What the heck happened here

A

Alwayslearningelec

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Occupation
Estimator
Hoping someone can help. So my tenant got a Tesla and he's been asking me to have someone come in store the electric charger for it. Anyway I went on the side of my house and looked at where I have my gfi's and this is what I saw. I was completely stunned it almost looks like there was a fire. Anyone know what could have happened here? I don't know why I have the feeling he tried to charge his car here but that's probably not even possible. I don't live in the house it's a complete rental so I'm not there to know what's going on. I couldn't upload all the pictures but I'm not sure if you could tell the whole thing was burnt up like there was a fire.
 

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infinity

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
It looks melted. Could be a loose connection on the receptacle that caused the excess heat under load that melted the plastic. You would need to open it up to know for sure.
 
Fred B

Fred B

Senior Member
Location
Upstate, NY
Occupation
Electrician
Seen that happen at a DG on an outdoor receptical, someone was parking overnight and steeling a charge for their Chevy Bolt. It totally burned up just like that.
 
tortuga

tortuga

Code Historian
Location
Oregon
Occupation
Electrical Design
In the photo looks like the bottom GFCI is missing a screw?
Can you check some kinda log in the car and see how many amps it was drawing the last few charges?
The level 1 should not pull more than 12Amps @ 120V or 1440W
 
A

Alwayslearningelec

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Occupation
Estimator
Well I ask my tenant he said he didn't plug anything in. It's just coincidental he's been asking for someone to install the car charger the last few weeks and now this is like that. Well I can't prove it so it is what it is.
 
L

letgomywago

Senior Member
Location
Washington state and Oregon coast
Occupation
residential electrician
Alwayslearningelec said:
Well I ask my tenant he said he didn't plug anything in. It's just coincidental he's been asking for someone to install the car charger the last few weeks and now this is like that. Well I can't prove it so it is what it is.
Click to expand...
Get a hardwired charger installed. Some people have issues with the receptacle method plus might cost the same if you can avoid the gfi breaker and the expensive good quality receptacle
 
Tip DS

Tip DS

I'm here.
Location
The Great Meme State
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Alwayslearningelec said:
My tenant said you can;t even use a plug in charger for his car. Not sure of true.
Click to expand...
It's called a level 1 charger, and they are available for the Bolt. Here's a link to buy one:
Bolt plug-in charger
Even so, the plugs shouldn't have done that unless he somehow tried to defeat the protection. There should have been a breaker somewhere that popped, or the GFCI should have tripped, or something.
Sadly, I think you're going to need a trail camera, or home security cameras trained on the location to catch this character before he burns down your rental unit(s).
 
R

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Tip DS said:
There should have been a breaker somewhere that popped, or the GFCI should have tripped, or something.
Click to expand...

Joule heating at a poor connection looks just like a normal load to protective devices. This type of failure without tripping a protective device may not be an everyday occurrence, but it happens more often than one might think.
 
Mr. Serious

Mr. Serious

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma, USA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Poor connection and heavy load, as others already said. I just wanted to add the poor connection could be one of two things:
1 . worn out receptacle not holding the plug tightly.
1a. too small of a cord used for the load, thus overheating and leading to #1.
2. loose screw/connection where the wiring attaches to the back of the receptacle.

Those are the only two possibilities unless it's something very abnormal. But you won't know which occurred until you open it up and look at the back.

Also, I like using 20A rated GFCI receptacles if they're on a 20A circuit. Consider doing that when replacing them. It won't help if problem 1a from above recurs, though.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Mr. Serious said:
Also, I like using 20A rated GFCI receptacles if they're on a 20A circuit.
Click to expand...
It's a common misconception, but 20a receptacles don't carry 20a any better than 15a receptacles do.

For a given grade of receptacle, the conductive parts are the same; the only difference is the slot shape.
 
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