Almost had a fire!

[ShootStraight]

Apparently there are some illogical outlets that were attached to my computer circuit. One of these outlets was especially old and had a bad (high resistance) connection. While the circuit is running at 17A on a 20A line, this outlet with the bad connection apparently was arching and managed to entirely burn out the interior of the outlet along with 6" of insulation on the hot and neutral lines, and vaporizing the ground. It was undiscovered (didnt trip the breaker or GFI) till I tried to plug a vacuum into this obscure outlet and my fingers were mildly flashburned when I inserted the plug into the receptacle.

Couple of burned fingers aside, I sure am glad I found it in this manner rather than coming home to a pile of ashes, or worse, it start while sleeping.

Moral of the story, make sure any high demand circuits with plugs in series with each other have good solid (low resistance)connections throughout. Overloading isnt the only way to start a fire.

[[XC] leviathan18]

omg glad to hear you are ok and nothing happened

[Movieman]

JEEZUS! Glad to hear your ok pal!
That crap is scary and we all take it for granted that all the circuits are good.
I have a dedicated 110-30 amp circuit(10gauge wiring) for my PC equipment.
Cost $175.00 to have put in 2 years ago by a electrician I know and trust.
I sleep better now.
Glad to hear your ok!

[SoF]

omg this is something I'm always afraid of.
glad your ok, hope your fingers will be fine again in a short time.
I have a similar problem here as my small flat only has 3 power circuits and one is stressed very much with 3 computers (+3x CRT), TV and lights...I have to be carefull or fuse jumps out

[[cTx]Philosophy]

WOW man, glad to hear you and yours are ok, this is certainly something alot of people take for granted..

Past few years me and my family have had 2 fires(not of our fault) but its certainly something to wake you up to the realization that it coulda been alot worse, and makes you thank god that it worked out the way it did..

And for that sir, make sure the man upstairs hears a good blessing from you

[[XC] riptide]

Jesus. Close one Pal. Question though, do ye guys not have overload protected circuit breakers and the like.? I mean that would not happen here! Maybe its something entirely different....

[NickS]

Wow man, very lucky indeed! Luckily I don't think my PC is on too old of wiring. Most of the house is on wiring from the seventies and up. Some stuff still remains on knob&tube from the late 20's though.

[ShootStraight]

Yeah, we do, it just didnt get over the 20 A threshold. It was also a GFI breaker, which should have sensed the ground and popped, but didnt cause there was so much resistence with the bad connection.

The 10 G wire had such a bad connection it was more like running 17A through 15 guage which caused it to heat up, and burn.

-SS

[nn_step]

JEEZUS! Glad to hear your ok pal!
That crap is scary and we all take it for granted that all the circuits are good.
I have a dedicated 110-30 amp circuit(10gauge wiring) for my PC equipment.
Cost $175.00 to have put in 2 years ago by a electrician I know and trust.
I sleep better now.
Glad to hear your ok!

now that sounds like something we all need
and it is good that you are alright

[raccoonone]

yikes! glad you noticed it.

[[486]]

Wow man, very lucky indeed! Luckily I don't think my PC is on too old of wiring. Most of the house is on wiring from the seventies and up. Some stuff still remains on knob&tube from the late 20's though.

knob&tube was awesome, open air amperage on the wires [higher amps for the wire gauge, like the power lines near my house, they are only 3 10 gauge wires twisted together for each conductor, and that's for a lot of houses

and 70's wiring is bad because it might be aluminum, and that expands and contracts, and may start a fire

[Sparky]

in the 70's the aluminum wire was on its way out though, most of it was put in with copper at that point.

[Omastar]

Wow, thread revival much?

[Sparky]

oh crap it is.

Hey it wasn't my fault, best did it.....!

[ShootStraight]

LOL... I added more cicuits since then. Melted those too...

-SS

[Sparky]

SS, you aren't running P-D 805's by any chance are you?

[ShootStraight]

Back then it was 5 dual XP-M's. Now its quads and clovers and a gaggle of mac mini's

-SS

[TRG]

I hate the idea of having a fire due to computer equipment.

Even the most modern equipment can contain little manufacturer-faults and can cause terrible events. Always check your stuff and always double check your overloaded cable-mess before leaving it alone! (especially when you're using other equipment such as soldering stations / test equipment).

[Poodle]

As I have something of a music studio at home I´m really fussy about cabling and will have it redone in my flant and with shielding. I´ve got Supra LowRad 2.5mm² power cables and goldplated connectors to all my gear and a APC 1500VA ups.

Sceared less about the dangers of fires as I´ve got a art collection as well.