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When the washing machine stopped working I called our landlord. He found out that 6 plugs in pairs of two at three separate sites along the same electrical line were burnt out. He replaced them for plugs with ground fault interrupters. After two weeks everything is still working.
My questions are:
- What can cause the burnt plugs?
- Our landlord thinks that we have had wrong appliances (which we haven't as far as I know). Can this cause burnt plugs?
- Can 220V appliances cause a burnt plug?
- Why didn't the fuse box prevent the plugs?
- Is this a dangerous situation?
- Who is responsible, me or the landlord?
Hope you have answers to my questions!
Thanks!
Alexandra
Last edited by Alex333berg; 07-11-2015 at 09:54 AM..
- Burnt plugs are typically caused by too heavy an electric load, such as oversized space heater, marijuana grow lights, etc.
- Maybe
- plugged into a standard wall socket somehow, yes.
- horrible English, but fuse or breaker could be too large for circuit.
- Depends. Overheating is never good.
- Both. You have to verify your appliances are correct and safe. Landlord is responsible for wiring *provided you don't overload the available circuits*
Electrical outlets wear out with use and time. Especially rentals with people moving in/out. The more times something is plugged-in/unplugged, the more wear on the outlet.
The outlets in rentals cost 50 cents each...They make "commercial grade outlets for $3.00 each - you get what you pay for - The commercial grade outlets can have things plugged in/unplugged a LOT more times.
When an outlet gets worn out, the "fit" is loose - that causes heat - the outlet burns. Also high amperage appliances like a space heater plugged into these outlets will cause them to burn quicker.
This is "normal wear and tear" for a rental.
Basically if you have to "giggle" the plug in an outlet to get it to work, the outlet needs replacing.
Still wandering why the breaker didn't protect the plugs?
I'm sorry if my English isn't perfect, Harry chickpea. I moved to America two years ago and it's not my first language.
Still wandering why the breaker didn't protect the plugs?
I'm sorry if my English isn't perfect, Harry chickpea. I moved to America two years ago and it's not my first language.
Don't sweat it, I think you meant jiggle (to wiggle back and forth) I don't think Harry meant any harm, I even smiled with his comment
I believe the breaker wouldn't protect against this because there isn't a short causing an excessive current flow just arcing which causes heat at the normal current level
Get a electrician or some who know house wiring to look at it. Sounds like the plugs are in on same line and one is bad causing those down line to fail most likely. No short as of now;so no breaker tripped. If all on same line fail could even be a bad breaker.get it fixed as electrical is most common cause of fires ;so nothing to mess with if you do not know what your doing.
Still wandering why the breaker didn't protect the plugs?
I'm sorry if my English isn't perfect, Harry chickpea. I moved to America two years ago and it's not my first language.
Breaker protects against overcurrent.. Not heat.
In theory, the AFCI breakers mentioned in the other topic here would have tripped.. But a standard breaker would not.
20A, which is probably what the breaker is.. You can generate enough heat to melt a plug well below that.
If you really want to have some fun.. Take 2 nails, stick one in each end of a pickle, split a cord so that hot goes to one nail, neutral to the other.. Plug it in.
Won't trip the breaker.. Will trip your mind after 15 seconds or so. And, you can set it up by asking people if they want to see your pickle glow.
I go with the person who said it was probably wear on the outlets.. Especially since it's a rental. Probably been like that for quite a while.
Poor installation can cause it as well.. And, seeing as your landlord did it himself.. there might be a good chance of that. You don't torque down the wires properly on the outlet.. It burns from the outside in.. If it's worn out, normally burns from inside out.
Dangerous? Absolutely. Would it have started a fire? unlikely, but it COULD have.. Which is the dangerous part.
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