GFCI Wires burnt

O.K. so I have all my eqquipment into a GFCI outlet that popped this morning.....unplugged everything ( two power strips ) and the gfci resets. when you plug anything in it pops again.....Well I took the cover off and pulled the GFCI out......on the "LINE" side the hot and neutral wires are burnt the twist connector were completley melted off. what could have caused this? whats the best way to fix? the wires burnt about three inches back into the box....not enough slack to pull out to new wire. any advice much needed???? thanks

Sounds like your pulling too much current for the size of wire. When that happens, they can heat up and actually turn into what looks like a toaster heating element and catch fire.

What type of breaker panel do you have? Federal Pacific by chance? Your breaker should of tripped before the wire fried unless it is on the wrong size breaker. It sounds like you have a fire waiting to happen. DO NOT USE THIS CIRCUIT UNTIL YOU FIND THE PROBLEM AND REPLACE THE ENTIRE CABLE. YOU LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT.

Dirty Harry said:

Sounds like your pulling too much current for the size of wire. When that happens, they can heat up and actually turn into what looks like a toaster heating element and catch fire.

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So wouldn't that have popped the circuit breaker it's self? i'm on a 20 amp circuit.....

Dirty Harry said:

Sounds like your pulling too much current for the size of wire.

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^what he said

It was all exsiting wiring...pretty sure it's 12ga dont quote me though the GFCI itself was old...could I replace the GFCI, lighten the load and be good? or maybe daisy chain another outlet? but I still can't see why the breaker didn't flip. Things had been up and running for a few months straight no changes to anything. I'm running a 600w hps electronic ballast on 12/12, 16" wall mount fan on 24/7, CAP Air 4 controller, 6,500 btu wall mount a/c on 24/7, 240 cfm fan and carbon filter 24/7, 2x32 watts ea. dual bulb T8s on 24/7 and a 9 inch box fan......Doesn't seem like too much for the circuit it's on?

Home construction uses 14/3 wire for most household applications. Its sounds like your running 14/3 wire on a 20 amp breaker. This would cause the situation you speak of. A 20 amp breaker is recommended for 12/3 wirring. If your not sure about your wire I would change that breaker back to a 15 amp and try to plug some equipement elsewhere, just to be safe.

[h=3]Capacity Chart[/h]This chart is a simple "max capacity" chart for a short wire run. Increase the wire size for long runs - for example the wires running to the back of a vehicle to power the taillights may need to be one size larger to account for the length.

KronikGrower said:

So wouldn't that have popped the circuit breaker it's self? i'm on a 20 amp circuit.....

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If you pulled enough load to fry the wires the breaker should of tripped! Been an electrician for 27 years now.

what brand of electrical panel do you have?

General Electric pretty sure also the breaker is GE too.

Breaker maybe bad, but usally they nuinance trip if bad not lock in a closed state.