Charger Heater Control

Charger Heater Control

what is wrong with my outlet?

Our outlet in our bedroom was smoking, the plastic around the wire was melted. We seen that the screws were not tight.We had an alarm clock and a baby monitor charger plugged into that outlet. We heard that if your house has fuses that you aren't suppose to have 3 prong plugs, all of them in our house are. Our fuse for the room that we have the problem in is a 15 amp and controls 3 rooms, in another room we have a 1500 watt heater plugged in that we just got. Does that heater have anything to do with it, and if so why would it melt the out let in another room? Any info would be great. Thanks.

A 1500 watt heater draws a lot of power. If you have a lot of lights on and the heater is running, it will start heating up the electrical wiring. The outlet you're having problems with may be closer to the fuse box on that circuit so the power going to the heater would have to "flow" through that outlet before making it to the heater. If you've got a bad fuse, or if someone's bypassed the fuse (i.e. stuck a penny behind it) it is possible to draw more power than the wiring is capable of handling, thus causing your outlet to melt. A fuse works the same way a breaker does, they just have to be replaced every time they do their job, a circuit breaker can do it's job lots of times.

3 prong outlets aren't a problem when you've got a fuse box as long as the outlets are properly grounded, there should be a bare copper, or green wire going to a screw at the top on the back of the outlet for grounding. If there's no grounding, you should switch to the 2 prong outlets.

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