Good thing I have done residential electric work in my past and use to be on a volunteer fire department years ago as well.
Also a good thing I have insomnia I guess too.
I was sitting at my desktop computer checking in on the site and the furnace kicked on and I hear an odd noise coming from the livingroom. Figured something must have fallen on the furnace vent behind the couch and was blowing around so I went to check it out. Seen a small piece of plastic floating around and removed it but the noise didn't go away. Looked over and seen the outlet that is a floor mounted outlet was sparking. WTF!!!!!
I quickly removed the 2 cords that were plugged in, tossed the couch into the middle of the livingroom, and sprinted downstairs to trip the breaker and cut the power. Didn't think to grab a light on my way down lol. Had to stumble and feel my way back out of the basement. Got back up to the livingroom and grabbed my cell phone for the light and checked to make sure there wasn't any flame. Went upstairs and woke the wife up and made her take her CPAP mask off and filled her in on what was going on. We both come back down to the livingroom and I checked the outlet and see that the cat had gotten behind the couch and had puked on the fugging outlet. The saliva had gotten down into the outlet and was touching the hot screw and was thick enough that it was arcing on the screw for the cover plate. Luckily I caught it in time and no damage was done. Had some extra outlets in the shed so I went and got one and replaced it. Turned the breaker back on and everything is as it should be and working just fine now thankfully.
This is the one time I'm glad for insomnia and not going to bed when the wife did. Had I gone to bed the house would have burned to the ground.
By the end of the month my house will be completely rewired and those fugging floor mounted outlets will be in the wall where they fuggin should be. I have no idea why old houses it was common to mount them in the fuggin floor. Never had any issues, money, or time to do the rewire but it's on the top of my list after this.
Just wanted to share just to save somebody else from any issues like this if they have these floor mounted outlets. Cost a lot less to rewire and mount wall outlets then to replace a house and lost property because of something small and stupid like this happening not to mention the possibility of loosing your life.
Also a good thing I have insomnia I guess too.
I was sitting at my desktop computer checking in on the site and the furnace kicked on and I hear an odd noise coming from the livingroom. Figured something must have fallen on the furnace vent behind the couch and was blowing around so I went to check it out. Seen a small piece of plastic floating around and removed it but the noise didn't go away. Looked over and seen the outlet that is a floor mounted outlet was sparking. WTF!!!!!
I quickly removed the 2 cords that were plugged in, tossed the couch into the middle of the livingroom, and sprinted downstairs to trip the breaker and cut the power. Didn't think to grab a light on my way down lol. Had to stumble and feel my way back out of the basement. Got back up to the livingroom and grabbed my cell phone for the light and checked to make sure there wasn't any flame. Went upstairs and woke the wife up and made her take her CPAP mask off and filled her in on what was going on. We both come back down to the livingroom and I checked the outlet and see that the cat had gotten behind the couch and had puked on the fugging outlet. The saliva had gotten down into the outlet and was touching the hot screw and was thick enough that it was arcing on the screw for the cover plate. Luckily I caught it in time and no damage was done. Had some extra outlets in the shed so I went and got one and replaced it. Turned the breaker back on and everything is as it should be and working just fine now thankfully.
This is the one time I'm glad for insomnia and not going to bed when the wife did. Had I gone to bed the house would have burned to the ground.
By the end of the month my house will be completely rewired and those fugging floor mounted outlets will be in the wall where they fuggin should be. I have no idea why old houses it was common to mount them in the fuggin floor. Never had any issues, money, or time to do the rewire but it's on the top of my list after this.
Just wanted to share just to save somebody else from any issues like this if they have these floor mounted outlets. Cost a lot less to rewire and mount wall outlets then to replace a house and lost property because of something small and stupid like this happening not to mention the possibility of loosing your life.
