At Home In The Woods

[Depmandog]

Obed

First, let me congratulate you and the Mrs. on an outstanding job with your beautiful property. Your fortitude, stamina and work ethic are to be commended. I have popped in from time to time and have enjoyed watching the progress.

Concerning your electric smell, you mentioned chandelier. Not recalling the style of the fixture, or more specifically the number of bulbs - make sure that you haven't installed bulbs in excess of the fixture rating. For instance if the max wattage per bulb is 25, and you have 40 watt bulbs installed, and the fixture has a dozen bulbs - you would be exceeding the fixture rating by 180 watts. It's easy to do. That would be my first check.

Secondly I would feel the switch plate for excess heat, then touch each fixture arm for warm spots. If you feel excess warmth, then make or arrange for replacement.

Past that, using something similar to an IR thermometer to check for hot spots inside the electrical boxes (switch and fixture).

It's possible you are smelling VOC's off gassing as the fixture warms normally (the new wearing off). Or dust on the bulbs making that smell like when you start your furnace for the first time in the fall.

Of course if you have concerns by all means call the electrician. Good luck, and enjoy your beautiful new home.

Dean

 

[Depmandog]

Obed

As I was typing my last post, you posted with pictures. Obviously some of my suggestions would not apply as I was mistaken about the fixture type.

One other idea, if you know of someone who has a thermal imaging camera (local fire department, home inspector or mold consultant) you could see hot spots through the walls. Having used them in the past, they are amazing.

It would be worth a call to the fire department - they might even come out for free as a fire prevention service.

Dean

 

[955Lincoln]

Obed, as others have suggested, if you are really having a heat problem that is melting the insulation the problem is going to be at the connections which you can easily check. A loose connection has resistance which generates heat. Also check your bulbs to make sure they are screwed in tightly. It would be rare, but I suppose a staple almost severing a wire will have the same results but worry about the easy stuff first.

 

[neilandy]

The house in a jungle with such tidiness. Its really showing your hard work. The way to your house is also neat and clean. The wood is very important these days. I used to save it for my new house. I cut it into parts and store it after applying oil on it since it saves it from termites.

 

[MarkV]

Why not call the electrician that did the work and see what he has to say about the oder.

MarkV

 

[clemsonfor]

The foyer and hallway have two light fixtures that are on the same circuit. You can see both fixtures in the picture. There are two 3-way switches, one at each end of the hallway. I smell the electrical odor close to the front door. One of the 3-way switches is by the front door.

Today my wife bought a replacement 3-way switch. This weekend I may replace the switch and see if that helps. That would be a simple fix. If that doesn't work, we may have to rewire the entire leg of the circuit that contains the two lights and two switches. Re-running wires the area by the front door switch will not be much fun; there are 4 switches by the front door, 3 of which are 3-way switches with lots of wires.

Unless you can get behind the finished wall (not really possible) and the attic space rewiring a new house is next to impossible without patchwork holes. The staples prevent you from just pulling the old wire out and a new in. My home is of the age that they used no staples pretty much anywhere. A rewire of the 3 rooms and hall i did was simple. Go in attic for ceiling fixtures and under crawl for outlets. tape new wire to old and just pull it through!

With the staples there is no way to do this. If your running with joists you may be able to fish the wire through the wall jut remember it will be laying on the ceiling drywall and loose in the stud cavity that the switch is in, just dont haphazardly nail in those areas. If your perpendicular to studs no way to pull them without either being in attic above it or pulling drywall. Which if you have textured popcorn ceilings you will have to scrape it all down to make it match.

 

[clemsonfor]

Why not call the electrician that did the work and see what he has to say about the oder.

MarkV

Good idea!! He must have some sort of warrenty, like 5 years or something on his work (not fixtures im sure). At first i thought Obded did the work but then reading about thinking of calling an electrician i then realized maybe no?

If you PAID for this to be wired and a buddy did not do it for free or something, you NEED to call the guy back. If its been within a few years i think he must have given you a warrenty. If he did and wont come back after you expressed a problem liability may be on him if something happens unless contract specified no garantee of workmanship or craftmanship, which i dont think you would sign!

 

[ThomasH]

Obed -

Chances are overwhelming that the problem can be seen visually. If the problem was behind sheetrock, and unless there is a way for the air to go from that area to the hallway, the smell would probably not be noticeable in the hallway as you are describing it.

What it sounds like is almost certainly either from the lamp socket of a light fixture, possibly bad connection, defect in socket, etc.; or it's a connection in a box, such as where the wires are twisted together and a wire nut put on.

If it's a connection in a box, remove the switch/receptacle cover, unscrew any devices (switches/receptacles) in the box, and examine the connections. You can either touch the insulation to test for heat, or use any old cheap infrared harbor freight style point and shoot thermometer to see an abnormally warm/hot connection (which is obviously safer than sticking your fingers around electrical wires.

If it's a light fixture socket or connection, you should be able to turn the light off, wait a minute or so, and carefully touch the plastic cover on the socket and see if it feels warm. Also, check the connections in the light fixture, as they are typically braided wire, and they will be connecting to the solid house wire, and those can tend to be poor physical connections.

Until you are fresh (not tired) and can think carefully about it, I would not troubleshoot it. We don't want to have you writing about your stay in the hospital or worse ...

Good luck!

Tom

 

[radioman]

as for the light issue- It could be the chandelier the problem. If a wire was twisted during insulation at factory, it will do it. time and using the light will melt the wires to the point it will trip breaker. My dining room had a hanging chandelier that was there for years and finally one day I smelled something and by the time I figured it out, the lights quit working.

I am not a electrician, this is the way I always test for problems.
If you want a subjective test- easy. turn power off to that circuit. take both lights down.remove bulbs. use a voltmeter (cheap one form HF will do) and use the resistance setting (its one with triangle and line - its the only one setting by itself on most voltmeters) put the test leads on the light wires and see if it shows open (a one) if it goes to zero or near zero- you got a short in that light fixture.
If both lights shows its ok with open circuit, then test wire in box where light was (again make sure the power is off at breaker!!!!) . make sure you ONLY test those two wires hot and neutral (most likely black and white) that you disconnected from light. Don't test the red, ground, extra hot (black) since you mentioned you have more then one switch on same circuit.
If you have only 2 switches for same light, then you most likely have 2 3-ways switches and most likely its not the problem. if you have more then 2, you might have a 4-way and 3-ways in the circuit. If this is the case, call an electrician- I am not gonna try to explain how to test, much easier/cheaper/safer for homeowner.

I think MOST homeowners should be able to test out the lights fixtures. As for the switches, I'd take the cover off and smell inside to check if it a defective switch. Replacing a 3-way,4 way switch and not hooking it up correctly can melt the internal house wiring and I'd recommend not doing that.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I forgot to say, if you have CFL's, they stink when they are about to burn out.

 

[Coyote machine]

Hire an electrician. If you mess with the wiring and don't fix it or make it worse and something burns, you will have saved nothing. You've got a wife and child to protect.

 

[Obed]

Hire an electrician. If you mess with the wiring and don't fix it or make it worse and something burns, you will have saved nothing. You've got a wife and child to protect.

Coyote machine,
An "electrician" wired the circuit that has the problem. I'm not opposed to hiring an electrician if I'm convinced they'll fix it. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the electician sends his helper over, replaces the switch, claims he solved the problem, and charges me a hundred bucks. Meanwhile, the circuit might still have the issue. If the electrican can put a meter on the circuit and verify a problem, that's a horse of a different color. I just don't know whether or not this problem would show up on one of the electrician's instruments.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Guys thanks for all the suggestions regarding the wiring. You've given me some stuff to think about. The smell seemed to be closer to the light switch than to the ceiling fixture. I'll probably remove the face place of the light switch and turn on the light and see if I can pinpoint the smell to that spot. If the smell does come from the gang box, the issue could still be eminating from inside the wall. However, swapping the switch won't hurt. I worked outside all day today so I haven't yet made time to investigate the circuit.

 

[tony Cecil]

As I had to go through an `insurance` meeting today, if you know of a problem and don`t tell the insurance company, and then the problem is in some way responsible for a `casualty` then the insurance company can deny coverage....

If you are trying and in the process of fixing the problem, and something happens then your are covered........I`m sure nothing will happen to you, but as a precaution I sure would leave the breaker off to that area.....Tony ps a very dull meeting and in our case it was about flood insurance which we don`t need and has gotten very expensive

 

[Coyote machine]

An "electrician" wired the circuit that has the problem.

Then get him back to correct the problem or hire someone to correct the first guys error(s). Electricians like other humans make mistakes but theirs can be far more costly. I'm trying to help you save your butt, and not burn down your house.:confused2:

Obed,
Weird- all I got at first was what I quoted above, of what you said replying to my post about hiring an electrician- then I went back to see what has been posted recently and there is more you said about not having a problem hiring one if they can assure you they will fix it.
I feel you'd be better off having them come out knowing they are to find the problem you describe and fix it as part of follow-up on their original work. I would also insist they send out their master electrician and he show you what he found. If a qualified electrician can't solve the problem then he should stop doing electrical work. You are covered if you have a fire as a result of their work- less likely if you tamper with the circuit yourself. And tell them when they get there if the problem is related to their work then you expect them to cover it at no expense to you.

 

[Obed]

Today I wanted to move the trailer to free up some space uphill of the garage. I decided to move a large pile of topsoil that has been in the way. The pile is about the size of a tandem dump truck load. The grading contractor created this pile when he built our driveway and excavated the house two years ago. I wish we had spread this pile around the yard when we graded the yard a couple months ago. However, I did not realize the dirt was as good as it actually is.

I've not liked the location of the pile but have never had a good enough reason to move it until today. The pile was impeding my ability to move the trailer where I desired to put the trailer.

Before starting on the dirt pile, I moved a pallet of firewood that was in my way. Unfortunately, I positioned the tractor sideways to the hill and the round logs on the pallet just rolled off the pallet. So I'm going to get the opportunity to stack the pallet again. One guy on TBN said he puts straps on his pallets of firewood before moving them. I might need to try that. It's not much fun stacking the same pallet twice.

Moving the pile of topsoil was slow going. I only had to move it 20 feet but it still took 3 hours with my little tractor. Manueverability was tight. I initially moved the dirt with the FEL until I had reshaped the pile ehough that I could use the boxblade. Once I was able to get full bites with the BB, the dirt moving went faster.

After moving the dirt pile, I hooked the trailer up to the tractor and moved the trailer into a little open spot int the trees. Moving the 28ft trailer (22 foot bed) was easy using the tractor. The tractor's short wheelspan allowed me to maneuver the trailer through the trees. I couldn't have put the trailer in that spot with my truck. The new location of the trailer should help prevent it from theft because I don't think a pickup truck would have room to maneuver the trailer out of the trees.

I'm thrilled to have moved that pile of dirt! Little by little our place is starting to shape up.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I forgot to say, if you have CFL's, they stink when they are about to burn out.

They just plain stink. :laughing:

 

[B7510HSD]

Guys thanks for all the suggestions regarding the wiring. You've given me some stuff to think about. The smell seemed to be closer to the light switch than to the ceiling fixture. I'll probably remove the face place of the light switch and turn on the light and see if I can pinpoint the smell to that spot. If the smell does come from the gang box, the issue could still be eminating from inside the wall. However, swapping the switch won't hurt. I worked outside all day today so I haven't yet made time to investigate the circuit.

I had a kitchen plug that was in series with 2 others in our new place few years back it would smell everytime we used the coffee maker...ended up being the first plug in the series the wire lug was loose and it would arch under a load I replaced the plug and made sure it was tight never had a problem again!!!

 

[hankus]

I had a kitchen plug that was in series with 2 others in our new place few years back it would smell everytime we used the coffee maker...ended up being the first plug in the series the wire lug was loose and it would arch under a load I replaced the plug and made sure it was tight never had a problem again!!!

Had the same thing happen on a wall switch for our hall light. One of the screw terminals was loose. Come to think of it, I ended up replacing that switch just in case since it smelled of burned phenolic.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Yes, a loose screw on the terminal can cause the odor too.