Poor wirenut connection

[Steve Wiggins]

http://hvacloads.com/talkpics/wall/MVC-031S.jpg

[Edited by Boss on 12-29-2003 at 08:51 AM]

[workinlate]

Bad ground wire????????

Had some of that on a hot dog once,was in new york.













BIG LIE. I will never stp foot in that place.

[lowtemp]

what is that black stuff from?

[compressed]

I think the black stuff is actually melted wire. Am I wrong?

[The Penguin]

it kinder looks like over heated black duck tape to me

[wkhawkins]

I don`t know how the hell the wire nut melted before the insulation on the wire

[slimwoodie]

is friction tape ... used by electricians to protect splice tape

[Chad711]

I've seen wirenuts melted and not the insulation.. Its from the sparks from the loose connection I guess.......

[Chill]

The loose connection caused a high resistance at the wirenut, which caused voltage drop across wirenut. This generates heat.

[Chad711]

Well said Chill!

Thats what I meant :)

[smokepipe]

who did this jose or hose-b

[rhinphnx]

to small a wire nut.....

[driftwood]

know this contractor well, on the side of his rusted out

bread truck.

we wire for fire'

safety first'

[gstein]

Common stupid mistake, especialy when connecting stranded wire to solid. The black wire has fewer, stiffer strands than the red wire. The Wire nut will grip and twist onto the "stiff" wire and push the more flexible wire down. Result is a high resistance connection with only a couple of strands connecting. Heat, fire, etc. Trick is to make the more flexible wire stick up a little longer than the stiff wire, and be sure they are twisted together correctly (preferably more than the single turn in the picture), and to use the correct wire nut. At least they used a wire nut with a spring insert that doesn't cut the strands rather than a cast metal insert, even if it is too small, so they must have known what they were doing, eh. :/

[aircooled53]

Looks like a installer,used what ever wire nut he had on his truck. Didn't have any Klins to twist wire and then use red to make the connection to the wire he added..

[mccool]

Looks like someone tried to repair 1 wire on a 3 phase heater (defrost)? cicuit but missed the other burnt wiring,and the situation got worse.Some "bad elements" in the equation?

[markwolf]

It's nice to see a 12ga. wire nut on a 10ga. wire-some will never learn.

[wkhawkins]

there shouldn`t be a wire nut all together should have made a direct connection just because its weathered(outside)

[wkhawkins]

there shouldn`t be a wire nut just because its weathered (outside).should be a direct connection

[HVAC Pro]

Steve, what kind of camera? Nice detail.