Someone anyone please help!! electrical problem!

[Supreme Reefs]

Ok so i turned on my MH manually then my whole system just shut down and the power kept flickering then now the 2 outlets dont even work... although 1 outlet seems to not look soo good (pictured)... i have all the pumps, skimmer, and ect running on my tanks but the lights...i got some extention cords and ran that to the surge protectors i have just dont have enough plugs for the lights right now...

So that wire seems like it blew up i took out the outlet to get a clear pic of it, i dont know ANYTHING bout stuff like this can someone please help on how to replace the wire or fix this problem? Thanks!

 

[jackTheReefer]

by any chance did this outlet get wet with salt water? next time don't pull out a receptacle without checking to see if it is live with a neon tester or multimeter. if you have no power to this outlet, there's a good chance it shorted out and tripped the circuit breaker. if you go into the circuit breaker box, one fuse providing power to this outlet will be in the off position. at the very least you are looking at replacing the outlet and removing/replacing the burned section of wiring to the outlet. since you are not familiar with repairing electrical wiring, CALL AN ELECTRICIAN! it might set you back a few bucks but you know the job will be done right and your house won't catch fire.

 

[Supreme Reefs]

by any chance did this outlet get wet with salt water? next time don't pull out a receptacle without checking to see if it is live with a neon tester or multimeter. if you have no power to this outlet, there's a good chance it shorted out and tripped the circuit breaker. if you go into the circuit breaker box, one fuse providing power to this outlet will be in the off position. at the very least you are looking at replacing the outlet and removing/replacing the burned section of wiring to the outlet. since you are not familiar with repairing electrical wiring, CALL AN ELECTRICIAN! it might set you back a few bucks but you know the job will be done right and your house won't catch fire.

This out let is a good distance from the tank so no saltwater (thankgoodness) i went around to see if it did trip the circuit breaker and restarted it but nothing... I was thinking i can just replace the wire and outlet itself... So by the looks of the picture this would be a short circuit?

 

[amore169]

Theres a guy on RC that is an electrician and will tell u what's going on, I'm not at the house so I can't give u the link but I think he's on the lighting, filtration forum, good luck.

 

[Supreme Reefs]

Theres a guy on RC that is an electrician and will tell u what's going on, I'm not at the house so I can't give u the link but I think he's on the lighting, filtration forum, good luck.

Thank you! ill def try to look for him... hopefully theres at least 1 electrician here on R2R :/

 

[jackTheReefer]

if you can confirm that no power is being delivered to the outlet (neon tester, multimeter) and that no fuse has been tripped, then i think you can assume that the fuse connected to this outlet has also been damaged and must be replaced. to do that, you must open the circuit breaker box. this happened to me before when a large current drawing air conditioner was turned on and blew out the fuse completely. the fuse was still in the on position but no power was being delivered to the circuit.

again, call an electrician who can do this repair for you in a few hours.

 

[Supreme Reefs]

if you can confirm that no power is being delivered to the outlet (neon tester, multimeter) and that no fuse has been tripped, then i think you can assume that the fuse connected to this outlet has also been damaged and must be replaced. to do that, you must open the circuit breaker box. this happened to me before when a large current drawing air conditioner was turned on and blew out the fuse completely. the fuse was still in the on position but no power was being delivered to the circuit.

again, call an electrician who can do this repair for you in a few hours.

Yeah ill just have to do that.... thanks jackthereefer!

 

[Acezwild]

Looks like moisture got to it also with that screw being all rusted up but what ever the case maybe GL Ben!

 

[cee]

That is thermal damage to the wire. Drawing too much current for that wire size and your breaker is not functioning properly.

 

[2FarNorth]

I agree with cee. if your circuit breakers/fuses are size properly, this really shouldn't happen, either someone put too larger of breaker/fuse in, or way too small of wire for the load you were trying to use....

Or a bad breaker... which is really kinda rare, they're really not designed to go bad...usually if they go bad, they won't stay on, and usually trip...

It would be best to replace the entire wire run, along with the proper breaker/fuse, and the outlet...

 

[jerryc]

BN251 on this one you need to call a electrician i can thank of at least
6 reasons for your problems.
Including the cords you are using to run from it to your tank.

 

[bangoo]

Do you live in a house about 30 years or older?? I live in a house bulit in 1972 and they used aluminum wires back then. These wires could over heat about the same areas as your pics, and could cause burning in wires and outlet. I check my wires very frequently just to make sure that everything is running cool. Good luck.

 

[Supreme Reefs]

Looks like moisture got to it also with that screw being all rusted up but what ever the case maybe GL Ben!

Thanks! im not sure if its moisture since its about 4 feet away from the tank and that area is dry :/

That is thermal damage to the wire. Drawing too much current for that wire size and your breaker is not functioning properly.

I agree with cee. if your circuit breakers/fuses are size properly, this really shouldn't happen, either someone put too larger of breaker/fuse in, or way too small of wire for the load you were trying to use....

Or a bad breaker... which is really kinda rare, they're really not designed to go bad...usually if they go bad, they won't stay on, and usually trip...

It would be best to replace the entire wire run, along with the proper breaker/fuse, and the outlet...

Im thinking this is the problem... its weird because im looking at the bottom outlet and there seems to be something stuck in there... not sure if that has anything to do with it...

BN251 on this one you need to call a electrician i can thank of at least
6 reasons for your problems.
Including the cords you are using to run from it to your tank.

I just called a buddy of mine today who is one well... i hope he knows what hes doing...

Do you live in a house about 30 years or older?? I live in a house bulit in 1972 and they used aluminum wires back then. These wires could over heat about the same areas as your pics, and could cause burning in wires and outlet. I check my wires very frequently just to make sure that everything is running cool. Good luck.

Thank you! this house is actually around 14-15 years old ti think im not sure if they used the aluminum wires for this house

 

[reefpeeper]

sometimes wires come loose from outlet and this can happen

 

[bangoo]

Thank you! this house is actually around 14-15 years old ti think im not sure if they used the aluminum wires for this house[/quote]

That's good. It s not aluminum then. They changed it long before that.

 

[wicked demon]

CALL AN ELECTRICIAN- end of story.......

 

[Supreme Reefs]

Im calling one today :/ im stressed -_- ...... i heard sparks coming fom this outlet even if anything is plugged into a different outlet close to it...

 

[LegoZ81]

Wiring in non-commercial is designed for 80% load. You can overload 14awg wire and not pop a 15amp breaker and cause failures such as this. Any tank circuits I add are 12awg with 15amp breakers this way even if loaded to the point the breaker will trip the point of failure will not be the wiring. 80% load in 12awg commonly used in 20amp circuits is 16amps so it is not possible to exceed the 80% threshold in this configuration.
This failure easily could have caused a fire and total loss. Be thankful that there were no combustables left in the outlet box.

 

[LegoZ81]

Look at this again definately due to overloading.
Add all watts up divide by voltage (120v) this will be your amps.
Divide this number by 15a your result MUST be under .8

This assumes a 15a branch with 14awg wire.

 

[Supreme Reefs]

Wiring in non-commercial is designed for 80% load. You can overload 14awg wire and not pop a 15amp breaker and cause failures such as this. Any tank circuits I add are 12awg with 15amp breakers this way even if loaded to the point the breaker will trip the point of failure will not be the wiring. 80% load in 12awg commonly used in 20amp circuits is 16amps so it is not possible to exceed the 80% threshold in this configuration.
This failure easily could have caused a fire and total loss. Be thankful that there were no combustables left in the outlet box.

I am very thankful.... really lucky i caught this just in time

Im sorry i dont know much about this stuff... what does awg stand for?