Monday, April 23, 2012

Exploding plug? any concerns about that?

my hair dryer is probably close to 10 years old, and while i was using it this morning, it shorted and its plug exploded while it was in the socket. should i be concerned about how it perhaps affected the wiring in my house?



Exploding plug? any concerns about that?

The wiring should be fine. Before the wire melts or anything like that, the circuit breaker will trip. The only thing that might possibly have been damaged would be the outlet from the explosion. If you were able to completely remove what was left of the plug and there are no visible cracks in the outlet itself (not the cover), you should be fine.



If you are really worried about it, have someone come out and look at it.



Exploding plug? any concerns about that?

yes you should be concerned cause if the plug exploded due to the dryer shorting out and if you wear using the blow dryer in the bathroom then in that bathroom you need what is called a GFI outlet which has it own built in breaker .any where thereis water link in a kitchen and there is a outlet you need to have a gfi outlet by code



Exploding plug? any concerns about that?

the only 2 problems could be the outlet it was plugged into, and if it was or is on and gfci breaker...



Exploding plug? any concerns about that?

I would take the outlet out and look to see if it was burned be sure and turn the power off if its burned bad replace the outlet and than buy you a new hair dryer



Exploding plug? any concerns about that?

First of all, a GFCI receptacle is not a breaker, nor does it function as a breaker. It does not "trip". like a breaker in an "over-current" situation.



A GFCI trips whenever there is an upset in the balance of current flow between the hot and neutral, which should always be in complete balance, unless the current is flowing somewhere other than from the hot wire back to the neutral wire. That means it could be flowing into a person, so the GFCI trips to stop current from flowing into a person.



That is why GFCI protection is required in wet areas, like bathrooms, and kitchens, or when the "real ground" is within reach, like outside receptacles.



"...the plug exploded"?



That either means it is physically broken/damaged, or has black marks on it. If it is broken, that is obvious, replace it. If it has black marks, the carbon in the black marks can act like a conductor, so it also needs to be replaced.



As to the other wiring in the house, it should be in the same condition as before the incident. The good thing about electricity is that it always takes the path of least resistance. In this case, since the receptacle that the dryer was plugged into exploded, that was the electricity following the path of least Resistance (very fast), and it should be the end of your damage.



Replace the receptacle, replace the dryer, if that doesn't fix it, call a pro.

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