We still live at 168 Rands Road
... thankfully.
I was winding down one midnight after Leanne and I cut all the wood for our new picnic table. Leanne went to bed, but I turned on the tele to watch some Tour de France recast, when from below the tv I saw a spark... and the UPS clicked in to battery mode for a second.
I thought, "ha ha. I think i just killed a spider." A min or two later, another spark. Then another. Time to investigate further. The cord from the wall to the UPS was hot, quite hot, but only near the plug. I touched the faceplate screw and nearly burnt my finger. Another spark, this time in full view. The wood paneling was hot to the touch, as was the tv stand. I pulled the plug, turned off the tube, and decided to let things cool down.
After half an hour, I checked the temp again with my ever accurate finger to the screw test. Hot. Still hot. The unplugged cord is now cool though. No more sparks, but since this plug is connected in series, I suspect current from some other outlet is keeping this one hot.
Time to throw the mostly unlabeled breakers one at a time and test the outlet. You have no idea how long this takes by yourself, especially when you have to get down on you back to reach the outlet. Perhaps I should have just plugged in a lamp and turned out other lights so I could see if it was the right one from the breaker room, but this was past 1:00am, and I clearly wasn't thinking straight. Oh, and the breaker was the last one it could be, assuming the outlets didn't share with the AC or furnace. The breaker was labeled "washer", which it also controls by the way.
Great, I have the power off to the firestarter now, but my other computers (including the one that serves this blog) and the fish tank are also affected. I grab some extension cords from the garage and get the computers some power from upstairs and the fish heater some power from another working outlet in the basement. Time for bed, I'm tired.
I accidently wake Leanne as I come to bed and tell her the whole story. Laying awake thinking that the power is off but I didn't really "fix" anything, I decide it would be a good idea to test the fire alarms. They all work well, but while testing the one downstairs, the test button sticks and it takes me 30 sec to bust open the alarm (in the dark I might add) to stop the test. The tester is still good, but now it complains of a weak battery. I have no spare. I scour other electronics until I finally find one (stud finder) with a 9volt. They aren't as common as they used to be! This battery was even weaker, so I put the other battery back in, and gave up for the evening. It'll work for one night.
Next day I buy a new battery, outlet, etc. and fix the whole thing. I even learned to use my multimeter. Here is a pic of the junk I threw out.
Large Size at: http://ajax.verkley.com/brian/blog/pics/burnt_outlet-2.jpg
Maybe it is good that I wind down watching tv at midnight...
Comments
I wish some electrician would read this and comment...