Faulty Chiller? Or My Fault.

[Day]

Let me just give a background story first before I ask anything. So I got a chiller from this guy who was selling his chiller for $250 but I ended up paying $140 for it. He used the chiller for his saltwater fish tank so obviously after a while there is going to be salt build up all inside of it. So I took it home, bought a pump, tubing and metal clamps so that the tubing would stay on the fittings and the pump. I talked to my axolotl breeder and asked how I would be able to clean this chiller and I was told to use vinegar and let leave it on for an hour and have the pump in a bucket full of the vinegar and water.
Pay close attention to this part. I poured distilled vinegar (5% acidic)[/B} into the bucket and then water, turned the chiller on and waited for about 50 mins then I dumped it out and just put regular water in the bucket and waited 10 mins before I went back to see if everything was ok and working. I noticed that one of the fittings were leaking so my first stupid thought was to take the pump out so I tried to grab it out of the bucket and the water electrocuted me from my wrist down to my hand. This wasnt just a little "shake your hand zap haha prank" and im not talking 3rd degree burns either, but it was VERY painful.

Now my question is, was this my fault? or did I just buy a fault filter.. OR PUMP! The Pump is fully submersible.
I think it was the distilled vinegar cause it was acidic. And it might just be the pump cause that was the only thing in the water. What should I do

 

[michael]

advice on vinegar to clean chiller - Reef Central Online Community

Was only the pump running or did you have the chiller turned on too? From what I've read their shouldn't be a problem but obviously their was. If the short is in the pump it should be an easy fix. Maybe you can borrow a volt meter from someone to check for a short.