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View Full Version : `Tis the season...


markus shaffer
11-29-2005, 12:54 PM
Thought this would be worth sharing as those of us who live in the north will be experiencing cold for the next several months.. The outlet below had a 1500 watt space heater plugged into it.. The plug on the bottom is from a power strip which I cannot get out. It got so hot inside that the prongs have fused with the metal inside the outlet itself. Good thing this was caught before it got out of hand. Was behind a piece of furniture where it couldn't be seen. Would hate to hear of anyone here losing their shop or anything else because of these wretched things..

-Markus
Bruce Page
11-29-2005, 1:08 PM
Yikes!! That was a close call. :eek:
I'm glad you caught it in time.
Bill Lewis
11-29-2005, 2:10 PM
I looked at the pictures several times and for the life of me, I can not see anything obvious that would've caused that failure. It is a 20amp rated outlet, and it wasn't speed wired. It isn't a new outlet, but was a good quality one. There is no way that a 1500 watt heater should have done this. Did it trip the breaker?
markus shaffer
11-29-2005, 3:29 PM
Bill,

Wasn't my outlet, I just pulled it out and replaced it. It seems that there were several other things plugged into the power strip but the top outlet that melted had a computer printer plugged in. Perhaps there was a problem with the printer. I'll look into that. But everything except the heater has been plugged into this outlet for years without incident, thus I had imagined that it was the heater. Seems everytime I turn on the news here there is another fire started from a space heater..

The breaker did trip after the insulation from the wire melted and contact was made inside the box. But thinking of what you've said, perhaps there is another problem. This plug was on a dedicated circuit. 20 amp breaker with a run of 12 guage solid wire. The wire is armored BX cable as that is code here. I'll definately look at that printer before it gets plugged in again. I've replaced everything in the wall. Cut back the wire and pigtailed on more solid 12 guage to the new outlet. Got a two outlet box but only put in one outlet so as to make room for the excess wire. Everything seems okay so far but the printer and heater are not back in. Printer needed replacing anyway.

-Markus