Electrical Gurus... What Happened Here?

[Jagosaurus]

OK guys. This happened a few months back during a cold spell. My wife had a small electric space heater plugged in. I'm OCD about unplugging it... even though it's from 2008 & has a built in over heat shutdown. Anyway, I went to unplug it & the cord base that goes into the 110 outlet felt warm, the plastic was slight melted on the outlet, & it looked as seen below.

I'm OCD about stuff like this BC my mom had a house burn down. I haven't used the outlet since. I'm moving out of this house soon but the wiring isn't old, less than 10 years. I threw the heater away. What the heck happened?

.... exactly why I'm careful.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Just to be safe, you should: (1) replace the outlet; and (2) get another space heater (or don't...those things are just fire hazards as as I can tell).

EDIT: I read that you threw away the heater. My guess is that you have a bad outlet, and that the heater blew it. (If it was a GFI, it would have shorted, but since it is a standard outlet, it just melted...) This outlet is probably a fire hazard, and I would not use it until you have replaced it. (Replacing an outlet is not that hard, BTW. Just be sure to throw the breaker before you start working on it... )

[Hobie-wan]

Indeed. It could also be that the socket just has a fair amount of corrosion on the connectors (with the humidity here) and was making a really poor connection to the plug so it heated up.

Agreed that picking up a new socket from the hardware store and putting it in after making sure that breaker is off isn't difficult as long as you're careful and know what you're doing and connect the wires up in the right place. It should only take 5 minutes or less. If you're renting or leasing, call the landlord and have them take care of it.

[fastbilly1]

Honestly installing a new socket with the existing in place is the easiest electrical job you will ever do. It is literally turn off power, unscrew plate, unscrew old socket, screw in new socket (you will see where they go as you unscrew the old one), screw on the plate, turn power back on, test outlet.

[Hobie-wan]

Yeah, I wasn't trying to make it sound hard. Just, you know, get the wires wrong because you don't pay attention or forget to switch off the breaker and I'm not responsible for any excitement or fire you experience. Having tried to set a rug on fire in my room as a kid while fiddling with a plug in clock, I speak from experience.

[Jagosaurus]

Thanks! Good points guys... I also won't stick a fork in there

Yeah I definitely threw that hooker away LMAO. I am renting now (my house build should be done in about 45 days!!!) so I'll be sure to point it out to my landlord.

[fastbilly1]

If you have access to the breakers, Id just swap it out for him. It will cost you $3 or $4 and less than 10 minutes.

[Hobie-wan]

Eh, unless it's a jerky landlord or one that's going to take forever to get to it, I'd let them do it that way they'll check and make sure that it was just a faulty plug and nothing else. I say that having swapped some of my own in a creaky old place I was living at one point.

[aaron]

^^^THIS. also totally reduces your liability if something goes wrong.

[fastbilly1]

Good points. It has been a while since I rented from someone my wife was not related to.