Could there be something wrong with our electricity?

8 years ago

This might be a bit long, and I'm not sure if I'm in the right place, but I'm trying to get answers...

We've had some termite damage, so some workers are replacing the wood trim on our house. They are using power tools, plugging into our electric via extension cords. They started on Tuesday, and everything went fine.

On Wednesday, they called me over and said that they were having issues with the outlet in the garage. They had an extension cord coming from the garage, and they said when they plugged another one into that cord, it sparked and burned their cord. They claimed to burn through 3 different cords. We moved them to a different outlet and they were able to finish for the day. They fully said they suspected the problem might be that they were running multiple power tools on the same outlet using a surge protector power strip.

I was concerned about that outlet, so I had an electrician come out. He checked it out, said it looked fine, replaced and advised them to only run one tool per outlet.

So yesterday I stop by and they said they had the same problem. They tried outlets outdoors, in our kitchen, in our garage and laundry room and all of the outlets had the same problem where they all sparked and burnt 3 of their extension cords and 3 of their power tools. They finally had to go rent a generator to finish.

I had the electrician out again yesterday and he said the house seemed fine, he blamed their tools or cords. He said one bad outlet could be possible but when every outlet had the same problem, it's usually a problem with what's being plugged into it. The workers say that it's our electric because it worked fine the first day and then started having problems.

Any suggestions? Does it seem more likely they are overloading our circuits or could it be possible our entire house has bad wiring? It was built in 1992 and we've owned it for 4 years with no electric problems at all. I have no idea what to do.

Featured Answer

Ron Natalie

8 years ago

It would be trivial for the electrician to measure the voltage at the affected receptacles, which I assume he did. NOTHING that could have been done wrong with your house wiring should cause proper extension cords to "spark and burn out."

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Comments (9)

greg_2015
8 years ago
Were their extension cords heavy duty? How many in a row did they have plugged in?

If the 'length' vs 'gauge' vs 'draw from multiple power tools' isn't appropriate then the extension cords could overheat and the voltage drop could damage their tools.
Chi thanked greg_2015
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Chi
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Thanks for your input! They used a whole mess of extension cords. 2 or 3 between the outlet and their tools in some cases. I don't know if the cords were heavy duty or not. Here's a pic of one.

I asked if this happens in other homes and they said sometimes they spark and burn but they switch outlets and it's fine. I find it hard to believe that multiple homes would all have electric problems and it's much more likely they are doing something wrong.
greg_2015
8 years ago
It's their problem. Don't worry about it. They probably keep daisy-chaining the cords until the voltage drop causes harm and then they remove some cords and switch to a closer outlet, so the voltage drop isn't as bad.

I'm surprised that they keep doing it. You'd think they'd learn.
Chi thanked greg_2015
mtvhike
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Where I work, we are not allowed to daisy-chain extension cords or power strips; one extension only between tool and receptacle. At home, I only have relatively long (25-50 feet) 14- and 12-gauge grounded extension cords.
Chi thanked mtvhike
Ron Natalie
8 years ago
The code loathes extension cords.
Chi thanked Ron Natalie
Chi
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks everyone. I feel better about our house being safe!
toxcrusadr
8 years ago
I don't know what kind of tools they might have been using but a single circular saw can draw 10 amps. Most outlets are 20A rated so it doesn't take much to overload a single outlet.

Voltage drop can increase with current draw too. voltage = current x resistance so if the resistance of the cord stays constant (it basically does and it's not zero, obviously), the voltage drop goes up with the current draw. Which means more watts lost as heat in the cord.

Low voltage damages some motors easier than others.

These workers need to get a clue and stop ruining their equipment. All it would take is two cords plugged into different circuits.
mtvhike
8 years ago
Frequently power strips like the one shown in the photograph have 15A breakers on them.