K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
Scenario:
I helped a friend do some upgrades on a house he inherited as he was planning to rent it out. We replaced some receptacles, switches and put a bunch of your typical 2 bulb 60 watt mushroom lights up along with a GFCI in the bathroom. Friend had no bulbs and told me not to worry about it, he would deal with it.
A few days later I go back to do some more work and the new renters complained that the GFCI in the bathroom wasn't working. It was when I left, I always check them. Well, the first thing I thought was a broken connection in one of the conductor splices, most of which were above the mushroom light in the bathroom. I turned off the light and waited a while for it to cool. After a bit I came back and attempted to remove the globe. It was still so hot it burnt me. I wait a bit more and it was still too hot to touch. I had to use gloves to handle it to finally get it off. When I did, I found the silver reflective backing of the fixture melted and burned. I pulled the bulbs and they were 90 watt bulbs. The fixture got so hot it fused itself to the paint and I had to pry it off with a screwdriver. The renter put the bulbs in. The entire house had them in it. FAIL #1
A look inside the junction box showed nothing unusual. We started pulling covers and devices when my friend asked if it could be something behind the vanity in the bathroom. It was then I noticed the big fancy mirrored cabinet over the sink that wasn't there when I put in the GFCI. Hmm....I ask friend about new cabinet. Friend said yes, renter had installed new cabinet and indicated old cabinet was resting peacefully in the garage with a bunch of other stuff to be hauled away. You guessed it, there was a light in the old cabinet and the renter just whacked off the two runs of romex that went into it and stuffed the wires in the wall and buried them with 2x4s. One run was still hot when I managed to finally locate the end of it. The other end was the feed to the GFCI that we were troubleshooting. Both cut nice and pretty with one piece of tape over the end. FAIL#2
Renter also asks friend (renter is holding a couple of wood screws and a screwdriver) if she can screw the screws into the phone jack plate to hang her wall mounted phone on. Fortunately, friend had new plate with the appropriate mounts to hang her phone on.
There is more to this saga than just the above, but it doesn't involve the renters. Just a flood, a nest of Asian ladybugs (that bite!) and the funky light switch I commented on in a thread on another forum.
I helped a friend do some upgrades on a house he inherited as he was planning to rent it out. We replaced some receptacles, switches and put a bunch of your typical 2 bulb 60 watt mushroom lights up along with a GFCI in the bathroom. Friend had no bulbs and told me not to worry about it, he would deal with it.
A few days later I go back to do some more work and the new renters complained that the GFCI in the bathroom wasn't working. It was when I left, I always check them. Well, the first thing I thought was a broken connection in one of the conductor splices, most of which were above the mushroom light in the bathroom. I turned off the light and waited a while for it to cool. After a bit I came back and attempted to remove the globe. It was still so hot it burnt me. I wait a bit more and it was still too hot to touch. I had to use gloves to handle it to finally get it off. When I did, I found the silver reflective backing of the fixture melted and burned. I pulled the bulbs and they were 90 watt bulbs. The fixture got so hot it fused itself to the paint and I had to pry it off with a screwdriver. The renter put the bulbs in. The entire house had them in it. FAIL #1
A look inside the junction box showed nothing unusual. We started pulling covers and devices when my friend asked if it could be something behind the vanity in the bathroom. It was then I noticed the big fancy mirrored cabinet over the sink that wasn't there when I put in the GFCI. Hmm....I ask friend about new cabinet. Friend said yes, renter had installed new cabinet and indicated old cabinet was resting peacefully in the garage with a bunch of other stuff to be hauled away. You guessed it, there was a light in the old cabinet and the renter just whacked off the two runs of romex that went into it and stuffed the wires in the wall and buried them with 2x4s. One run was still hot when I managed to finally locate the end of it. The other end was the feed to the GFCI that we were troubleshooting. Both cut nice and pretty with one piece of tape over the end. FAIL#2
Renter also asks friend (renter is holding a couple of wood screws and a screwdriver) if she can screw the screws into the phone jack plate to hang her wall mounted phone on. Fortunately, friend had new plate with the appropriate mounts to hang her phone on.
There is more to this saga than just the above, but it doesn't involve the renters. Just a flood, a nest of Asian ladybugs (that bite!) and the funky light switch I commented on in a thread on another forum.
