ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Help Required

My house in question is over 20 years old and in certain sockets around the house green sticky stuff appears in the socket.

When plugs are put in to the socket obviously a pin comes out all green and further investigation has revealed little.

On closer inspection the neutral appears to be the wire that has all the green stuff on it.

Should mention I am in the UK.

Thanks.

David.

[This message has been edited by DaddyCool (edited 03-31-2003).]

[This message has been edited by DaddyCool (edited 03-31-2003).]

See this link

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 03-31-2003).]

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 03-31-2003).]

Hi David,
Welcome to ECN.

The problem you describe sounds like migration of the plasticiser in the pvc insulation.
This occurs as a result of thermal cycling of the conductor due to changes in load and conductor temperature drawing the thermodynamically unstable insulation plasticiser to the copper conductor.
The sticky blue/green liquid is not corrosive and can be cleaned with methylated spirits.
There is no cure for plasticiser migration, other than replacement of the cable.

This migration only affects older PVC cable (pre mid 70's), as newer cables use refomulated pvc compounds.

I would strongly advise you to have a qualified electrician inspect & test your wiring to ensure that it is still in safe condition.

I have seen this problem several times, but usually the sticky liquid stays inside the mounting box.

Hope this helps.

I have been told that it is definitely not Verdigris but the answer by David UK sounds very promising.

Thanks for that.

I will report back.

What did we do before the Internet!!! :-)

David,
Welcome to ECN, mate!.
We also have this problem, over here in New Zealand, like yourself, I wondered what the H**L it was, when I first saw it, it had run down the wall, from the Earth aperture on the socket, it was like a cheap horror movie!.

I was thinking Ectoplasm

(ever see GhostBusters?)


Bill

Hi there DaddyCool, and welcome to ECN.

I can't say this is a problem I recall seeing before.

I've come across some fittings on very damp outside walls where the green stuff was most definitely corrosive. In fact, in one case it had eaten through the earth wire and partially destroyed the insulation and wire on the phase, enough that a little movement left the metal box energized!


I'm thinking of the cans of "Slime" that some of my school friends had in the late 1970s. Not sure what that stuff was made from.

I've run across some of this green slime in the mains flexes of some 1960s/70s radios I have.

It's a sticky kind of goo and you always see some of it oozing around the pins of the
molded-on plugs.

On one particular radio, it was so disgusting I chopped the molded plug off and screwed on a replacement cap. I probably should change the entire flex though.

Yeah, Slime was really weird stuff. It was still around in the early 90ies, available in various colors. A little bit like Mattel "GAK" but an even weirder feeling. I can remember having a blue one.