Outlets working intermitantly

[HayZee518]

excessive current

I understand the theory of electrical. I have done it for 42 years with a master license in massachusetts. my thoughts on this is say a diy-er that doesn't know any better and wires a circuit with 14/2 and sticks a 20 amp breaker on it. now let's say that same person uses a hair dryer that draws 18 amps. both wires would heat up before the breaker would blow. now, for instance another scenario. say the white was part of a multi-wire circuit. the neutral is connected to the neutral bus in the panel, the red comes off a breaker not tied into a common trip circuit and the black off another breaker. now if you load up the circuit, the white will carry the amps of the unbalanced load - correct?

[Nestor]

No, all I'm saying is that the white wire in Springer's photo appears to have had it's insulation damaged. You suggested that may have been due to excessive load. I'm saying the breaker should have tripped due to that excessive load before the insulation on that wire was damaged.

[HayZee518]

overload

yeah, the breaker "should have tripped" but evidently it didn't. look closely at the wire. to me it looks like 14 gauge romex. there is no reference as to which breaker was used. could have very well been a 20 in which case it is too big for a 14 ga wire. look at the other "junk" on the black insulation. looks to me like foam insulation and there's some on the bare ground wire.

[Nestor]

Yeah, I saw that stuff too and wondered what it was.

And, I agree, that GFCI musta been installed by a previous homeowner. No one else would strip that much insulation off the ends of their wires.