[Aegis]

So I was replumbing my sump last night when I accidentally sprayed water down a wall and into an electrical outlet. Not being an electrician, I thought "oh awesome, I'm going green by using hydroelectric power!" but apparently that's not what that means.

So there was a flash and the breaker blew. I dried off the wall/outlet and tried the switch. Same result. So I pointed a fan at it and let it sit overnight, thinking perhaps it just hadn't dried out. Nope. Still blows in fantastic fashion.

So the question is -- does that outlet just need to be replaced? Can you like fry the internals? Is that something I can easily do myself? My fridge is on that circuit so I need a fix ASAP or my ice cream will melt... and that's not good for anyone!

 

[jolson10450]

So I was replumbing my sump last night when I accidentally sprayed water down a wall and into an electrical outlet. Not being an electrician, I thought "oh awesome, I'm going green by using hydroelectric power!" but apparently that's not what that means.

So there was a flash and the breaker blew. I dried off the wall/outlet and tried the switch. Same result. So I pointed a fan at it and let it sit overnight, thinking perhaps it just hadn't dried out. Nope. Still blows in fantastic fashion.

So the question is -- does that outlet just need to be replaced? Can you like fry the internals? Is that something I can easily do myself? My fridge is on that circuit so I need a fix ASAP or my ice cream will melt... and that's not good for anyone!

first of all run an extension cord for your fridge to a new outlet to take that off your shoulders then work on the rest. i had this happen to me before and i also ran my tank on an extension cord to another outlet and left a fan on the one for like 3 days until it dried out. i tried it and it sparked still so i ended up replacing it because there was a short in it. you want to take all you can off that breaker that way you can keep it off when you replace the outlet.

 

[2pairs]

Yep, replace the outlet. You should be able to do it and can pick one up at local hardware.
But NEVER NEVER work on electrical socket with the breaker on!!!

 

[nate0430]

Agreed to replacing the outlet. I'm assuming this was saltwater, even if it's dry the salt and its residue is left. Which I think may be conductive also. I'd replace the outlet with a GFCI if it's around water.

 

[reefone]

replace it but if ur fridge is on the same circuit i bet its a 20 amp outlet. just take the old outlet and check the amps.

 

[new2salt09]

YES RELACE the outlet, salt is a great conductor and over time it will corrode the brass tabs in side and couse it to over heat and melt and posabley start a fire

 

[lumberleo]

LOL don't mean to laugh at your situation but this was funny...

Not being an electrician, I thought "oh awesome, I'm going green by using hydroelectric power!" but apparently that's not what that means.

 

[fawkes]

Hey... maybe replace it with a GFCI outlet. If that is more than you want to try - you can buy add on GFCI outlets (I think I saw them at Premium Aquatics) or try one of the hadware superstores and look for a GFCI power strip.

 

[Aegis]

Ok... so I definitely put my fridge on another outlet for the time being. I couldn't lose that ice cream!

I went out and bought a 15 amp GFCI. I remember maintenance telling me that it was a 15 AMP circuit. Well they were wrong and it's 20a but no biggie. You can put a 15a gfci on a 20 amp circuit because it has 20 amp feed thru.

This is throwing me for a loop though. I open the receptacle and it is fried to the point of crumbling. The receptacle had 2 RED wires going into one side, one on a silver screw and one on a brass. The other side had a single black wire going into a silver screw. That doesn't seem right.

Any ideas?

I should mention that this receptacle doesn't have a ground.

 

[on the spot]

The silver screws are usually on the neutral...the fat blade side. It isn't a switched outlet is it? Is the tab between the two red wires broken?

How old is the building? When you say no ground the outlet is just a two blade receptacle, or there is no ground to the box in the wall?

 

[Aegis]

I couldn't tell you whether the tab was broken. This thing came out of the wall in pieces. All 3 wires also don't end at the receptacle, there is just a small bare section where they were screwed in and the wires go right back into the wall.

I opened another outlet hoping to find some clues, but they don't look the same.

 

[Aegis]

and the fat blade side was the side that had the one black wire connected. This is not on a switch. The building was built in 1963. There was no ground connected to the previous receptacle, but it was 3-pronged.

 

[Aegis]

Found another outlet just like it. It is actually an orange a red and a black.

Uploading pictures now.

 

[Aegis]

Side 1 (smaller blade) with orange and red

side 2 (large blade) with balck

I mean I guess I could be way off base and the black could be ground. I really have no idea about electricity :-\ It just doesn't follow current color guides.

 

[on the spot]

It sure looks like the tab, the brass connection between the two screws, has been cut in this picture.

examine the burned out receptacle. It should be clear if the tab has been cut or not. If it is, be sure to cut the tab on the new receptacle.

 

[streetrodder007]

If your old Receptacle was working good before, hook your new Receptacle or GFCI up with the same exact wiring schematic. Somewhere in the wall going to another device someone is using a Black for a neutral, even though that's not how we do it on our jobs or the NEC, I see that stuff all the time. Remember, the wire does not what color it is, that's something we teach apprentices, as long as the wire is acting as a neutral (grounding conductor), it will work, the job is not to rewire the whole house. Even inspectors would not make us do that, unless it was a simple fix, we would change the wires for sure ourselves. Also, I would definately use the GFCI, you DO NOT need a ground for those to operate properly. GFCI's are designed to trip on a current imbalance of 5 ma , not for overcurrent protection. Which is what you want for your tank, in case "water just happen's to spray in there" somehow. LOL

 

[Aegis]

It sure looks like the tab, the brass connection between the two screws, has been cut in this picture.

examine the burned out receptacle. It should be clear if the tab has been cut or not. If it is, be sure to cut the tab on the new receptacle.

The tab is definitely broken on that other receptacle. This GFCI doesn't appear to have a tab or anything similar that can be removed, however.

 

[Aegis]

whelp... here goes nothing.

Let's hope this isn't my last post on MR.

 

[Aegis]

well the red and orange hot and black neutral didn't work. The red trip light was flipped and when I pushed it in it went POP! and smells like burning.

sunnuva....


When I pulled it apart, the red was on a brass screw, the black and orange were on silver. Do you think orange is neutral and red and black are hot? Would one put 2 hots to one neutral?

 

[zenpytho]

break tab off brass side which is hot and just wire it the same way using a gfci on that wire set up would be a waste they do not protect properly if there isnt a secondary ground running to electrical panel so just use a regular 20 amp plug