Eeek! This morning (after I noticed the boyfriend left the space heater in the bathroom on FOR HOURS while he’d left FOR HOURS with me sleeping in the next room FOR HOURS is he ever in trouble!) I unplugged it and found burn marks on the wider prong of the plug. Examination showed scorching around the plug holes in the outlet as well.
Plugs in that outlet have always been really loose, by the way, and I saw a spark once several months ago. Been meaning to do something about it, but you know how that goes.
It’s a GFCI outlet, the only outlet in the bathroom.
So. Obviously that’s bad. Is it bad as in “it’s just the outlet, replace it and you’re fine”, or is it bad as in “there’s something wrong with the wiring and you should call an electrician”? I’ve been looking at how to replace it and it seems to be something I could do with a reasonable degree of confidence.
plug something into it like a radio turned on and go flip the circuit breaker off or unscrew the fuse. if it stops playing then you can have confidence that the circuit is turned off.
IANAElectrician (and I have always wondered why the mods will allow us to give electrical/plumbing/remodeling advice to strangers when that advice may leave someone dead, and in the meantime threads about minor health issues have been shut down due to the “don’t give out medical advice” rule), but…
It sounds like the contacts are loose in the outlet–there isn’t any smoke with the heater unplugged. I’d replace the outlet with a commercial grade GFCI (commercial grade outlets tend to have stronger contacts.) While replacing it, I’d check if the insulation on the wires was burned, and I might call an electrician if it was.
Make sure both plugs are not operable before removal; it is possible to wire each half separately, and if you don’t know what you’re looking for one might be alive whilst the other isn’t.
I’m an electrician and I agree with what johnpost said. You can check the wires in the box for scorching but will probably be able to strip back any damage pretty easily.
i would second the suggestion of using higher priced receptacles if not commercial grade. though many home improvement stores may only sell one grade of GFCI, you may have to go to an electrical supply store or store where builders buy supplies to find a higher grade.
GFCI units in the box have good instructions and a careful person can do an OK job if they read and understand the instructions. if you have any doubts, uncertainty or fears then get help from a person with experience rather than take a chance at a bad job (which certainly could be a hazard).
for regular receptacles the difference of what is available in a home improvement store is tremendous. the $0.39 receptacles are junk and hazardous and you will replace them every year or risk a fire. you may not want to use a couple dollar commercial receptacle everywhere (though this is a good choice for places you might put plugs in and out of frequently) though you should go for those priced between those points.
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I wonder this as well. The number of subjects on which the following of random online advice might lead to unpleasant and even dire consequences is essentially unlimited. This seems best handled by a policy of “NB: The value of advice on this message board may be no greater that what you paid for it” - which on the SDMB appears to apply to most but not quite all subjects.
We’re always plugging and unplugging with this one - it’s the only bathroom receptacle, and between electric toothbrush, heater, hair dryer, and everything else I guess it’s no surprise it needs replacing. I’ll get the most expensive one they have.
It is funny, by the way - you can say “Yes, sell all your stuff and move to New Zealand to marry that guy you met on the Internet!” and “Oh, hell, yeah, go ahead and rewire that yourself - what’s the worst that can happen? Turning off the breaker’s for pussies.” and “Step one: get a bigger ladder…” but you can’t say “Put some aloe on that sunburn and wear sunscreen in the future, dumbass.”
Actually, don’t go for the most expensive. Go to a local hardware store, rather than the “big box” home improvement places, and tell them you want the “best quality”. Local stores are generally much more knoledgeable about their product lines than “big box” ones. A big box came to our town, but the 2 local ones that survived are still thriving for that very reason. Go in to the “big box” with a problem, and most of their employees can’t tell you how to solve it. Go to the local ones and they will bend over backward trying to figure out how you can, and what of their stock you need. If I need a bolt, and know what size I need, the “big box” is closer and more convenient. If I need to solve a problem and don’t know how or what I need to do it, I go to the locals and always wind up going home with the best possible solution.
ETA: Also, going that way avoids the problem of relying on us random SDMB yutzes. You WILL be getting advice from pros. They will tell you if the job is beyond you. The “big box” boys won’t, because they don’t know. It’s probably beyond them too.
No time like the present to replace the single receptacle with two. If you’re insanely lucky, the box inside the wall will be a square box, and just by changing what’s called the mud ring for one that holds two devices instead of one, you can do this very easily.
More likely, the entire box will need to be changed. Electrically, this job is very easy for someone who’s changed receptacles and switches, but depending on what kind of box is in the wall and how it’s attached to the wall, and if that bathroom wall is tiled or not, the job can be tricky from a not wrecking the wall standpoint.
The medical and legal professions are such that the giving of advice, in and of itself, is regulated. A licensed practioner giving unsound advice may incur legal liability, and a layman giving advice at all in these fields may be in violation of law. It’s quite a different situation from other fields.
If you unplug and plug in items that put a decent load on the outlet/circuit, and your method of turning these items on/off is by plugging and unplugging them then you can shorten the life of the outlet and scorch it.
If at all possible, plug and unplug items when they are ‘off’. I know that sometimes it is not possible, but do so when it is.
I would just like to point out that if your house is wired where the neutral is shared with another circuit, the neutral could still be live even though the receptacle is “dead”.
Ask me how I know this.
They’re still out there. You just need to look for them – they aren’t out in big shopping centers like the big box stores.
The Ace coop chain has 4,600 stores in the USA, for example. And True Value also has about 5,000.
Plaster is much easier to work with than a tiled bathroom wall – go for it. I agree with gotpassword that this is a real good time to expand that to a dual receptacle box.
In addition, I don’t think the OP mentioned how old the house is. If the wiring dates back to the 1930’s, it may have fuses in both the hot and neutral legs. This can lead to a nasty surprise if you happen to unscrew the neutral. If you have circuit breakers, this won’t be a problem.
Even if the wiring is newer than that, the insulating jacket may have become brittle over the years. Older insulation was cloth weave over natural rubber. If you pull the receptacle away from the box and insulation flakes off the wires, stop, leave the power off, and consult a professional.
