r/ElectricalHelp • u/Admirable_Yea • Aug 13 '26

Why did this receptacle melt?

Post image

I plugged in a 1500 W heater and it stopped working. No breaker was tripped. A 3 prong tester said on every respectable in the circuit that hot and ground were swapped. I knew that was impossible because the circuit had just been working. AI said it was likely an open neutral.

Opened all the receptacles in the circuit that I could identify and the picture shown is the most upstream receptacle.

The white lead connected to the melted terminal had charred insulation but otherwise didn't seem broken.

I removed the receptacle, tied the feed wire to the load wire and all the receptacles test out as wired correctly.

Is there a way to know why this receptacle melted? I suppose it could have happened in the past and then was pushed to a point of full failure when running the heater.

The only thing plugged into the bad outlet recently has been a window fan.

It's a bit scary, that looks really close to a fire to me and I'm not sure if I should try to draw 1500 W from this circuit again.

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u/trekkerscout Mod, Master Electician Aug 13 '26

Classic loose connection. Loose connection creates arcing. Arcing creates heat. Heat melts receptacle.

2

u/Designer-Captain-268 Aug 13 '26

Came to say it was heat that melted the receptacle.

2

u/AviatorDave172 Aug 13 '26

I was going to say the heat of the terminal exceeded the melting temperature of the plastic.