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Infrared Pic of an outlet

bigalpha

bigalpha

Moderator
Location
Tucson, AZ
I took this in my kitchen.

5076659337_bec62dd47f_b.jpg


It's a GFCI outlet. None of the other outlets in my house look like this - is this indicative of a bad wiring connection or a bad outlet?
 
Could condesation from your kitchen be getting into it and doing something? I would pull the cover and check it out with a multi-meter set on Ohms to check for a short or something, well my dad would.

I dont know much about wiring so...


Edit:

Or was something with a high current/ amp draw recently plugged into it? That could warm it up a bit, since its under 100 degrees.
 
Checked the GFCI, several idle outlets, and one with a light and the hub running 24/7 with my little IR thermometer. In use and GFCI read 80*, all others are mid 70s. The GFCI outlets I use are Hubbel, I think, and compare current on the hot and neutral terminals. They indicate/trip if wired incorrectly, or see a current loss (a fault).

Never bothered to check temps before, but if you're worried about it, pull it and check. Outlet testers are cheap, and loose connections are easy enough to spot.
 
Oh my god.
This is getting too much like work.
Technicians come to me about once a year with a new infrared picture of a piece of equipment showing hot spots above 200 degrees C.

I ask them if the paint is peeling off.

When they say no, I tell them to ignore the pretty picture.
 
I'd love to see a pic of the full internals on an IR cam but that's tough to get.

My bet - those parts are directly connected to a conductor handling a large amount of current from another outlet downstream of the outlet in question. Many GFCI outlets have a set of terminals for input power and a set of terminals for output power on the back; the input power terminals go to the breaker box and the output power terminals go to the next outlet in the string, which can be a regular non-GFCI outlet. In this way, a single GFCI outlet can protect more than one outlet, since the connections for the output power terminals are past where it measures the line/neutral current to check for a fault.
 
kastein said:
I'd love to see a pic of the full internals on an IR cam but that's tough to get.

My bet - those parts are directly connected to a conductor handling a large amount of current from another outlet downstream of the outlet in question. Many GFCI outlets have a set of terminals for input power and a set of terminals for output power on the back; the input power terminals go to the breaker box and the output power terminals go to the next outlet in the string, which can be a regular non-GFCI outlet. In this way, a single GFCI outlet can protect more than one outlet, since the connections for the output power terminals are past where it measures the line/neutral current to check for a fault.
Click to expand...
:yelclap:
 
Yes what kastein said is correct. Don't worry about it things that run electricity get hot.

Here's a question to ask yourself though did you notice the temp of a outlet that's damn near room temp? Or did it take a camera to tell you that its room temp? I'm sure its the latter.

And no that wasn't meant as rude or anything like that.
 
DSteveXJ said:
Yes what kastein said is correct. Don't worry about it things that run electricity get hot.

Here's a question to ask yourself though did you notice the temp of a outlet that's damn near room temp? Or did it take a camera to tell you that its room temp? I'm sure its the latter.

And no that wasn't meant as rude or anything like that.
Click to expand...

The reason why I asked isn't because of the temperature of the outlet, it's because it didn't look like the rest of the outlets in mah house. I know it's a GFCI outlet and I thought maybe that accounted for the difference. This is why I asked.

I do know when things that run electricity short out or are not installed correctly, it can heat up significantly.

In no way do I think that the people who renovated this house did anything like using one GFCI outlet to protect two outlets - they cut a lot of corners when they did the renovation.
 
you should do the same picture of any dimmers you have in your home they get hot to the touch even. Im a lic electrician. and i wouldnt worry about it untill it starts to brown the plate or something. 99% of the time a gfci will fail before causing any other problems. the only thing i would do is check that the terminals are tight.
 
xbaadleej said:
you should do the same picture of any dimmers you have in your home they get hot to the touch even. Im a lic electrician. and i wouldnt worry about it untill it starts to brown the plate or something. 99% of the time a gfci will fail before causing any other problems. the only thing i would do is check that the terminals are tight.
Click to expand...

And not corroded or moldy which can happen in high moisture areas. I have 6 outlets in my kitchen back of the counters, 2 are on one CB, 2 on another and 2 on another. About every 8 years or so I pull the outlet, disconnect it, clean the green off the copper and usually replace the outlet and cover. Wife cooks a lot and the kitchen gets steamy quite often.
 
bigalpha said:
The reason why I asked isn't because of the temperature of the outlet, it's because it didn't look like the rest of the outlets in mah house. I know it's a GFCI outlet and I thought maybe that accounted for the difference. This is why I asked.

I do know when things that run electricity short out or are not installed correctly, it can heat up significantly.

In no way do I think that the people who renovated this house did anything like using one GFCI outlet to protect two outlets - they cut a lot of corners when they did the renovation.
Click to expand...
they might well have used one to protect two then - GFCI outlets are expensive and legally required in many areas (garages, external, kitchens, basements, bathrooms, among others) and it can save a significant amount of money to throw one GFCI outlet in and then feed a bunch of 75 cent residential crap-grade outlets with it to comply with code.

xbaadleej said:
you should do the same picture of any dimmers you have in your home they get hot to the touch even. Im a lic electrician. and i wouldnt worry about it untill it starts to brown the plate or something. 99% of the time a gfci will fail before causing any other problems. the only thing i would do is check that the terminals are tight.
Click to expand...
X2.

Also :twak::twak::twak: to whoever invented those stupid push-in connections used on many outlets and switches from the last decade or two. I've seen so many of those fail, they're great for quick installation but not so great for quick replacement and nowhere near as reliable as a good tight screw terminal.
 
kastein said:
they might well have used one to protect two then - GFCI outlets are expensive and legally required in many areas (garages, external, kitchens, basements, bathrooms, among others) and it can save a significant amount of money to throw one GFCI outlet in and then feed a bunch of 75 cent residential crap-grade outlets with it to comply with code.


X2.

Also :twak::twak::twak: to whoever invented those stupid push-in connections used on many outlets and switches from the last decade or two. I've seen so many of those fail, they're great for quick installation but not so great for quick replacement and nowhere near as reliable as a good tight screw terminal.
Click to expand...

I always wondered what those holes were for in the back, never use them myself, I wrap the wire around the screw, that's how I learned to do it.
 
RichP said:
I always wondered what those holes were for in the back, never use them myself, I wrap the wire around the screw, that's how I learned to do it.
Click to expand...
Somebody figured out some of the problems with those push connectors. All the new ones can only accept 14ga wiring, so in theory they can never pull more then 15 amps(when wired correctly).

I just did a totally subjective test:
placed my hand on the kit. GFCI. It has 4 or 5 downstream outlets piggybacked off it, including a "Hotshot" 1 cup water heater,(pulls about 5 amps, -used it about 20 minutes ago)
Did the same with the bathroom GFCI(no piggy back outlets, nothing plugged into it)

Both outlets are somewhat warmer then room temp. (for whatever it's worhth,...)
 
Those holes in the back are for causing intermittent connections and fire hazards to save 45 seconds during construction.
 
bigalpha said:
The reason why I asked isn't because of the temperature of the outlet, it's because it didn't look like the rest of the outlets in mah house. I know it's a GFCI outlet and I thought maybe that accounted for the difference. This is why I asked.

I do know when things that run electricity short out or are not installed correctly, it can heat up significantly.

In no way do I think that the people who renovated this house did anything like using one GFCI outlet to protect two outlets - they cut a lot of corners when they did the renovation.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah no I didn't mean anything by what I said I was just asking if you physically felt that the outlet was hotter then others or were you just messing around with the camera and discovered something new.

But yeah I'm also an electrician and like what others said I wouldn't worry about it one bit until you see browning or anything else.
 
The push in terminals suck....period, I have had problems with them in the past, and don't use them. It's easier to take the extra two minutes and attach the wire with the screw terminals
 
One brand of GFCI I've used (Cooper maybe? I'll have to check) has back wire connections, which are locked down by screws, and take 12g wire. Couple of years old now, no issues with it. Just pulled it out yesterday in the process of redoing a counter, and it looked like it did the day I put it in- no corrosion, mold, rust, nothing. It was sitting within 2' of a faucet in an icecream/samich shop, and hadn't deteriorated at all. While I do not like the stab-in connections in general, I like this particular variation. /offtopic

It was also warm to the touch, despite sitting overnight, tripped.
 
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