Okay today my renter said she trying to unplug something from this outlet and somehow pulled the faceplate off. So I go up to investigate and this is what I find (attached pictures). Any suggestions? I'm confused how this outlet could have arched to anything. Also it looks as though it had been arching continuously for a few seconds or minutes in order to heat the brass up enough to melt the plastic all around the plastic part of the outlet. The outlet was literally in two pieces when I got there, the face was hanging off and the brass and backing was in the wall. The house is an old cinder block house with seemingly metal conduit and boxes, but I was under the impression they would be non conductive (because why run wires through a conductive conduit, sounds dangerous). Box has two white and two black wires, only one black was hot. However whomever changed it before put the hot to the bottom nut marked "actif" (not sure if that matters, but pretty sure it does). So when I put in the new outlet, I put the hot black on the top nut marked hot lol. Then the other black to the bottom nut.
I'm dumbfounded as to what happened here and if this outlet is still dangerous, despite me changing the old outlet with a new one. Cant figure out if it was user error by the renter that caused it or too much amperage on the line to cause the arch. Idk.
I'm dumbfounded as to what happened here and if this outlet is still dangerous, despite me changing the old outlet with a new one. Cant figure out if it was user error by the renter that caused it or too much amperage on the line to cause the arch. Idk.