Short in recptacle?

[Eric R 1973]

Has anyone ever known a receptacle to have an internal short I had to replace one it was a 15A rated duplex receptacle the weird thing about this and why I ask this question is that there was nothing plugged into the damaged outlet the other outlet had a small oil filled radiator type heater plugged into it and the same set up is on the next receptacle but no damage to either outlet and neither unit pulls more than 15A at any given time. By damaged I mean partially melted.
Any thoughts???????

 

[Nium]

If the receptacle was somewhere in the middle of the chain such as one cable was the feed in and the other cable the feed out then the wires may have been loose on the terminals of the receptacle causing an increased resistance to the current passing through the receptacle which led to it melting. Copper or Aluminum conductors (not that it matters just curious)?

 

[Eric R 1973]

If the receptacle was somewhere in the middle of the chain such as one cable was the feed in and the other cable the feed out then the wires may have been loose on the terminals of the receptacle causing an increased resistance to the current passing through the receptacle which led to it melting. Copper or Aluminum conductors (not that it matters just curious)?

#12 copper

 

[stevebea]

Has anyone ever known a receptacle to have an internal short I had to replace one it was a 15A rated duplex receptacle the weird thing about this and why I ask this question is that there was nothing plugged into the damaged outlet the other outlet had a small oil filled radiator type heater plugged into it and the same set up is on the next receptacle but no damage to either outlet and neither unit pulls more than 15A at any given time. By damaged I mean partially melted.
Any thoughts???????

Like Nium said this was not an internal short, that would or should have tripped the breaker but a loose termination which increased resistance thus the meltdown.

 

[Eric R 1973]

Like Nium said this was not an internal short, that would or should have tripped the breaker but a loose termination which increased resistance thus the meltdown.

Thank you that makes sense the fact that nothing had been plugged into the outlet and nothing like that had occured anywhere else on the circuit and the breaker had'nt tripped just really screwed with me.

 

[ceb58]

Like Nium said this was not an internal short, that would or should have tripped the breaker but a loose termination which increased resistance thus the meltdown.

Backstab or side wired?

 

[Eric R 1973]

Backstab or side wired?

Side wired damage was right at terminal

 

[SG-1]

I had a receptacle with an internal failure due to an invasion of fire ants. The breaker did trip. Lots of toasty ants. Looked like dirt, until closer inspection.

 

[ceb58]

Side wired damage was right at terminal

Loose screw or they striped out threads when installing and were too lazy to replace it with new recpt.

 

[mivey]

Loose screw or they striped out threads when installing and were too lazy to replace it with new recpt.

Or insulation under screw causing poor connection. Also failure to properly pre-fold wires so the conductor and its termination to device terminals are not excessively strained when mounting the device to the box.