Technical Close call in the shop last night

I honestly can't tell you how many smoke/ smell investigations I run in a month, it's staggering. And my engine company's initial check is an action plan walk through of the structure with thermal imagers lol. If there's a hot receptacle, it'll show

 

Every state has their building codes. Every county in ky has a different interpretation. Main thing is @Roothawg found this before he lost anything more. When you go to unplug an extension cord, if it feels warm, there's an issue that needs to be addressed.

 

We save our images in folders on the share drive so they can be reviewed. Cool thing about the Fluke imager is we set the image report to show a pic of what the actual thermal image is showing. The image and pic get shown side by side.
Eliminates the guess work of 6 images in a file when reviewing.
I’m waiting for when we upgrade them. Then I’ll have one of my own!

 

That WAS a close one!
I’m trying to recall if I daisy chained my shop addition 10 years ago.
Unfortunately, I probably did. Blissful ignorance. Better safe than sorry, I ‘m checking it all.
Thanks for the advice, HAMB!

 

Glad to hear it was just a close call! I wired 4 -15amp outlets using 12-2 with a ground in series with the first one a gfci outlet down both sides of my garage. I pigtailed the bare ground wire to each outlet to the ground terminals. I have 1 220-volt outlet running my 40-year-old Sears air compressor. I noticed last week while running my compressor that the plug was getting warm. I usually unplug it when not in use. I have forgot a few times and went out the next day to hear it kick on. I would hate to guess what might happen if I accidentally left it plugged in and the air hose blew out in the middle of the night, and it ran continuously until.....! I am going to check all outlet connections and clean the compressor's plug and replace the 220v outlet just to be safe. I think your "close call" is a "wake up call" for some of us.

 

I had that same thing happen, had a fake neon clock plugged into it, the clock didn't even work just lit up, I was redoing the wall and found it.
Like you no 15 amp breakers tripped, my electrician buddy explained it as a ground issue that slowly heated the plug over an extended period of time.

 

I don't ever remember seeing an outlet that rusty in an indoor situation ?

 

If an air hose blew , it would reduce the load on the motor to next to nothing , might get a bit warm or possibly damage it if it was already compromised

 

I have spoken with a few folks in Fire Dept. in the know. You can check the ground of the receptacle with the neutral receptacle on a plug with a good Fluke ohm meter. There should be almost no AC voltage (millivolts yes) between them. If you show voltage there is a "leak" somewhere in the electrical system and needs investigation. Many times the power pole transformer that feeds your house can have issues causing this leaking condition. You do not want AC voltage traveling thru your grounds or neutrals. This condition can eventually cause a fire. They are bonded in the main power box to be the same potential. Good grounds on the main breaker box is a must to keep out of trouble.

 

This garage leaked like a sieve when I bought the place even though it had 7 layers on the roof and 3 different stacked ceilings, there was a one bedroom apartment built inside that soaked up the moisture, hence tearing the wall apart.
That was nothing as compared to a wall that held a couple dual light switches and doorbell.



Look at those studs, what is supporting what lol

 

If that is a load bearing wall.................

 

No shit eh, thankfully it wasn't, no idea how they got it past code to qualify as a multi-family, I gutted it and made it a usable heated work area and returned it to single family.
A photo from the same vantage point

 

I must say, I like what you've done with the place. You have a real talent for decorating.
I'd happily live down there.....

 

That burn out is actually on the hot side of the plug. The Neon tube on the clock must have had a transformer to illuminate the neon tube. It is probable that the transformer current caused weak connection on that side of the receptacle to heat up and cause the burn out. The history of moisture contacting that device didn't help any either.

 

Well I’m sure those eggs are no good now!

 

Ha Ha Ha, definitely not !

There was an old man, his wife and a dog in there when I bought the place, that lasted about 3 years, I practically had to evict them to get them out of there. He bitched about everything but wouldn't let any contractors in to repair anything, wouldn't move out, got old really quick.

 

(no one will do this)
for panels, theres been torque specs for decades, but individual outlets? no way anyone would do that. inspectors wouldnt even enforce it, they check "does the wire move"

 

Like many inspections back in the old days, the inspector walked in backwards with an open hand

 

GOOD LORD !

 

If that !

 

I refuse to eat meatloaf! ……you know you are what you eat!




Bones

 

Finding that would be enough to keep me awake at night!

 

I've never plugged that clock back in since and I don't leave anything plugged into that outlet, when I do use that outlet it's never been warm to the touch or anything either. But I refuse to put that Clay Smith clock up, that thing was plugged in different outlets as a nightlight persay for years, but no more.

 

Huh , my wife wants me to be a leafy green chicken !