Aarg. Need an electrician...

[Mrs Smith]

So it's only peripherally tank related, but it's a pain in my rear. The other day, I noticed some odd scorching on an electrical socket. I took the cover off, but nothing looked too amis. I don't use this outlet. So I replaced the cover and made a mental note to keep an eye on it. I called Dad, the electrical engineer, and said I thought it felt warm. He doubted it, and said to just watch it, as the "hot" side wasn't the affected one.


Today, I happened to glance at it, and noticed that there was an orange glow emanating from the socket... and found the wire fused to the screw and glowing red.

So I turned off the breaker.
Which happened to also be the circuit supplying the tank.
Groan.

So now the lights are on a kitchen circuit and the pumps are on the living room's circuit. We mapped out the house when we were planning the tank, so I knew if there were any problems, I'd be running extension cords.

Now, Dad managed to instill a healthy fear of electricity in me, and even though it's probably as simple as pulling the outlet and replacing it, I'm not entirely sure, given the melted wire, that I should be doing this.

So... I know there's at least one electrician who visits this board ('cause I hired him about a year ago... but I can't remember his handle or find contact info.) Help!

Danielle

 

[Your Ad Here]

hi,

im NOT an electrician but, first i would replace the breaker
should have tripped long before you seen "glowing" in the recep.

also sounds like you are over-loading the circuit, seeing how you didnt have anything plugged into that recep.

the connection at the recep. (using it as a jumper) is the weakest/thinnest point of the circuit. thats why it heated up

how old is the house , and what gauge wiring is in the wall?

you said the tank is on the same circuit, what all do you have plugged into the circuit?

sounds to me like,
loose connection in the recep.
overloading (gauge of wire to thin) for the amps your pulling
bad breaker (should have tripped)
critter in the recep.(mice, bugs, lizards)??

HTH

Chris

 

[Mrs Smith]

The tank is the only thing on the circuit, which was planned that way. (We mapped the circuits when we moved in, having flipped breakers with tanks before.) The house was built in '96.

I calculated the total amperage for the tank and actually just downgraded the lights, and we should have some extra wiggle room there, but perhaps not. I have it split between two circuits now. And might leave it that way.

I suspect that the connection was the problem, but the whole thing is off for the time being. (The circuit, not the tank.)

 

[jmking33]

electrical is a pain sometimes....I agree with (your ad here), bad breaker, bad connection, or bad rodent problem. (grin)

 

[tricky]

About breakers

About breakers

The problem here is caused by arcing. The receptacle has four load bearing connections inside the enclosed box. That is a black and white coming from the panel and a black and white going to the next receptacle downstream. The downstream load must go through each connection. Probably when the receptacle was installed, there was a loose connection. When you have a heavy load and some electrical resistance of a loose connection, a small amount of heat is generated. As heat is generated, the resistance of the contact goes up, generating even more heat (the orange glow). There will not be increased load on the circuit, only lower voltage delivered to the load (dimming) as more of the energy is being used to heat up the point of arcing. As the temperature at the arc goes up so does the resistance and it will continue until you smell the smoke or the wire burns in two.
The breaker is not at fault here, since its job is to disconnect the circuit if the load (amperage) goes higher than its rating.
The insulation is not usually at fault in this situation, as it is not the source of arcing.

Cause: There are two methods of connecting the wires to a receptacle. The more secure method is to use the screws on the side of the receptacle. The quick and easy method allows the electrician to strip the wires and stick them in a small hole in the back behind the screw. There are some jaws inside that grip the wire, but they often work loose and allow the arcing to start.

Repair: The safest method to repair this problem is to splice out any wire that has insulation damage from the overheating if it can be extended within the receptacle box. The box is designed to contain the heat of a problem like you had and contain a fire if one should start. Usually the arcing gets intense enough to burn through the wire, finally opening the circuit so the current ceases to flow before a fire breaks out. If you were to splice the wire outside the box, there would be an increased danger of fire in the event of a loose connection.
Prevention: It would be a good idea to check and rewire all receptacles between your tank and the panel to make sure all connections are secure to avoid future problems. There is a breaker that is designed to detect both overcurrent and arcing, called an arc-fault breaker. It is similar to a ground-fault breaker but does not perform the same protection.

Rick