Well that was nearly a house fire.

well, I guess I still have issues smelling certain things. Thankfully my new bride caught this she said something about the outlet not working, and smelling bad.

when I pulled the cover off this is what I found.









The odd thing is even though I did not smell it, I did notice a a very faint "haze" in the kitchen when standing at the front door over the last several days. the thought it was a from a fire did enter my mind, but when I went back to the kitchen it was no longer noticeable an I did not smell anything burning or hot. so I just chalked it up to an optical illusion from the way the sun was filtering in from the back door. I even had that uneasy feeling a couple time coming back home, that I would find it in ashes.

It is all fixed now with a new outlet, and every smoke detector is getting replaced and brought up to date. they are original 2007 ones from when the house was built, so they have lived well past the 10 year mark.

I keep a 15lb ABC fire extinguisher where the kitchen and living room/ bedroom hall meet, it also got inspected to make sure it was in the green.

 

Yikes! Glad it was contained!!

Good for you for replacing the detectors but have you looked into what caused it or sampled any of the other receptacles?

Good luck

 

I checked the all the and switches an outlets in the kitchen with an IR thermometer to see if any where heating up, and nothing stood out all where at the same temp. I recently had the covers off on several outlets in the hallway and master bedroom since I was doing some painting, and nothing look out of place.

the outlet that burned up was NOT a one of the backstab ones the wire was bent into a loop and screwed down. this outlet was on the side of the Kitchen island, so something could have run down the side and into the outlet. this one was always a bit loose in the box, so it could over the years it could have cracked the insulation enough to cause tracking, but the new outlet is properly mounted and secured, It did require shimming to bring it flush to the cabinet, which explains the outlet being loose.

 

Those blue backed outlets (and switches too) are the cheapest crap available, usually less than a dollar each, builders & landlords use them all the time.
You often find them loose in what retail calls "dump bins" for a reason.

The kind of damage you found is common when they are used on heavily loaded circuits commonly found in kitchens. The cheap construction can't handle the heat, connections get loose which makes more heat and things go bad from there.

Upgrade to a commercial outlet, often marked "Spec Grade", they cost more ($2-3 each) but you only install them once.

Good outlets will have a full steel back strap like the one below.
Notice also that the wires aren't spring held, the stripped wire is inserted straight in and is clamped by a plate with the screw, very secure.