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An odd thing is happening, this afternoon a loud pop, and a circuit breaker tripped.
In the basement I found a cloud of smoke and the smoke of ozone. Some of the romex wiring had water inside the insulation, had arced between the wires and blew apart. So I cut them, cleaned them, and re-connected everything. Turned the breaker back on and tested the circuit. It feeds our sewage pump and sump pumps.
Then just now at 11pm, POP!
So I went down into the basement, and another POP and a fire-ball fell from one stretch of the romex wiring. I shut off the circuit and examined the wiring closely. It is warm, at that one spot a blackened scorch mark. but no other damage.
Perhaps by being submerged, water has soaked through the outer plastic insulation, the inner paper wrapping on the ground wire is very wet. But still both the line wires still have seemingly solid rubber insulation on them. So I do not see where or how a short is happening.
Hmm.
Any ideas?
Three conductor Romex wiring 12-2 should be capable of getting wet.
i dont think you will have to replace it forest .but you will need to get it dryed out.
pop a cpl of you basement windowes out and let the air in .after the water is outtake one of them hand sprayers you no the ones you pump up and mix a solution of 2 to1 bleach.2 parts water 1 part bleach .to fend off any mold that will start growing.
I live in Fort Kent, near a brook no less. But we're safe, since we don't live downtown. The brook gave us a scare though. I guess you guys saw that YouTube video taken from a helicopter? It was BAD downtown. I don't know how long it'll take to recover from this.
Those apartments in the very beginning of that aerial view of the chopper video? My sister-in-law's mother lived in one of the 12 units, and here's what the aftermath looked like, taken by my sister-in-law:
I heard the water got up to the eaves! Channel 4 up here showed some of the damage too. Horrible stuff. We got off scott free though, which seems unfair, but that's the way nature works I guess. *shrug*
Forest I read up on the romex that gets wet and conventional wisdom (for once it makes sense) says replace what is giving you trouble. The wet paper is the issue. Did you have any petroleum in the water in the basement? Water does not necessarily make it unusable, but any contaminant in the water could. I know that sounds like a dumb answer, but that is what the code says paraphrased. Other sections of code specify that the romex that was wet has to be replaced. I sort of agree with replace what is giving you a problem. It will take some time for the water to dry out of the cable. Is the cable that is giving you an issue under a fair load? One source said that wiring under a good load warms the insulation, and any pinholes get larger allowing the water to penetrate to the conductor. Since you said it was on a pump, then it might have more load than just a lighting circuit.
I read up on the romex that gets wet and conventional wisdom (for once it makes sense) says replace what is giving you trouble
I did.
Quote:
The wet paper is the issue
I agree.
Quote:
Did you have any petroleum in the water in the basement?
um, no.
Raw sewage, grease and lard from the grey-water transfer station, and a lot of WVO [maybe a dozen 5-gallon containers of filtered WVO, sealed and sometimes with drippage].
But no real petro.
Quote:
Water does not necessarily make it unusable, but any contaminant in the water could.
I fully understand that pure water does not conduct, ionized water does, and it is up to the contaminant levels.
I sort of have a background in that.
It just had not occurred to me that my romex would give me this kind of issue.
Quote:
I know that sounds like a dumb answer, but that is what the code says paraphrased. Other sections of code specify that the romex that was wet has to be replaced. I sort of agree with replace what is giving you a problem. It will take some time for the water to dry out of the cable. Is the cable that is giving you an issue under a fair load? One source said that wiring under a good load warms the insulation, and any pinholes get larger allowing the water to penetrate to the conductor. Since you said it was on a pump, then it might have more load than just a lighting circuit.
This is heavier gauge [12ga] romex as it supplies our grey-water pump, our black-water pump, our sump pumps and a drop light. Normally no two of these things would ever be running at the same time.
I had a bunch of un-used 14ga laying around [left over from lighting circuits], but had no spare 12ga to make the repair with. So I was rather ticked that I had to buy more 12ga.
I just figure that the cost of this 12ga romex is a part of the 'flood damage' tally.
Glad to read you changed the romex out Forest. Regular romex is NOT suitable for being wet. After it does get soaked, like it sounds like yours did, even after drying out it will will corrode and just cause problems down the line.
It was weird the contaminants they listed: antifreeze? in house wiring??? oh well.....They listed some others but that was one that sort of stumped me. Anti-freeze in a house in the basement? Of course if you winterize in Maine you might have a form of that....
Glad to read you changed the romex out Forest. Regular romex is NOT suitable for being wet. After it does get soaked, like it sounds like yours did, even after drying out it will will corrode and just cause problems down the line.
It was weird the contaminants they listed: antifreeze? in house wiring??? oh well.....They listed some others but that was one that sort of stumped me. Anti-freeze in a house in the basement? Of course if you winterize in Maine you might have a form of that....
I bet you do, I bet salt water plays havoc!!!
I have worked on wiring that had been exposed to salt water flooding, it corrodes everything.
I have worked on wiring that had been exposed to salt water flooding, it corrodes everything.
There was an old song by the B-52's...Romex If You Want To...I liked that song
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It was weird the contaminants they listed: antifreeze? in house wiring??? oh well.....They listed some others but that was one that sort of stumped me. Anti-freeze in a house in the basement? Of course if you winterize in Maine you might have a form of that....
