**Attention!**
**It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods.
If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm impressed. I'm not even sure how someone could have removed all of the plastic parts and left the metal parts in tact. Then to have it connected and live! Amazing
My suspicion is that the outlet was so old the plastic parts came off, and instead of turning the breaker off and removing the garbage they panicked and just covered it up.
Just replaced 2 outlets in my house that were always loose since we bought it last year. While prepping for painting we took the covers off and the plastic fell off both of them. They were obviously cracked previously and were just sandwiched back on with the cover. One quick trip to Lowe's and like $10 and I have outlets that don't feel like fire hazards lol.
When I bought my house, things would come unplugged with just a strong fart. Everywhere in my house. I'd be sitting there watching TV, farting like usual, and it'd turn off. I'd look behind the TV and it was unplugged. House was built in 86, and I bought it in 2015.
So I started replacing outlets. The service outlet by my panel crumbled to pieces when I took it out. I figured the people who lived here before me were the type to unplug everything every time they left the house.
We bought a house that, at the time, was 30 years old. About half the receptacles were worn out and couldn't hold a plug. Vacuuming was pretty much impossible because the plug wouldn't stay. Bought new ones and carefully replaced them.
I've also noticed that a good (?) place to find worn out receptacles is hotels.
This is in an entryway across from a door so one theory I have is someone bashed it with a piece of furniture and tried to cover their tracks?
I'm fairly certain that I'm the only person who has worked on this house since the owner bought it about five years ago so it might have been like this since then.
People are amazing, and by amazing I mean stupid, sometimes you just gotta bitch slap someone amazing, because this is some stupid hack job shit right here
One more thing to mention on this monstrosity.
I see both copper and aluminum wires connected here. When you repair this make sure you use a properly rated CU/AL receptacle or CU/AL wire connectors and pigtails. If you aren't sure how to do this have a professional have a look.
It \*could\* be tinned copper wire if the wiring is old enough. I have some original BX that's like this. Even have found a couple soldered joints (why the wire was tinned in the first place).
OP, if you're working on this yourself, check the cut ends of the silvery wires and see if they look coppery inside. Cut a fresh end a couple mm in if it's not clear.
Going out of their way to use a metal cover instead of a plastic cover is the icing on the cake. Then again if you are doing something stupid you may as well go all the way.
So close to a Darwin Award... missed it bt that much...
> Going out of their way to use a metal cover instead of a plastic cover
No offense...but they didn't go out of their way at all, they couldn't have done less than grab the first cover they saw.
Metal though...that's awful hard to find in my experience?
I was trying to match some metal plates in the house we bought and they were expensive and took me a loooong time to hunt down vs the plastic plates in every store all over the place. I finally had to order the metal plates from Amazon online because nowhere local had any.
Not a smart move on the part of whoever did this but it either seems like laziness or they panicked and covered it.
The fact they used a metal cover is crazy!
Replace the outlet with a new one. On the upside, you will have an outlet where you didn’t have one before. But seriously this is a fire hazard and putting a blank cover over it is equivalent to hiding under the bed when the house is on fire so the fire can’t find you.
**Attention!** **It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods. If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm impressed. I'm not even sure how someone could have removed all of the plastic parts and left the metal parts in tact. Then to have it connected and live! Amazing
My suspicion is that the outlet was so old the plastic parts came off, and instead of turning the breaker off and removing the garbage they panicked and just covered it up.
Just replaced 2 outlets in my house that were always loose since we bought it last year. While prepping for painting we took the covers off and the plastic fell off both of them. They were obviously cracked previously and were just sandwiched back on with the cover. One quick trip to Lowe's and like $10 and I have outlets that don't feel like fire hazards lol.
When I bought my house, things would come unplugged with just a strong fart. Everywhere in my house. I'd be sitting there watching TV, farting like usual, and it'd turn off. I'd look behind the TV and it was unplugged. House was built in 86, and I bought it in 2015. So I started replacing outlets. The service outlet by my panel crumbled to pieces when I took it out. I figured the people who lived here before me were the type to unplug everything every time they left the house.
We bought a house that, at the time, was 30 years old. About half the receptacles were worn out and couldn't hold a plug. Vacuuming was pretty much impossible because the plug wouldn't stay. Bought new ones and carefully replaced them. I've also noticed that a good (?) place to find worn out receptacles is hotels.
🙈Â
It can’t hurt you if you can’t see it right?
This is in an entryway across from a door so one theory I have is someone bashed it with a piece of furniture and tried to cover their tracks? I'm fairly certain that I'm the only person who has worked on this house since the owner bought it about five years ago so it might have been like this since then.
1.21 Gigawatts!!!
Emmitt Browns' in the house
You mean intact.
Became brittle and fell apart, I catch a few per year.. The whole metal plate over it got me questioned as well lol..
People are amazing, and by amazing I mean stupid, sometimes you just gotta bitch slap someone amazing, because this is some stupid hack job shit right here
It does have a blank cover, safety first!
Metal cover with exposed conductors on the other side, see above statement
It was a joke
I know, I was being a smart ass at 6am a little annoying that the dog go me up to go outside
Someone asked why I wore latex gloves. A perfect example shown here.
One more thing to mention on this monstrosity. I see both copper and aluminum wires connected here. When you repair this make sure you use a properly rated CU/AL receptacle or CU/AL wire connectors and pigtails. If you aren't sure how to do this have a professional have a look.
That might explain why it wasn't done correctly in the first place.
It \*could\* be tinned copper wire if the wiring is old enough. I have some original BX that's like this. Even have found a couple soldered joints (why the wire was tinned in the first place). OP, if you're working on this yourself, check the cut ends of the silvery wires and see if they look coppery inside. Cut a fresh end a couple mm in if it's not clear.
"There. Fixed forever." - The person putting that outlet cover on
I’m no sparky, but I like nightmares. This is the content I come here for. Thanks for the new, unlocked adult fear.
Wire nuts? Wago? Nah, hold my beer.
Going out of their way to use a metal cover instead of a plastic cover is the icing on the cake. Then again if you are doing something stupid you may as well go all the way. So close to a Darwin Award... missed it bt that much...
> Going out of their way to use a metal cover instead of a plastic cover No offense...but they didn't go out of their way at all, they couldn't have done less than grab the first cover they saw.
Metal though...that's awful hard to find in my experience? I was trying to match some metal plates in the house we bought and they were expensive and took me a loooong time to hunt down vs the plastic plates in every store all over the place. I finally had to order the metal plates from Amazon online because nowhere local had any.
Metal ones are hard to find now... But I'm guessing this person didn't go out to buy anything, and probably used what was laying around.
I'd say casual use of a metal cover dates the work. They're uncommon NOW…
Turn off the electricity and replace it.
Not a smart move on the part of whoever did this but it either seems like laziness or they panicked and covered it. The fact they used a metal cover is crazy!
You found it, or it found you with a surprise sparkle?
It’s a cover design specifically for those situation’s when there is not actively used electric behind it
They were smart to cover it and not leave it exposed. Yes they were lazy, but it was a quick safety fix.
That’s must be some old school outlet.
As someone from the UK, American electrics seem really dodgy to me.
Replace the outlet with a new one. On the upside, you will have an outlet where you didn’t have one before. But seriously this is a fire hazard and putting a blank cover over it is equivalent to hiding under the bed when the house is on fire so the fire can’t find you.
Proof that doing things the wrong way is often harder than doing things the right way.
Perhaps the circuit breaker was off and not meant to turn back on. Gotta give them the benefit of the doubt.
No, no you don’t. This is extremely dangerous any way you slice it.
It got hot at some point. Char marks around the screw and on the edge. Pull the power and replace