ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Violation Photo Forum Loose Connection or Bad Splice Melts Wire Nut!

Honestly Now!!

Maybe those old ceramic wire-nuts were useful for something!

This is really scary!!

That looks like it was a crimp-on lug connector...? Well, on 2nd look, maybe not, with the "spring" there. The other connectors are a similar yellow color.

Yes, that is scary looking. Reminds me of the crayons on the radiators in school

[This message has been edited by ThinkGood (edited 12-31-2003).]

The black stranded conductor has some of the "threads" nicked.

Ya think that could have contributed to the Marrette cheese?

Hey Joe, Do you have a more zoomed-out version of that picture? I would like to see what the rest of the conductors look like. There are hints that they are not in much better shape.

Below is a picture of a situation I encountered in my first house. Remodeling contractor, that also thought he was an electrician, just didn't get that fourth wire far enough into the wirenut before he applied the twist. I keep this on my desk at work as a constant reminder of how important correct electrical splices are.



[This message has been edited by Mean Gene (edited 12-31-2003).]

Mean Gene:

No I found this on the HVAC site and this was the only one, but have asked the webmaster to put me in touch with the person who posted this picture there. There are many electrical hazards and that's one of the items we discuss here.

Your burned up termination at the splice is also scary.

coming to my point of view again, you wouldn't have ran into this with a wago (or a push-clamping one for stranded)........

The “drooling” connector looks like it may be hopelessly undersized for the task, based on exposed strands of black conductor.

The assembly looks like a resistance/strip/duct heater, based on the definitie-purpose {vending-machine-grade} contactor, ceramic bushing and ‘therm-o-disk’ in picture. Looks like there is other evidence of localized overheating, possibly due to an intermittent/failed ‘indoor’ fan.

The black wire looks like part of some modification—maybe THHN “building wire” jury-rigged to red “appliance wiring material”—by an unqualified person.

What is the black crusty stuff [7 o’clock in picture] around red vinyl conductor? Gross overheating is likely, and needs detailed inspection/troubleshooting.

Joe
I sent you an email with info about the post.

I'm sure he will be glad to hear from you.

I think it might be "friction tape" used for electrical tape. Which would mean that some unqualified handyman has been in there...

IMO it looks like the black wire was not under the under sized wire nut, and was not properly pre-twisted to get the max surface area cunductor to conductor mating