Extension Plug Fire

[lrrowe]

I do not know how or why this happened. Except I did put a side ways stress on the connection.
The fireball was about 12 inches in diameter and seemed to last for minutes. Actually it sparked, lite and burned out in about 15 seconds....an eternity.


Guess I must be more careful.

[ukewarrior]

Wow,
The reason question is why didn't a breaker trip during that time !

[lrrowe]

My thought also. Not even the ground fault tripped and I know it is good, because I trip it all the time.
The burnt plug is to a air compressor which draws a little more then normal current. I did not check the label to see actual rating. Something must have crossed the contacts when the plug and connector were pulled in 90 degree directions. Actually I had another plug in the connector, but that was not harmed.

[GuitarPhotog]

Wow,
The reason question is why didn't a breaker trip during that time !

I would guess that it wasn't a short circuit, therefore didn't trip the breaker. It sounds like the stress on the connector narrowed the contact area (metal to metal) down to such a small area that it overheated and set the plastic on fire. While melting the connector conductors.

I had a similar occurrence on my hot tub pump plug. Weather induced corrosion caused the connection resistance to increase to the point where the connection overheated, without causing a short and blowing the breaker.

<Chas>

[lrrowe]

That explanation makes sense. I guess I will be nervous for awhile when using extension cords.

[Shadow Catcher]

I have run into a couple of defective cords, two of then Harbor Freight. In each case it was the male end, the cords were 10ga.

[H.A.]

.....

[lrrowe]

Not knowing what NEMA 5-15 meant, I looked it up. My 3 minute lesson says you are saying that the NEMA 5-15 connectors are the 15 Amp ones with three prongs that can work their way out of a connection as opposed to others say with twist locks. Am I close?

If yes, I do recall the plug being strained to come out while there was current running through it.

[H.A.]

......

[Padilen]

A former co worker's house burned down do to an extension cord. Needed a few feet so he had a long cord coiled up. That's why "they" always tell you use a cord of the correct length. As well has gauge.
Glad you didn't have more damage than a cord.

[lrrowe]

Glad you didn't have more damage than a cord.

Me too!

I was frantic while trying to swat out an electrical fireball....to no avail. If that was close to combustibles, it most certainly would have caught something else on fire. Maybe I will be sure of were the connectors for extensions lay in the future. What if this had been by my gas cans?

[Dale M.]

Can you say "Chinese"....

Dale

[bc toys]

Looks like the neutral was loose in the male cap and set there arcing tell it burnt itself off you are right about the gas cans that wouldn't have been pretty

[lrrowe]

And this is it.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_67439-16503-UTP ... Id=3203689

I could not find out about the manufacturer with a quick Google check. There is no "made in...." label on it. So Chineese sounds right.