I?ve been an electrician for 25 years and been in business as a one man shop for the last four years and this is one of the more mysterious service calls I?ve caught. The call (from what I understood) was that a receptacle in the bathroom had arc marks on it. I assumed it was a loose connection on the receptacle and would be a fairly simple call. When I arrived, I find that the wood on the trim around the custom medicine cabinet and the wood on the adjacent window trim are burned, as if something overheated inside or on the backside of the wood. The problem is that there is no wiring behind the wood and the GFCI receptacle and vanity light are fine. On closer examination, it appears that the wood actually burned from the outside in, the further I dig into it with a screwdriver I find solid wood behind the ?arc?
At this point, I?m stumped. I ask the homeowner what is usually sitting in that spot, she shows me a lit makeup mirror. I check it out, it doesn?t have any problems, I?m still stumped.:-?
Then (eventually)it hits me, next to the vanity there is a window that faces south, the makeup mirror is actually a magnifying makeup mirror, so as the sun comes in the window, then hits the giant magnifying glass it produces a concentrated beam of light. As the earth rotates, the beam proceeds to cause a burn in the wood (notice the perfect arc). My guess is that that here was a cloud (or the focal point changed) that caused it to skip over a ? inch section of the trim.
Now if this would have caused the house to catch on fire, I?m sure it would have been ruled an electrical fire since it originated so close to the receptacle. The homeowner has since moved her nice makeup mirror to another vanity.
Check out the pictures:
And the culprit (it looks like the magnifying mirror is on the opposite side)
At this point, I?m stumped. I ask the homeowner what is usually sitting in that spot, she shows me a lit makeup mirror. I check it out, it doesn?t have any problems, I?m still stumped.:-?
Then (eventually)it hits me, next to the vanity there is a window that faces south, the makeup mirror is actually a magnifying makeup mirror, so as the sun comes in the window, then hits the giant magnifying glass it produces a concentrated beam of light. As the earth rotates, the beam proceeds to cause a burn in the wood (notice the perfect arc). My guess is that that here was a cloud (or the focal point changed) that caused it to skip over a ? inch section of the trim.
Now if this would have caused the house to catch on fire, I?m sure it would have been ruled an electrical fire since it originated so close to the receptacle. The homeowner has since moved her nice makeup mirror to another vanity.
Check out the pictures:
And the culprit (it looks like the magnifying mirror is on the opposite side)
