I've seen where the "noodles" were eaten almost all the way through, the surface area exposed helps speed up the corrosion.
In a 240V series circuit, the current wants to be the same throughout the circuit and therefore when Harry Homeowner panics and unplugs the sparking, smoking appliance from the wall by the #16 AWG cord with melting insulation, with reference to the neutral and ground lost, I see burn and/or electrocution to be very likely. I do understand that it takes just the right circumstances to achieve such a scenario.
[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 05-12-2001).]
