Hey man. All this started after I rigged up some outdoor lights with a non weatherproof cord and it rained. That’s the ONLY thing that changed. Timer was same same for months etc. however. The day the lighting issue happened in the home, it rained on that outside cord that wasn’t for outside.... BUT. Electrician said the outlet it was plugged into was good. So I don’t know. That outlet does not work though.
Ok, now we're getting somewhere.
I used an extension cord, or two home made extension cords.... for some Halloween lights. They got rained on. My blow up pumpkin went down on the real cord as did the lights. Again this was an indoor outlet by my main door. This outlet was allegedly tested to be fine. That was my first thought though because that’s the only thing that changed. A bad rain storm and a indoor cord getting soaking wet. Maybe that did it.
45-46.5 amps for lights
2 weeks...
Honestly, if the wet cord was an issue, it ceased being an issue when you unplugged it. I really doubt that had anything to do with what is going on now.
Yeah, I agree- I don't think the cord is the current issue. It might have overheated/melted that outlet though. Crappy cord with a bad connection there. Just a guess on my part.
Thing is, if that wet cord was causing an issue the breaker would likely have tripped when the wet cord was plugged in. I don't see how it would cause a melted receptacle. Most often thats caused by a loose connection. Arc fault breakers will trip if there is a lose connection. I wonder if his breaker is an arc fault breaker actually. Those can be problematic.
Good idea on the breaker.
Thing is for a receptacle to overheat, excessive current would be required, like a short circuit. that condition would cause the breaker to trip. Usually a melted receptacle is caused by a loose connection arcing or because someone stuck a larger breaker on that circuit. I was working on a house once and the home owner had put a single pole 30a breaker on a 14 gauge circuit. lol needless to say that was all bad.
Lol @ the 30 amp breaker. Geeze. They're lucky to still have a house. Pretty big job?
Yeah depending on what code cycle his county had adpoted at that time arc fault breakers would be required for rooms that are commonly occupied like bedrooms, living rooms and shit. Newer code cycle has arc fault in laundry and other areas as well. So I suspect we may be dealing with an arc fault breaker and a loose connection. Some devices can trip an arc fault breaker because of how they function, like an old power drill motor with brushes that cause little arcs when it's running. https://petersonelectricllc.com/tripped-afci-breakers-reasons/
Yep saw smoke and the Fire Department and my neighbors all had some excitement.
That shit was even more common with fuses. People got tired of changing fuses or maybe all they had was a fuse with larger amperage but hey, it fit right?
He needs to start a Go Fund Me Page to pay for your services.
Or maybe an inflatable pumpkin, with a fan? Wonder if that's still hooked up.