Almost A House Fire

[terry_g]

I walked into the laundry room yesterday. All of a sudden there was a big bang and a
flash of blue light and I couldn't see for a few seconds.
There was a black mark on the wall and the floor in front of the washing machine.
I pulled the trim off the wall and I could see the end of some wires glowing and sparking.
I ran to the basement and shut off the main breaker. I pulled the offending wire out of
the wall with a pair of needle nose pliers and separated the ends, it was 14/2.
One of the breakers was for electric heat in the laundry room, I shut that one off and
turned the main back on. I tested the wire with my meter and it had no power. It looks like
there was an electric heater there and some one removed it and cut the wire off and taped
up it with black tape pushed it into the wall and put a piece of trim over it. I'm sure glad it
happened while I was at home and during the day.

I cleaned the black stain off the wall and floor before I took the picture.

 

[Tom Kitta]

Yeah I am also finding (as are my parents) these old wires that were just cut off and insulated. Scary!

 

[Dabbler]

Between consulting assignments, I did a lot of renovations, mostly to clear the mind - I have removed dozens of potential fire hazards for clients, and many wiring mistakes.

The worst was in my own house - a lighting circuit was wired using stove cable, drawn throught he light switch cable wholly intact, with only one wire cut and wired to the switch - no strain relief. What was the scariest was that the entire cable was held up with nails; driven through he centre of the cable there were scorch marks on the joist as the arcing existed over time. Made me feel like we dodged a bullet.

 

[CalgaryPT]

I walked into the laundry room yesterday. All of a sudden there was a big bang and a
flash of blue light and I couldn't see for a few seconds.
There was a black mark on the wall and the floor in front of the washing machine.
I pulled the trim off the wall and I could see the end of some wires glowing and sparking.
I ran to the basement and shut off the main breaker. I pulled the offending wire out of
the wall with a pair of needle nose pliers and separated the ends, it was 14/2.
One of the breakers was for electric heat in the laundry room, I shut that one off and
turned the main back on. I tested the wire with my meter and it had no power. It looks like
there was an electric heater there and some one removed it and cut the wire off and taped
up it with black tape pushed it into the wall and put a piece of trim over it. I'm sure glad it
happened while I was at home and during the day.

I cleaned the black stain off the wall and floor before I took the picture.

Great example of why the Electrical Code requires all in-wall terminations to be in a box, not hidden, and accessible via a plate. Oh yeah...and then there's the method of termination. The only thing that could have made this post more frightening was if you discovered it was hockey tape on the wires; I've heard this isn't that unusual.

Glad no one was hurt. Your timing was impeccable Terry.

 

[ShawnR]

Good job Terry! And you were lucky too for being there when it happened. I would guess that it was caused from that little vibration of you walking on the floor that was the final straw that made the contact. One of my first fires started in the basement of an old home, and burned up through recesses in the walls and out the 2nd floor of a small house. I was new and pumping and had every line off of the pumper (5) as the guys tried to get to the fire at various locations. They actually saved that house. But the point of the story is that after it was done, I went with the inspectors into the basement so he could show me how they trace back to the source of the fire. It was text book. A "V" of burning started at an electrical cable clamp, which was actually a plumbing clamp, holding the wire to the beam in the basement. This house was next to a railway. They figured that over time, the steel clamp, not being designed for electrical and probably not set tight enough to prevent vibration, wore through the sheath, exposing the conductors. Of course location next to the tracks exacerbated the situation, but it was a good learning moment for me.