07/10/2025
This was a particularly scary one!
Some info about this place, that somehow didn't burn down....
The building that this was in is really old. The wiring does not have any grounds. I don't think the service to this day is grounded or even bonded to plumbing pipes. It has that really old 2 conductor cloth wiring in most of it. The newer wiring is still old, cloth sheathed, plastic insulated conductors with no grounds. Also, for all of the outlets and most of the lights in this apartment there is only 2 circuit breakers for them.
So, what happened?
Someone needed a grounded outlet for an electric space heater. They swapped the old non grounded style receptacle for a new one that "has the ground hole". Well, first of all..... Don't do that! Alright, let's continue. They swapped out the outlet to be able to plug in their heater. They have that thing cranking out heat that's just pouring out of the poorly insulated, drafty walls and ceilings faster than it can make it... Probably accounting for at least 5% of the worlds global warming 😆. Well, remember how I said every outlet and light in this apartment was only on 2 circuit breakers? Yeeeaaaaah. The fridge, kitchen outlets, living room outlets, living room fan and lights, propane monitor heater, the bathroom, the bedroom outlets and lights that this outlet was in, and for some reason half the outlets in another bedroom were all on one of those circuit breakers.... Oh right, did I mention all of the extension cords coming from other receptacles on this circuit, that were also swapped? 😬 So, this heater is cooking like Martha Stewart showing Snoop Dogg a new recipe. The monitor heater is trying to keep up like a hamster on a wheel powering a monster truck. The living room fan is on to push what little warm air is in the place to other sub-artic zones. The old refrigerator from the 80's is trying to be the little engine that could. Of course you gotta have lights to see what you're doing ....(Unless you're Stevie Wonder, in which case I don't think it would matter much) Phones are charging and wifi is running so you can play candy crush when your phone is done charging. TV is on for some ambiance (Or maybe to keep your mind off of slowly freezing to death) Toaster oven is warming up that Toaster Strudel for breakfast. Air fryer is crisping up those chicken tendies as a healthy alternative. Microwave is spinning you right round baby right round 🎶 And Lord knows what the extension cords were plugged into ...(I stopped looking at this point).
Well, if you haven't guessed by now, the circuit was severely overloaded. The heater was the straw that made the camel put hay on it's back... Or something like that. The overload caused the wires to heat up enough for the insulation to melt completely off, leaving the conductors completely exposed. These bare wires then shorted out on each other. What's scarier? It never tripped the breaker. It was still live when I pulled it apart. The only reason it didn't continue arcing and burning and start a camp fire big enough for the entire town to roast marshmallows, is because the hot wire melted completely off. When it melted it stopped making contact and was out of the way enough to stop. Thankfully no one was hurt, and the town smores party was cancelled. I think we had a perfect storm of events happen here that caused the failure but it just goes to show that electricity is no joke. That stuff will burn your humble abode down quicker than you can blink an ear 🌽... Or worse. All jokes aside... Don't mess with electricity if you don't know what you're doing. Grounding is important. Don't use extension cords everywhere to run things. Code violations go unnoticed and unchecked all the time, so get stuff inspected. Upgrade that old, outdated, unsafe wiring and/or service. At the very least have it checked out by a professional. This could have been A LOT worse!
