HELP---What the heck is this?!

[expatriated]

Electricians:

An outlet in my finished basement quit working. I thought no big deal as I very rarely use this outlet. Later, I noticed that my GFI outlet on my deck no longer works. I didn't think the two were related since they both appeared to be end of run outlets.

So, I replaced both of them today (thinking the outlets were bad). Still nothing. No power to either outlet. I pull the outlets back off, turn the power back on and none of the wires are hot???

So, I start tracing their routes and find that they are both spliced in together with a third wire.

But, they are joined in the space between my basement ceiling and my downstairs floor. I'm physically unable to reach them without cutting a hole in the ceiling. BUT, I was able to get a camera in there and take a pic of the connection and look

What the heck is going on with that bottom wire? It looks like it exploded or something.

I can get to this if I cut a hole in my basement drywall ceiling but how do I fix this without causing the problem again? And what caused the problem to start with? Is it dangerous?

I really appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thank you.

 

[Alchymist]

Wrong on several levels-
1) should be in a box, not free air connected
2) not allowed to be concealed

Best bet is to install box and put a cover on it and leave cover accessable. The melted looking wire was caused by a loose wire nut - the main reason it should have been in a metal box.

 

[ddawg16]

A good example of why the NEC exists.......

Your lucky it didn't start a fire.

Do like alchymist said...put it in a box.

I personally....if possible, would run new wire so that there was no connection except at the GFIC....

 

[Cougar]

WOW
Looks like the PO of my first house did some wiring in your house.
Better get the hole cut get that fixed.

 

[Teken]

I have nothing positive to contribute so I do apologize . . . But, the red arrow with the ??? was fucken funny as hell . . .

Don't know why to be honest . . .

 

[expatriated]

Thanks, all.

Teken, that's why I posted this, so others could share in the idiocy of what the PO's did here. This house is only 10 years old and I'm constantly running into these sorts of things.

 

[Teken]

Thanks, all.

Teken, that's why I posted this, so others could share in the idiocy of what the PO's did here. This house is only 10 years old and I'm constantly running into these sorts of things.

Well I am happy you and the family are OK regardless . . . That, could have ended pretty ugly if that was allowed to spark and cause a fire . . .

 

[I void warranties]

looks like a short to your neutral.. gfi may be wired wrong.

 

[wssix99]

Thanks, all.

Teken, that's why I posted this, so others could share in the idiocy of what the PO's did here. This house is only 10 years old and I'm constantly running into these sorts of things.

Which country is this in?

 

[tfi racing]

Good news:That can be easily fixed and didn't cause a fire.

Bad news:There are likely more of the same lurking behind every piece of drywall that worthless POS PO touched.Sleep well,my friend...

 

[nehog]

Good news:That can be easily fixed and didn't cause a fire.

Bad news:There are likely more of the same lurking behind every piece of drywall that worthless POS PO touched.Sleep well,my friend...

Absolutely the 'right' answer! If the previous owner did this in one place, you have no way of knowing if other similar work was done elsewhere.

As often as I do marginal work, that is way beyond what even I'd do!

 

[cowboyjosh]

I don't get why anyone would hack wire something like that. I'd rather light the house on fire myself then to leave a time bomb like that in the walls / ceiling.

 

[User_Name]

Thanks, all.

Teken, that's why I posted this, so others could share in the idiocy of what the PO's did here. This house is only 10 years old and I'm constantly running into these sorts of things.

I curse out the PO's of my house on a daily basis for some of the **** that I've found. Fortunately I haven't run into anything this flagrantly evil.

 

[larry_g]

I don't get why anyone would hack wire something like that. I'd rather light the house on fire myself then to leave a time bomb like that in the walls / ceiling.

To many people know just enough to be dangerous. As a younger man I did a few things that I now know were quite wrong. I think that most here that are DIY types have done things that are wrong. Hopefully we caused no permenant harm or injury to others.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[expatriated]

This is in the good ol US of A to answer the question. Indianapolis to be exact. House is 10 years old, I've been living in it 8 so that means that the PO got to messing stuff up on a new house right away.

I have found other little gems like this over time and corrected them. This was by far the worst. Most of them were just cosmetic shortcuts, this is the first truly dangerous item I've found.

I fixed it today. Thanks guys.

 

[MrMark]

If the house was only two years old in the hands of the PO, I doubt he is responsible for what you find. I imagine that was original stuff. I had tons of stuff like that in my house. Buried splices is nothing. Very commonplace.

 

[MrMark]

I hope you have enough slack of wires to put in a j box.

 

[VHF]

Looks like there is plenty of slack in the cable to the wall outlet... maybe not in the cable to the GFCI. You need enough extra to pull them into a J-box with 6-inches of wire inside the J-box... after you cut out the burned section.

If there isn't enough slack, you can install two J-boxes 12" to 18" apart and connect them with some additional cable. But to be code compliant you need to provide some type of access to the J-boxes (or any splice) that doesn't require cutting up drywall.

There are access covers in various sizes for this, some with spring clips that just snap into an opening in the drywall. Or you can install the J-box(es) flush with the finished ceiling and just use a blank cover.

 

[Brentocool]

Scary!

 

[Primitive Pete]

I worked with a guy who was an actual douche.
I have a list of story's.

From his own mouth:
He was having a house built and didn't like the way some things were being done. He would go over at night and change or add onto various parts of the house.
the short story is the builder sued him and won for F'in up the inspections.

There's a lot more on him but I hate typing

 

[Alchymist]

You're not alone in the scary stuff. In the process right now of rewiring the outlets in the garage. Put a sub panel in last fall, tied in the original wiring through a GFCI. (Original feed was 12-2 romex overhead from the house!).

Anyway, to shorten the story, I ran a new circuit for a garage door opener, and a new GFCI/outdoor & indoor outlet circuit. While I was at it, I checked out the existing outlets - no ground! So, started tracing. Turns out the ***** ran 12-2 to the first outlet, and snipped off the ground lead. He then daisy chained 6 other outlets, clipping off the ground leads in each box.

To top it off, out of the first outlet he ran a 12-2 to a switch, clipped the ground, and wired the neutral through the switch to feed an overhead outlet for lights. Eventually I will have it all rewired. Oh yeah, the switch for the lights in each of 2 bays was in the very back - had to walk through the bay to get to it. Don't even want to talk about what I went through i the house - lets just say a lot of #12 & #14 wire on 30 and 40 amp breakers are no longer there.

 

[burleymike]

I found stuff like that in every room in my house. At least your PO did not use appliance cord twisted and taped to NM then bury the whole mess in the walls.

 

[expatriated]

I found stuff like that in every room in my house. At least your PO did not use appliance cord twisted and taped to NM then bury the whole mess in the walls.

that's pure awesomeness right there

 

[theoldwizard1]

I found stuff like that in every room in my house. At least your PO did not use appliance cord twisted and taped to NM then bury the whole mess in the walls.

My son had one JUST LIKE THAT in the ceiling of a basement hallway. They grabbed "ground" off of a water pipe about 10 feet away.

Then there was the 2 single conductor wires looped over and around the rafters that ran from the switch to the single bulb in the garage.