Any electricians out there?

FATJACK said:
Believe I would not use the Microwave at all until you get this repaired, even a small microwave can easily draw 15 amps. Don't burn up my Girlfriend , I would be real pissed at you!!
Click to expand...

Disconnected the mic and removed the outlet. Capped the wires with wire nuts until I can get a new receptacle.


















She is in Georgia... :p
 
I don't want to offend anyone by saying this but Iltemprd happens to be a Master Electrician....I also carry a card and I concur 100% with his diagnosis. Just sayin his posts sorta went un noticed....:D
 
I just noticed this thread Scott. You have an immediate fire danger and you have been given some solid advise in the previous posts. Other than calling an licensed electrician and de-energizing your problem circuits I would suggest that the licensed electrician use AFCI and GFCI breakers as well. AFCI circuits should be used in all bedrooms and living room. GFCI circuits should be used in all rooms that have water like the Kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. Please read the following:

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/afcifac8.PDF
 
Well, I just confirmed that I need to replace all of the receptacles in the main house. The addition is fine.

Hopefully this will be ok until I can afford to have the house re-wired. (At $3 a pop, just replacing the receptacles will be expensive enough!)

I am going to start by replacing the receptacles that are currently in use, then work my way around the house to all of the others. I will also replace the wire nuts in at least 2 locations that I know are Cu - Au connections.

Thanks again to everyone for their insight and input!
 
$3 a pop is cheaper then a new house Bro. Happy you found out now, that's for sure.

I agree with your attack plan, just take it slow and becareful! Don't need your hair curled... :)

Wil
 
Sorry to hear all this Scott. Sounds like you've already been given some sound advice.

Good luck!!!
 
ntw0rk said:
Well, I just confirmed that I need to replace all of the receptacles in the main house. The addition is fine.

Hopefully this will be ok until I can afford to have the house re-wired. (At $3 a pop, just replacing the receptacles will be expensive enough!)

I am going to start by replacing the receptacles that are currently in use, then work my way around the house to all of the others. I will also replace the wire nuts in at least 2 locations that I know are Cu - Au connections.

Thanks again to everyone for their insight and input!
Click to expand...
Don't forget to check the light switches too. If they've been changed out to the improper type then they can be a hazard also.
 
SilvrSRT10 said:
Don't forget to check the light switches too. If they've been changed out to the improper type then they can be a hazard also.
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Yeah, I checked... bad. And the switches are almost twice as expensive as the receptacles!

Already replaced 4 receptacles. Will have to wait to do the rest, but I feel a little better about it.
 
Consider yourself lucky finding out this problem with two burned up recepticles.

I know a guy whom did his own kitchen remodel including the electrical. Within two years he browned out his top of the line fridge, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer. $10k wasted instead of calling an electrician and getting the wiring done properly.

Whatever it takes do the safe thing dude. Good luck.

patrick
 
Good deal on problem resolution. I would consider myself very lucky that additonal/significant damages did not occur and that nobody was injured as a result of this problem. Another thing to check for: if your service panel is a Federal Pacific Electric (FPE), Stab-Lok style, I highly recommend it be replaced as soon as possible. Like Aluminum wiring, these panels and their circuit breakers are proven safety and fire hazards. Also, I would have your electrician go through your service panel and check all connections, e.g. wiring to breakers, breakers to bus structure and bus structure connections, check for signs of insulation failure, overheating, melting, look for dark or blackened terminals, insulation, bus, etc. And if the electrician can test the breakers for proper operation, that would be advisable. You may want to consider replacing your breakers if they can not be readily tested or at least replace the breakers that serviced the failed electrical circuits.

A few questions or comments were raised in this thread regarding "why did the circuit breaker fail to operate or open?". Below are some failure modes I have seen during my time.

Mechanical operating mechanism failure, e.g. failed closed, preventing the mechanism from moving or operating to the trip or open position. These mechanism operating failures were a big FPE problem.

Worn or high internal contact resistance caused by corrosion, erosion, contamination), marginal connection between movable and stationary contacts or worn contacts or thermal stress and mechanical loading. Any of these conditions will create a high resistance condition with increased heating effects as current load increases or is sustained. The failing interconnections overheat at high current loading, and, in the worst case, fire ignites within the panel due to insulating material failure.

Defective or failed internal trip unit/sensor (bi-metallic element); fails to sense/trip on overload condition within UL specified time limit to 135%/200% of rated nameplate value. This is analogous to the condition of "overfusing".

Protection system or device trips incorrectly (or fails) due to a fault outside of the protection zone. This means the protective device was improperly specified or applied to provide for proper over current protection and selective coordination. The over current device must be able to operate during fault conditions and isolate the fault to the nearest protective device within its time/current protection zone (long, short and instantaneous).

Best of luck with correcting this mess and if you need any help, shout out.
 
Well, today I finished changing all of the outlets and switches that needed to be replaced!! Finally!

I do feel much safer now!
 
ntw0rk said:
Well, today I finished changing all of the outlets and switches that needed to be replaced!! Finally!

I do feel much safer now!
Click to expand...
Good to hear bro, Hope its all good now. :rock:
 
ntw0rk said:
Well, today I finished changing all of the outlets and switches that needed to be replaced!! Finally!

I do feel much safer now!
Click to expand...
it took you 19 days to change your outlets.....must be union hahahaha:D :D
 
ntw0rk said:
Well, today I finished changing all of the outlets and switches that needed to be replaced!! Finally!

I do feel much safer now!
Click to expand...

How many working smoke detectors you have Scott?
 
505'sFastestViper. said:
it took you 19 days to change your outlets.....must be union hahahaha:D :D
Click to expand...

Actually, it only took me about 6.5 hours total, done in to different shifts. :p

Just finding a day when I could do it was the trick. ;)
 
NBT said:
How many working smoke detectors you have Scott?
Click to expand...

2. One in the Kitchen, and one in the hall way covering the bedrooms.


When I get a little more caught up, I will be adding one to the alarm system as well.
 
Good deal. Glad to hear things worked out. I would keep an eye on the equipment and outlet's performance. In a week or so, randomly select a outlet (or several) and inspect it to see if any issues returned.
 
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