matttyl
Footballguy
So everyone is fine, no fire, but blew an outlet which after removing it was totally melted. I think I understand why, and also what to do to fix, just want to verify.
I learned all this yesterday, though have lived in house for 12 years now. I have a 20 amp circuit from breaker box to four and only four outlets in my mostly finished basement. The wire looks to be 12 awg from breaker box to the first 3, and then 14 to the final. The first outlet is a 15 amp regular wall socket, and it’s the one that melted. It has a small chest freezer plugged into it 24/7. The next in line is a gfci plug by a sink in the kitchenette, and is rarely used. The third is a regular 15 amp socket that during the summer has a dehumidifier plugged into and running. And the final socket on circuit is a 15 amp plug with our well/jet water pump - which I think is the main culprit here as when it starts up it can draw 12+ amps on its own. I don’t know if that’s higher than it been in the past as I only ever measured that yesterday, but seems reasonable from what I’ve read for the startup amps of a 1/2hp pump.
Anyway, yesterday my wife happened to plug in a vacuum to the plug with the dehumidifier and smelled something burning. We saw that the first outlet in the series had the smell and some black marks. I went and got my “plug tester” tool from garage, plugged it into that outlet, at which point the outlet literally blew up/melted, and thank goodness tripped the breaker. I then removed the outlet and discovered how bad it had melted, and started with my detective work.
After realizing that the freezer, dehumidifier and well pump are all on that circuit all the time, and a vacuum or similar could also be plugged into and used - that’s way too much amperage for the line, which is what blew the outlet.
So I replaced the outlet with a “heavy duty” but still 15 amp one from Home Depot. I read mixed information about replacing a 15a with a 20a outlet so decided to keep it the same. Moved the dehumidifier to a different outlet on a different circuit. That’s the short term fix and honestly should be enough if we remember not to plug in anything else.
Long term, though, I have an idea - hope this works and is safe. As luck would have it, there is an unused 14/30 outlet near where the well/jet pump is as there had previously been a dryer there. Since it’s not currently being used I’d turned off its breaker and forgotten about it. So I found a 14/30 to 15a plug adapter on Amazon (the one with a 1.5 foot cord and built in circuit breaker, looks like something for an RV). Can I plug that into the 14/30 outlet, flip that breaker back on, and plug just the jet pump into it to give that its own dedicated circuit? If so, the other circuit should now be able to handle the freezer, dehumidifier and even the occasionally vacuum from time to time without worrying about what gets plugged into where. Thoughts?
Oh, and happy belated Father’s Day! I had a great one working on home electoral stuff all day!
I learned all this yesterday, though have lived in house for 12 years now. I have a 20 amp circuit from breaker box to four and only four outlets in my mostly finished basement. The wire looks to be 12 awg from breaker box to the first 3, and then 14 to the final. The first outlet is a 15 amp regular wall socket, and it’s the one that melted. It has a small chest freezer plugged into it 24/7. The next in line is a gfci plug by a sink in the kitchenette, and is rarely used. The third is a regular 15 amp socket that during the summer has a dehumidifier plugged into and running. And the final socket on circuit is a 15 amp plug with our well/jet water pump - which I think is the main culprit here as when it starts up it can draw 12+ amps on its own. I don’t know if that’s higher than it been in the past as I only ever measured that yesterday, but seems reasonable from what I’ve read for the startup amps of a 1/2hp pump.
Anyway, yesterday my wife happened to plug in a vacuum to the plug with the dehumidifier and smelled something burning. We saw that the first outlet in the series had the smell and some black marks. I went and got my “plug tester” tool from garage, plugged it into that outlet, at which point the outlet literally blew up/melted, and thank goodness tripped the breaker. I then removed the outlet and discovered how bad it had melted, and started with my detective work.
After realizing that the freezer, dehumidifier and well pump are all on that circuit all the time, and a vacuum or similar could also be plugged into and used - that’s way too much amperage for the line, which is what blew the outlet.
So I replaced the outlet with a “heavy duty” but still 15 amp one from Home Depot. I read mixed information about replacing a 15a with a 20a outlet so decided to keep it the same. Moved the dehumidifier to a different outlet on a different circuit. That’s the short term fix and honestly should be enough if we remember not to plug in anything else.
Long term, though, I have an idea - hope this works and is safe. As luck would have it, there is an unused 14/30 outlet near where the well/jet pump is as there had previously been a dryer there. Since it’s not currently being used I’d turned off its breaker and forgotten about it. So I found a 14/30 to 15a plug adapter on Amazon (the one with a 1.5 foot cord and built in circuit breaker, looks like something for an RV). Can I plug that into the 14/30 outlet, flip that breaker back on, and plug just the jet pump into it to give that its own dedicated circuit? If so, the other circuit should now be able to handle the freezer, dehumidifier and even the occasionally vacuum from time to time without worrying about what gets plugged into where. Thoughts?
Oh, and happy belated Father’s Day! I had a great one working on home electoral stuff all day!
