloor, onto these wires, and probably straight over to the breaker box. I've probably answered my own question as I think this is a recipe for disaster. It also doesn't look like there is enough slack in the wires to create a drip loop. If there is, I'll do that. Otherwise, I guess I better relocate the tank.

Thoughts welcome.

[jimsflies]

Just don't leak any water and it will be fine. :)

Can you post a photo or two of the wires? ...It seems like there should be a way to deflect water or if they are stapled down like most wires, it seems unlikely it would follow the wire 12-feet over and down to the breaker box before encountering a negative slope or staple that would cause it to drip off. (I'm envisioning a scene out of one of the Final Destination movies here... :cower:)

[amc78cj7]

Here is the cabinet work in progress.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/amc78cj7/2014Feb18006_zpsebaccdd5.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/amc78cj7/2014Feb18021_zpsded1d668.jpg

Here are the wires directly below the location.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/amc78cj7/2014Feb18023_zpsb10cdc98.jpg

Here are the wires as the run to the left and down to the breaker box.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/amc78cj7/2014Feb18024_zpsa0fc420c.jpg

[dlhirst]

Pull out a few of the retaining staples so that the wire is loose. Then tuck in some viscleen plastic "above" the wires, with at least a few inches hanging down front and back. Once that is in place, you can staple the wires back in place if you'd like. As long as the sheet of viscleen covers the flood plain "east and west" you should be fine. There is the possibility of some water making it through the staple holes, but it's not gonna be enough to worry about.

And, isn't the "tank flooding" a recipe for disaster on its own?

[jimsflies]

I would doubt that with the staples holding the wire down that water would continue to run along the wire without dripping off at those locations. Unless you have another good location for your tank, I wouldn't sweat it.

I'm also guessing that you could create a location with a negative slope if you loosened the staples and pulled the wire back a bit. It wouldn't take much to make a "drip loop". Then make sure you nail the staples back in...each one of those creates a location for water to drip off the wire.

If you would feel more comfortable, you could also staple a hand cloth over top of the wires at one location so that if water was to flow along them, it would be absorbed by the towel and create a drip location beneath it. (Yes this option is a little ghetto but it would mitigate water flowing along the wires. )

BTW- Looks like a nice build you got going. :)