shocking.. literally

roddie Sun Mar 08, 2015 11:45 am

This happened while I was making the connection.. yesterday at band practice.

shocking.. literally Shorte10

The "tap" was in my left hand while I attempted to connect the plug with my right. It arced.. caught fire and didn't stop arcing until it was unplugged from the wall. I was shaken.. and my left hand palm and fingers were black.. and stung. It was mostly soot on my hand.. but I got a very slight burn between my left index and middle fingers. Luckily the carpet was a short-nap which got scorched.. but didn't ignite.

Why the breaker on the circuit didn't "trip".. amazed the three of us who witnessed the account. At least the smoke detector worked.

I don't know what caused this to happen.. but I'm guessing that the tap's design allowed the ground-pin receptacle to push (cut) through to the other side of the tap and make contact with the mains of the receptacle on the opposite side.

Take a look at both sides of the shorted tap.. FYI there "is" a UL-listed tag on the wire-jacket.. but I'll never use an extension cord with this multi-outlet tap design again.. and if any of you have this type.. I'd either throw them away.. or cut-off the 3-way and install a single grounded tap.

shocking.. literally Shorte11

My wife Lynne freaked out when I brought it home to show her.

TDbandit Sun Mar 08, 2015 12:04 pm

Ouch man I'm glad you're ok I had a similar experience except it was outside while I was using electric hedge clippers. Caused a nice grass fire. Sad

(Bandit)

RK Flyer Sun Mar 08, 2015 12:24 pm

WoW! Does "Made in China" apply to this picture?

You were lucky amd I hope you check the breaker to maker sure it dosnt happen again. Very Happy

RK Flyer

getback Sun Mar 08, 2015 12:51 pm

And you thought flying airplanes was dangerous , Glad you are OK and I don't / have never liked the looks of those cords , is that 16 gage wire ? looks small were you just plugging in or already have something plugged and putting more in to it ? Have had something similar happen and it definitely get's your attention Crazy Eyes

roddie Sun Mar 08, 2015 3:29 pm

getback wrote:And you thought flying airplanes was dangerous , Glad you are OK and I don't / have never liked the looks of those cords , is that 16 gage wire ? looks small were you just plugging in or already have something plugged and putting more in to it ? Have had something similar happen and it definitely get's your attention

Thanks guys.. you just never expect something like this to happen. There was nothing else plugged into the cord-set when I attempted to make the connection. I was plugging in a "power-strip" mounted to my piano-stand's pedal-board. I'm really glad that it's power-switch was off at the time.. sometimes I don't shut it off. I have AC adapters that could have fried. The damage is confined to the plug and tap. The plug's grounding-pin is burnt right off!

The cord-set is 16-3 wire.. rated at 13A/1625w/125v and is only 8 feet long. (it was a convenient length for what I needed it for..) Even "if" there was a load on connection.. it would have only been in the mA range. The dead-short provided a load though.. 15-20A of fury that got released while I was holding it! Affraid or WOW!

It happened right at the beginning of rehearsal as I was setting up. A few shot's of old #7 afterward... and the hairs on the back of my neck started to lay back down. Neutral

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