Outlet blew up

[haese56]

Ok I know there have been a few others like this but this is a little different

I had a little cold air leaking around an outlet so yesterday I took off the cover and sealed around it with silicone. I also put a dab in the back of the box where the wires come through and actually now looking the silicone does coat the black white and ground together right where they come out of the yellow romex wrap

Anyhow I was just sitting there today and pow, a little mini explosion and a black mark on the wall

Breaker tripped

Took the cover off and in the corner of the box where the ground and another wire wire pushed together it looked like something had detonated.

I THOUGHT it was the black wire and ground but now I can't remember for sure. The white wire has a blackened spot and feels like maybe the insulation is nicked but I really can't see any copper.

This is the last outlet on the circuit so it's just these 3 wires and there's about a foot of wire with the possibly damaged section on the last couple inches. Can I just clip off the last few inches of all three wires and reinstall it?

It seems odd that this would happen with nothing plugged into the outlet unless a nicked wire was shorting and I opened up the nick yesterday when I fiddled with the outlet?

My electrician also recently installed a mini breaker on this circuit

Appreciate any advice

 

[Vegas_sparky]

Sure sounds like a short to ground occurred in that jbox. You very well could have disturbed the wiring, and if it was damaged beforehand, may have rearranged the wires so they contacted each other where they were damaged. You can clip off the damaged wire, as long as, after trimming, there's 6" or so of wire still available coming out of the box.

I wouldn't cut anything unless I was absolutely sure of the exact cause of the fault. With the breaker off, an inspection of the wiring with a strong flashlight should reveal where it was compromised.

While then breaker is off, pull the wires out, straighten them, and take a picture of the damaged area for us. There are plenty of experienced eyes here that may see something you don't.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[haese56]

Thanks Vegas my electrician came over and looked, saw a little nick in the insulation. He said it was probably already there but when I pushed the wires back in it put in proximity to something that caused it to pffgggggvgffft!!! He tapped it up and put it back in, cost me a beer

 

[hj]

If it was wired correctly, there could NOT be a "short" between the ground and white wires.

 

[Bobelectric]

Silicone can be conductive when not fully cured.