Air conditioners make outlets hot

Hi,

It's really hot here tonight and my kids air conditioners upstairs have me worried. The outlets that they plug into are actually getting hot and the plug is hot to the touch when I pull it out and feel it.

I switched my son's plug to a newer plug in the bathroom that I had an electrician put in. I know for a fact that that bathroom plug is grounded and I trust that electrician. That one does not seem to be heating up now. I had to run a long extension cord to reach it but there is no heat anywhere now on that plug at either end.

In my kids room they have grounded outlets but I've always had problems with the circuit breaker cutting off with the air conditioners both running at the same time upstairs. It am wondering if our upstairs rooms may have been a do it yourself job. It's a dormered out attic and the work is not so great. Not bad, but not great.

I'm no electrician, but it seems like those units are drawing more current than the current wiring is capable of handling and it also seems like they are sharing the same circuit.

Obviously it's time to call an electrician but I would appreciate any feedback on the hot outlets and on how big a job it would be to redo some of the wiring to that upstairs dormer.

Thanks in advance, Steve

Thanks

Reply to
szeik
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Reply to
Dave

Replace the outlet with one that has screw terminals. You should use a "specification grade" outlet rather than the 49 cent special. Chances are that the bedroom was wired with the cheapest outlet available with the quickest installation procedure known as backstabbing. The stripped wire was just pushed into a slot on the back of the outlet with a small contact spring holding it in. Screw terminals provide much more contact area and less resistance -- the source of the heat.

Reply to
Bob

Hi, Check if wires on the outlet terminal is loose in the wall. Or you have too light wire for the a/c's need.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Bob is right on as to the first thing to do.

There should be a tag on the A/C somewhere that give the wattage or amps. What does it say? Do you know what size breaker or fuse is protecting that circuit? Are Aluminum wires uses in your home? Is anything else plugged into that outlet? Is that a pass through circuit at that outlet? If so are there any devices down stream ?

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

If the air conditioner is above say 6000 or so btu, it needs to be on its own circuit without any outlets.

Reply to
Meat Plow

-- If the air conditioner is above say 6000 or so btu, it needs to be on its

-- own circuit without any outlets

What good is a circuit without any outlets?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

This may or not be fairly simple. Appliances that draw lots of amperage can make cords and plugs warm to the touch (my 11 amp vacuum cleaner does this). Extension cords are intended for temporary use only, and should not be used for larger appliances. You did not mention the amperage of the A/C and this is important. Installing a separate dedicated circuit for your A/Cs and an electrical outlet near the unit is probably what is needed. Ask the electrician to do a safety check of your existing wiring and to make cost-effective suggestions. Also, your main needs to be examined to see if it can take the extra A/C load, plus room for new breaker(s).

Reply to
Phisherman

Any other outlets other than the air conditioner outlet if you're nit picking.

Reply to
Meat Plow

First off - Unplug the units and stop using them. As I'm sure you know, receptacles and cords should not be getting hot. So far you've been lucky that the breaker is tripping before a fire starts.

From:

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safety experts advise positioning a window air conditioner so its cord will reach a wall outlet. However, if you must use an extension cord, follow this advice from UL: Ensure you have the right cord for an air conditioner. "They're a special breed in the hardware store," Drengenberg says. These extension cords are three-pronged grounded cords and are often flat.

Whether or not it's a "do it yourself job" is not really the issue. A "do it yourself job" is not, by definition, a badly done job.

Many circuit breakers will trip for 2 reasons: an over-current situation where you exceed the rating of the breaker or an extended "near-capacity" situation where the current very close to the rated current for a long time. The breaker may have a thermal protection mechanism so it will trip before the wires get hot enough to start a fire. It sounds like you are very close to the capacity of the circuit.

Easy test: shut off the breaker and see which outlets go dead. You should map out your entire circuit breaker box anyway, just so you know what is controlling what.

Can't tell from here. It might be as simple as adding a breaker to the box, pulling one length of Romex up to the attic and splitting a single circuit into 2. On the other hand, you might have other issues that could make the project a lot more complicated, such as the wrong size wiring, faulty outlets, etc.

If you are not comfortable tackling this job yourself, by all means call an electrician, but the first thing I would do is unplug any device that causes my outlets to get hot. If you think it's hot without the AC on, consider how hot that attic will get when it's on fire!

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Hi, You got one point!, LOL

Reply to
Tony Hwang

So make sure it's a single and not a duplex receptical.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

If the circuit breaker is tripping with 2 air conditioners running, the

2 air conditioners are a higher amp load than the circuit capacity. You need to find another circuit for one of the units - something that is not dead when the circuit breaker trips. If you use an extension cord use one that is adequate size for the load and not a lot longer than needed. Or add an outlet on a different circuit. What is the amp rating for each unit and what is the circuit breaker size?

Redo - hard to guess. If you are adding an outlet on a new circuit how easy is it to get a wire to the panel? With a dormer it is likely you can't fish wire through the attic which, in general, makes the job more difficult. New outlet on a different circuit - how far to an outlet on a different circuit now. Outside walls insulated? (harder to fish in new wires)

Hot outlet - I agree with others that it could be

- loose wire connection

- use of 'backstab' connections

- cheap outlet that now has a loose connection to the plug (does the plug pull out real easy?)

- or maybe just the other outlet wires through this outlet.

-- bud--

Reply to
Bud--

Well a duplex would be ok if you need to plug your microwave oven or toaster in :)

Reply to
Meat Plow

--Well a duplex would be ok if you need to plug your microwave oven or

-- toaster in :)-

A microwave would be OK but if you used a toaster you'd need another AC to compensate for the extra heat in the room. Now you'd need one of these:

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Reply to
DerbyDad03

If it's a duplex you can be pretty sure both outlets are on the same circuit, and you know you can't have too much on the same circuit as an air conditioner.

BTW, I know someone who has central heat (no central A/C) and a window A/C on the same circuit. It works OK as long as both aren't used at the same time.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

An outletless circuit can be used to give you scented walls. That's what happens when a rat bites into it.

BTW, when a rat bites into the wires, how much current does it draw?

Reply to
Harry

I know someone who thought she could use an electric heater on a #16 extension cord (the heater used 1500W and the label on the cord said

1875W). The ends of that cord got hot enough to soften the plastic.
Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Bob's advice is good.

Here, I would think plug meant plug, but in the next line you use plug to mean outlet, so I'm not sure. Here it doesnt' matter which you mean, but it might.

Lack of grounding isn't the problem in this case, and grounding won't solve the problem. There is a connection that isn't tight, between the prongs of the plug and the outlet, or between the outlet and the wires connected to it. Some of the electricity turns into heat trying to get through the connection.

It was observant of you to noticed the heat. In 1980 I had a room heater plugged into a 1930 outlet and didn't notice, and I woke up one morning to find 2 inch flames coming from the plug. I tried to pull the plug out, but just like in a comedy movie, my girlfriend kept pulling my arm back just before I was able to reach the heater cord. She was panicking about the flames. Fortunately I overpowered her and after I pulled out the plug, the flames went out.

A long cord is bad in itself, and since ACs use a lot of current it should be heavy duty, and if not there will be heat generated along hte whole length of the cord, although you won't be able to feel it but it adds up. It won't start a fire, but in theory it could damage the AC. But it depends on how long you mean by long, and what size wires.

I think I read here that even some professional "electricians" backstab the wires into the receptacle (outlet). They have sold outlets with this feature for decades I think, and there must be millions or maybe tens of millions of connections that used the back stab part, and most don't cause any problems.

No, the normal amount of current would make the outlet or plug hot if the connection is bad.

Yes, but if it doesn't blow a fuse, that is ok. My whole 6 room/3 bath apartment only had two circuits and that was fine. The problem was that the metal parts in the socket no longer squeezed the plug prongs well enough. And the plug prongs didn't have their own springiness, as some do.

Reply to
mm

Inductance. It works with digital voltmeters.

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Reply to
mm

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