Drop cords do start fires

[just_sawing]

I found this the other day. I had been working in a shed and needed electricity. I ran a heavy duty cord but had to hook two together. As things go I didn't unhook them when I was finished. A few days later I heard a noise in the grass and saw a black spot. The end of the plug was arcing and the grass had already caught fire and went out.


The thing that bothered me is that the circuit breaker never popped. It was still live when I found it.
Just a share to be careful

[Harry Chickpea]

Yep. Used to get something similar with the travel trailer when the AC was used. The standard plugs on extension cords are generally rated at 15 amps (roughly 1200 watts). As they age, they degrade and will fail with even lower current.

[where I want to]

Yep- set a travel trailer alight with an overly long one.

[Jennifer L.]

Thanks, just sawing, that's a good caution to people.

[HuskyBoris]

yup,at the repair shop I used to work at the boss forbid the use of on any droplight,,he almost burnt his shop down with one.

[Shrek]

That is why for times when I need to use extension cords I prefer using outdoor use rated junction box and heavy duty plug connected with romex wire and unplug and store the cord when I am finished using it as I clean and store the tools I used.

Sparky juice it up is not a force to be trifled with. Always respect the electrons and avoid wading and splashing in their flow.

[Declan]

Yep. One morning i smelled this weird smell in the kitchen at the old house I could not figure out. It was a faint chemical smell. By that evening it it a distinct wire burning smell but it still took me an hour to figure out it was a drop cord I had hooked up to a deep freezer that was slowly melting. Fortunately the freezer was fine and the house did not burn down when I was at work. I always assumed something like that would be a big surge that would at least trip a breaker (or blow a fuse in that case) but nope. It was plugged into a surge protector by the way, so don't depend too heavily on those things to save you from fire either. It didn't even trip that.

[big rockpile]

One time we was going to run Electric to another building. Got wire connected to the Breaker Box but not run.

Come home the Back Yard had burnt but nothing else. Seems my Jack Russell had chewed the roll of wire and shorted it, caught the grass on fire. We didn't realize the Breaker was on.

big rockpile

[Snowfan]

Probably important to realize what an overcurrent protective device does and how they work. Also why most branch circuits need to be protected by either a GFCI (ground fault-circuit interrupter) or an AFCI (arc-fault circuit interrupter).