mxslick

Last week, was looking out the kitchen window after hearing a LOT of fire trucks scream past my apt. Saw huge plume of smoke lit up bright orange. Went outside to find that a string of four detached garages a block away had caught fire. After watching the FD do their thing I was surprised to see a POCO truck show up and disconnect the service to a duplex (one of four in the complex) that it turns out was where the power from the garage buildings originated. The fire chief was explaining to the two residents affected that they would have no power for quite some time..as the cause of the fire was the illegal wiring done in the garages. There is a second 4-plex of garages right next to this one that didn't burn, but I am willing to bet is wired the same way.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words so here goes:

Flying splice, the wire going thru the wall goes into EMT that goes over to the unburned garage set...


Remains of wire and the famous blue box used by hacks everywhere..notice anything strange about the wire?



Remains of a flat screen TV the tenant had in the garage...this and the mini-fridge, stereo and other things indicate that this was a "man-cave."



more to follow in next post...

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mxslick

Here is the remains of a switch with an addition most likely done by the tenant..see anything strange with this one?



The wires from that switch led to this mess:




Finally, look closely at the wire coming out of this box...at first I thought it was round romex (like 14/3) but it's not:



Before I tell you what that is and the most likely cause of the fire, I'll let you guys respond and see what you come up with.

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BBQ

As far as the question ............ I am not a forensic investigator and don't pretend to be one on the Internet.

Big John

I see them, but I'm honestly having trouble telling what the hell I'm looking at:

Were all those wires originally Romex and the sheath burned off, or were they actually individual conductors run in free air?

The last one that you initially thought was Romex looks a hell of a lot like a piece of SJ cord to me....

-John

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HARRY304E

looks like 2 wire so cord in the plastic box

Englishsparky

I see them now, I would say bad workmanship..

mxslick

John, to your first question, no and no.

It looks like SJ cord but it's not.

Hint: Pics 1 and 2 of first post, what you see are solid conductors....now look at the last pic of post #2 and think about it.

That is a part of it, but look at the conductors closely.

OK, I have errands to run and I'll check back in later....

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Big John

I have to try and think like the guy that wired it: If I was a total hack, what asinine thing would I have used to wire my garage? Hmm....

-John

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Englishsparky

Not wet string

Jlarson

Bare wires stapled to the wood framing.






Oh wait that's how I wired my garage....

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Bama

As screwy as it may be, stories like this make me appreciate the NEC a little bit more. Also makes me want to learn the RIGHT way to do things. Hence the reason I lurk around ET as an extension to my degree.

Big John

Hopefully not with both wires under the same staple...

If they're solid conductors, the first hack thing I think of is coaxial cable... but that ain't right. What other hack thing has solid conductors?
Not speaker cable...
Not extension cord...
Too big for bell wire...

What the hell could it be?

-John

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mxslick

You're on the right track John.....now think of where 4-conductor, solid, jacketed wire would be used in another application..common in So. California with a certain trade....

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Rudeboy

Well, I've done a bit of insurance claims before but never cared a lot about the existing wiring. Yeah a lot of the time it was jacked up but you're not getting paid to rewire the whole house... just the burnt stuff.

Obviously, most HO that had a fire in their house are either a big pain in the ass and/or are trying to fix/add stuff to the house that was not part of the damage.

Seen it dozens of times.

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Big John

Alright, give me another hint: What gauge am I looking at? Is it smaller than 14AWG? This isn't T-stat wire, is it...?

-John

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mxslick

Yep, smaller than #14, looked like 20ga to me but small possibility it could be #18. I didn't take any away to compare or measure to be sure.

Could not get access to panel to see what OCPD rating was on this, but based on the loads found after the fire I am willing to bet it wasn't 15 or 20 amps.

Side note: On the day I was there to take the pics, both of the disconnected units had extension cords run out the mail slots to neighboring units. I feel that it is only a matter of time before someone gets the brilliant idea to backfeed the panels.

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rexowner

irrigation cable?

mxslick

Ding ding ding!! We have a winner!!!

Never ceases to amaze me how stupid people are in regards to electricity, every time I think I've seen it all, another classic like this comes up.

I would not be the least bit surprised if the insurance investigation turns up more of it even in the tenant units.

Point of origin was at the receptacle in the man-cave (not the one I took pics of, the origin corner was completely destroyed) where the fridge, stereo and microwave was connected.

The fire was made worse by the tenant opening the door to see what was going on...I talked to him briefly when I was there to take the pics.

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Big John

Holy crap, never in a million years would I have guessed that.

-John

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rexowner

Must have been a landscaper - they always use those flying splices
in hand hole boxes. Works on a solenoid, why wouldn't it work in
a garage? Plus, since, you can get 18-12 or 20-12, you can do the
entire residence with one cable, using just one neutral. What's
not to like?