I’m feeling lucky

[RivennHewn]

Ridgid 3-way extension cord.

I’m pretty happy to have caught it when I did.

Never know what tomorrow could have looked like.

 

[JohnKal]

Good catch. That’s scary

 

[Michael B.]

Wow!

 

[65ranchero]

Wow.
Just as curiosity, do you know if the receiver plug end got wet or is this in a shop that has a lot of iron grinding dust?

 

[Metal-Marc]

Jeez, that's not good. Did you tear that thing apart to see what was the issue?

 

[PCustoms]

What the hell...

 

[RivennHewn]

Wow.
Just as curiosity, do you know if the receiver plug end got wet or is this in a shop that has a lot of iron grinding dust?

It’s been a wet few days. I’m sure water/moisture is the cause

 

[alfredeneuman]

"Dang near burnt my place down!" is a bit of an extreme claim isn't it?

 

[RivennHewn]

"Dang near burnt my place down!" is a bit of an extreme claim isn't it?

Your probably right.

Electrical fires are fairytales.

=

 

[alfredeneuman]

Your probably right.

Electrical fires are fairytales.

=

Electrical shorts burn from failure point to the source.
You'd have to go from the connector, through the cord.
The short in the cord would likely cause the breaker to trip.
Didn't you plug it into a GFI protected outlet?

 

[RivennHewn]

Electrical shorts burn from failure point to the source.
You'd have to go from the connector, through the cord.
The short in the cord would likely cause the breaker to trip.
Didn't you plug it into a GFI protected outlet?

I’ve never had any reason to question the breaker, but considering I recorded it for 30 seconds, and have no idea how long it could have been going on, I’m thinking the breaker may be faulty. Based on the resulting melted plastic and smoked soot, it was close to combustion. Considering the amount of fuel in the structure, it could have gotten interesting real quick.

 

[Zeke]

Depends on what surface the cord end is sitting on. I place metal trays under my battery maintainers that might live in the interior of a car. In the case of my Boxster, in the front trunk with a lot of plastic and carpet.

 

[jlv03]

I’ve never had any reason to question the breaker, but considering I recorded it for 30 seconds, and have no idea how long it could have been going on, I’m thinking the breaker may be faulty. Based on the resulting melted plastic and smoked soot, it was close to combustion. Considering the amount of fuel in the structure, it could have gotten interesting real quick.

Your breaker is likely fine, if it is a conventional circuit breaker (not an AFCI, GFCI, or combination device).

The breaker will trip on overcurrent (pulling 21A continuously for hours on a 20A breaker) or short circuit (line tied directly to ground or neutral). What you have shown in the video is an arcing fault. "Dumb" circuit breakers can't catch that type of fault until the fault grows bigger or something else happens.

 

[nadogail]

That cord may have been plugged into a circuit connected to a Zinsco circuit breaker.

 

[LXCam]

Cuul, I’d have grabbed and six’r and watched till it burnt to the ground.

 

[dogdog]

It’s been a wet few days. I’m sure water/moisture is the cause

Don't think you can pin that on ridgid. Wash with distilled water or ultra sonic cleaner and rinse with distill water let dry and test
call it a day, if it is fine.

 

[RivennHewn]

Don't think you can pin that on ridgid. Wash with distilled water or ultra sonic cleaner and rinse with distill water let dry and test
call it a day, if it is fine.

Not blaming Ridgid, it just happens to be a Ridgid. I like their cords, and have quite a few.
They’ve all held up well.

This one was hanging plugs down, but got knocked to the ground. Heavy rains introduced moisture.

I’ll cut the end off, and use it for a replacement cord next time I cut one off a tool(been known to happen)

 

[dogdog]

Don't think you need to cut to end off... just needed to clean the salt or what ever moisture is in there that provide a conductive path. I just rinse off with water, but some places have hard water and off cause those treatment are salt....

if you actually watched that video, the sparking are only limited to the exposed area where the plug is ... So, it's a concern but not a big deal... besides,...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

That cord may have been plugged into a circuit connected to a Zinsco circuit breaker.

Or Fire Pacific Electric