Here's a closer look:
This is a melted wire nut. That's what I found after we lost power in our basement and living room the other night. None of the breakers had tripped, so I went to the back bathroom, where a fusebox-turned-junction box is. I could smell melted plastic before I even opened the door.
A guy from Tracy Electric came out and fixed it for the night, then came back the next day to beef it up more. He apologized profusely, and he showed me exactly what had happened, what he was doing to fix it, and what they would do the next day to fix it more.
Apparently the guy who actually did the work on our house in the first place hasn't worked on old houses before, so this has been a learning experience for him. Just another public service courtesy of College Hill House.
3 comments:
Mixing aluminum and copper wire without the right wire nut, or just not taking into account the thicker insulation of the older wire?
He said that the wires had not been joined properly, so the spring inside the wire nut was having to make the connection. Not surprising that it melted, if that's the case.
Indeed. Those springs make nice little resistors with enough electricity flowing through them.
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