Almost had electrical fire

[matt79]

Hi. 

So today i noticed my light was out. 

This is 1 600 watt bulb on a magnetic ballast and a 4 inch extrecator fan hooked up with ducting. Nothing else runs on this outlet.

Check out the pictures. Id like to know why this happened. Im not sure if it started in the timer or the outlet. It also damaged the power cord running to the power strip. The breaker didnt trip(20 amp breaker) ive been running this outlet for 8 years with no problem, sometimes ill run 2 600watters on it.

[matt79]

I replaced the outlet and it seems fine but id like to know why this happened. Its scary

[AmishRnot4ganja]

I have had one of those timers melt a plug into its socket. I couldn't get the plug out and the timer quit working. I have never had the problem on any of my other timers although they do seem to run hot. It must be a defect in some of the timers.

[Kingdiamond]

Id be very hesitant to just replace the plug something is wrong and id  consult an electrician.

[Restorium2]

That's where it always happens, right at the plug. Plant lights, Christmas lights, any appliance that draws a lot and gets plugged in a lot. The weight of a heavy cord, the weight of a timer. Over time the connection will fail, and when it does you get arcing and melted plastic. Set up your plugs in a way so that when this happens it just burns up the plastic and nothing else can catch fire. That is exactly why plugs are in metal boxes. This stuff happens. I've had it happen on my Christmas lights, on air conditioner plugs, on my plant light extension cord, and once on a timer. 

Do your best to have all of your plugs getting a nice tight connection and keep flammable items away from plugs. That's the answer to this problem. 

[Restorium2]

Follow up;

Nice pictures. Makes it really easy to see exactly what happened. You can see by how the plug receptacle is melted that the one prong on the timer wasn't getting a good connection and it arced and sparked and burned. Even perfect home wiring with brand new circuit breakers will not help in a situation like that. 

[blackhorse]

Titan Controls makes a nice timer ($70) instead of using the small timers. Amazon has them. Best to avoid power strips if possible. 

If you got 20 amp breaker, then wiring should be 12/2 and adding a 20 amp receptacle can't hurt.

[blackhorse]

1 minute ago, zapatosunidos said:

For some reason I thought 10 gauge was required on 20 amp circuits, but maybe that is just with a run of a certain length from the panel.

It would have to be a long distance from panel to use 10g. 

Some houses are built with 12/2 and 20 amp circuits. Cost is more for materials and wiring is harder to work with.

[Restorium2]

One easy way to tell if your wiring is large enough is to feel it and see if it's getting hot. If it's not hot at full load then you are good to go. 

[Kingdiamond]

We ran dedicated plugs and wiring to a stand alone  power box in the flower room  with breakers also went with 220 over 110 to lessen the amps on the wiring and box  just in case I also have  tank extinguishers in each grow area  to give me peace of mind while I am out on the road away from home.

[matt79]

All good ideas thanks guys. 

I spoke with an electrician and he said that this happens all the time, probably due to a bad/loose connection or maybe from an internal failure in the receptacle. He also said its very rare that it could cause a fire. 

I think restorium is on the money. 

Im glad it wasnt worse

[matt79]

Upon closer inspection that receptacle was rated at 15amps but the breaker is 20amps. 75 year old house....

[t-pain]

I had a 220 intermatic timer melt on me. i think it arc'd due to bad/lose connection on the plug, possibly because of corrosion on the hottub plug.

 

good reason to follow the recommended rules of grow rooms. glad you didnt lose anything important!

 

do we have a list of tips? theres some in some grow books.

count your amps.

do not use any wires with cuts or nicks in them.

touch wires after they are on for a time to see if they get hot.

keep wires and cables tied and above the ground if possible.

do not run extension cords over carpet.

keep fire extinguishers up to date and handy.

check smoke detectors on a regular basis.

[matt79]

I looked closer at the wire coming out of the fuse box. All 20amp breakers on #14 wire for every circuit in the house. Thats no good. Im gonna go through and change all the breakers to 15amps.

My garage grow room i used all 12gauge wire with a dedicated 100amp sub panel so no worries there

[Restorium2]

5 minutes ago, matt79 said:

I looked closer at the wire coming out of the fuse box. All 20amp breakers on #14 wire for every circuit in the house. Thats no good. Im gonna go through and change all the breakers to 15amps.

My garage grow room i used all 12gauge wire with a dedicated 100amp sub panel so no worries there

Yup. That's a code violation.

[Hydraulic Jack]

8 hours ago, matt79 said:

I looked closer at the wire coming out of the fuse box. All 20amp breakers on #14 wire for every circuit in the house. Thats no good. Im gonna go through and change all the breakers to 15amps.

My garage grow room i used all 12gauge wire with a dedicated 100amp sub panel so no worries there

Your kitchen and laundry could be #12

[orion]

The timer is only rated for 1000 watts tungsten load. You can only operate at 80%. Which means the timer is good for 800 watts total continuous.

Two 600 watt ballast at times like you said is an overload for the timer.

Looks like a Pass & Seymour receptacle. Were the wires connected at the screw or pushed into the back of the receptacle?

I use the Intermatic T1004R timer in a majority of the grows I wire.

I have equipment on these timers for over 40 years with no problems.

 

[orion]

Just an additional thought.

Since your damage is on the neutral side, it is possible you have a loose neural in the panel or at a splice.

[semicaregiver]

Back when I first started I had similar experiences.  In working with an electrician he rec'c I use all 20 amp heavy duty duplex outlets regardless of any assumptions about lower loads.  Only cost a few dollars more per outlet, but cheap peace of mind.   He pointed out that the cheap ones 15 amp ones that you find in the bins at HD have only one spring loaded contact that grabs the prong on the plug where as the better outlets have two spring loaded contacts, i.e. less likely to loose contact over time.