80's ampeg svt caught my outlet on fire!

DrowningBrian · #1 12-21-2010, 07:24 PM

i just bought an 80's ampeg svt it sounded gorgeous at the guys house. i brought it home to play let it warm up for 5 mins switched standbuy off, and my wall outlet caught on fire for a second and i yanked the power cord out. weird? it melted one of the prongs off in the outlet, now i gotta replace the end of the power cord and outlet, bummer.
my 2008 ampeg svt-cl didnt do that, the other day. i just moved into this house. bad outlet? fuse?

Antipodean · #2 12-21-2010, 08:03 PM

I'd get a qualified electrician to check out the outlet, and other wiring in the house. It sounds like a dodgy outlet. The circuit breaker (or main fuse - whatever it's called) should have tripped if the current was too high because of a power surge on any appliance plugged in. The amp may have caused the problem, but the household wiring safeguards seem to have failed. Electrical fires at the outlet should never occur.

EDIT:
I should probably add, appliance/amp fires shouldn't occur either, but household wiring fires deserve more attention.

poor_gear_whore · #3 12-21-2010, 08:13 PM

Get the wiring in the house checked out asap!

DrowningBrian · #4 12-21-2010, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antipodean

I'd get a qualified electrician to check out the outlet, and other wiring in the house. It sounds like a dodgy outlet. The circuit breaker (or main fuse - whatever it's called) should have tripped if the current was too high because of a power surge on any appliance plugged in. The amp may have caused the problem, but the household wiring safeguards seem to have failed. Electrical fires at the outlet should never occur.

EDIT:
I should probably add, appliance/amp fires shouldn't occur either, but household wiring fires deserve more attention.

thanks man, im gonna get my moms electrician over here tomorrow. it scared the sh!t outta me, just to think that something could happen like this when im sleeping.

DrowningBrian · #5 12-21-2010, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poor_gear_whore

Get the wiring in the house checked out asap!

absolutly, tomorrow for sure. thanks man.

dmusic148 · #6 12-21-2010, 08:36 PM

Defective/worn outlet and/or defective/worn plug. What happened is the connection between plug and outlet was poor, so all the current had to go through one little tiny area of metal, and this caused the metal to overheat/burn up. Easy to fix. Good thing you were in the room when it happened.

Mr. Foxen · #7 12-21-2010, 08:36 PM

Was it the wall outlet or the lead that caught on fire? A wrong lead could have done it whilst plugged in, but something else should always of gone before there is fire.

DrowningBrian · #8 12-21-2010, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Foxen

Was it the wall outlet or the lead that caught on fire? A wrong lead could have done it whilst plugged in, but something else should always of gone before there is fire.

the outlet and the left prong melted in the outlet, i had to knock it out with a drum stick.

Jim Campbell · #9 12-21-2010, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antipodean

I'd get a qualified electrician to check out the outlet, and other wiring in the house. It sounds like a dodgy outlet. The circuit breaker (or main fuse - whatever it's called) should have tripped if the current was too high because of a power surge on any appliance plugged in. The amp may have caused the problem, but the household wiring safeguards seem to have failed. Electrical fires at the outlet should never occur.

EDIT:
I should probably add, appliance/amp fires shouldn't occur either, but household wiring fires deserve more attention.

i don't know that a breaker would trip if an outlet was poorly connected and overheating....lots of house fires start from extension cords that do not trip breakers.....a short yes

billfitzmaurice · #10 12-21-2010, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrowningBrian

the outlet and the left prong melted in the outlet, i had to knock it out with a drum stick.

It takes a lot of current to do that. I'd have the panel checked out, that much juice should have caused the breaker to trip.

Jim Campbell · #11 12-21-2010, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrowningBrian

the outlet and the left prong melted in the outlet, i had to knock it out with a drum stick.

i'll bet that prong was not getting good contact and overheated

billfitzmaurice · #12 12-21-2010, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

i'll bet that prong was not getting good contact and overheated

I've seen that too, causing arcing, but only with high current draw devices, a lot higher than an amp. Which of course brings up the possibility of the amp pulling too much current for one reason or another.

will33 · #13 12-21-2010, 09:08 PM

The breakers in your house panel trip as a result of getting too hot, ie: draw too much current, breaker gets too hot and trips. It may take them a second or 2 to get enough heat to trip hence the GFCI plugs in the bathroom etc. If you're arcing, causing fire at the outlet, the breaker should've still tripped. Check out the house wiring, you say it worked fine at the guys house you bought it from, there may not have been a problem with the amp (although there may be now).

One of these http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...atalogId=10053 never hurts either. With that, you don't have to be an electrician to know whether there's a problem or if it's ok. I haven't searched it out but I'm sure by now somebody makes one with a simple "green light means go" display for the pure novice.

KE6LUK · #14 12-21-2010, 09:18 PM

I had something similar happen a few years ago, but instead of catching fire a flame shot out of the outlet. The electrician said, the outlet broke when I pulled the plug and then shorted when I plugged my equipment back in. No breaker tripped that time either.

will33 · #15 12-21-2010, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KE6LUK

I had something similar happen a few years ago, but instead of catching fire a flame shot out of the outlet. The electrician said, the outlet broke when I pulled the plug and then shorted when I plugged my equipment back in. No breaker tripped that time either.

Could be, how old is the OP's house/wiring. The plastic in the outlets can get brittle over the years. They're cheap/easy to replace.

The old "jailhouse" match trick involves threading a paperclip through the end of a Qtip and sticking it in the outlet, sparks fly but breakers don't trip then either but the cotton catches fire......weird.

Jim Campbell · #16 12-21-2010, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

I've seen that too, causing arcing, but only with high current draw devices, a lot higher than an amp. Which of course brings up the possibility of the amp pulling too much current for one reason or another.

the ceramic heaters we use at work draw about 9 amp @ wfo,and when one of my extensions started to fray at the plug end it started to heat up,but as the appliance did not exceed the breaker rating it did not trip....and some of the trucks we plug in with the 3 prong 60 amp connectors will arc out and burn if contact is poor....

Jim Campbell · #17 12-21-2010, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by will33

The breakers in your house panel trip as a result of getting too hot, ie: draw too much current, breaker gets too hot and trips. It may take them a second or 2 to get enough heat to trip hence the GFCI plugs in the bathroom etc. If you're arcing, causing fire at the outlet, the breaker should've still tripped. Check out the house wiring, you say it worked fine at the guys house you bought it from, there may not have been a problem with the amp (although there may be now).

One of these http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...atalogId=10053 never hurts either. With that, you don't have to be an electrician to know whether there's a problem or if it's ok. I haven't searched it out but I'm sure by now somebody makes one with a simple "green light means go" display for the pure novice.

if it arcs between pos neutral/ground it will short and trip,but if the arc is between two points on the same wire from poor contact is it not resistance that is created instead of a short...i would swap out that outlet immediately and check the amp breaker/fuse and test the amp on a circuit that is known to work....

will33 · #18 12-21-2010, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

if it arcs between pos neutral/ground it will short and trip,but if the arc is between two points on the same wire from poor contact is it not resistance that is created instead of a short...i would swap out that outlet immediately and check the amp breaker/fuse and test the amp on a circuit that is known to work....

Good point, if it's a shoddy piece of wire or poor connection it's trying to get through it arcs and spits fire and adds resistance but doesn't heat things up enough at the breaker.....hmm.

It could be that the OP's hot or neutral wire's screw is a bit loose where it connects to the outlet, wire is connecting in a small point only because of the flex it has in it from shoving the outlet back into the box on install. If he pulled his outlet out of the wall before the fire, it'd likely have black stuff and maybe melting at the problem spot.

May want to check the rest of your outlets while you're at it.

DrowningBrian · #19 12-22-2010, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by will33

Could be, how old is the OP's house/wiring. The plastic in the outlets can get brittle over the years. They're cheap/easy to replace.

The old "jailhouse" match trick involves threading a paperclip through the end of a Qtip and sticking it in the outlet, sparks fly but breakers don't trip then either but the cotton catches fire......weird.

the house was built in 2002. probably just half ass work.
we use to kinda do the same thing in high school, involving paper and a paper clip. haha

you guys are really helpful on hear!

DrowningBrian · #20 12-22-2010, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by will33

The breakers in your house panel trip as a result of getting too hot, ie: draw too much current, breaker gets too hot and trips. It may take them a second or 2 to get enough heat to trip hence the GFCI plugs in the bathroom etc. If you're arcing, causing fire at the outlet, the breaker should've still tripped. Check out the house wiring, you say it worked fine at the guys house you bought it from, there may not have been a problem with the amp (although there may be now).

One of these http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...atalogId=10053 never hurts either. With that, you don't have to be an electrician to know whether there's a problem or if it's ok. I haven't searched it out but I'm sure by now somebody makes one with a simple "green light means go" display for the pure novice.

thanks man, really helpful.