TOPIC: almost had a fire,cheap light switch

the other day i went to shut off the light to the bedroom,and thought i heard a arking spark in the light switch,but thought i was hearing things,so last nite i heard it again,we kept the light off until today when i could see in the daylight.
i took out the "designer style" light switch and the outside looked ok,so i broke it apart to find black soot and melted plastic inside the switch,what makes me mad is there are no marks to identify the maker.
all i can say is thank goodness i heard it before there was a fire,im telling this to let folks know about it,so you may not have this problem,keep a good ear out,im glad i didnt blow it off.i almost did,john

That's scary! Glad you figured it out John. Bad enough having swelled ankles, you sure don't need a fire!

Frank

yep frank,im glad i have a good background in residential wiring,i almost blew it off.
i found the maker name,and i have contacted them,it was an eagle brand,who was bought out by another company in 2000.john

John
I am glad to hear that you "heard" the problem and did not use it any longer until you could get it apart and get it fixed.
Are there any other switches of that brand that need attention?
Neil
Happy Holidays

neil,yep the entire house,i wrote to the company and hope they will send me replacment switches,ill put them in myself,i think giving me improved switches is the least they can do,right now its hard to sleep,wondering how many more are bad,john

John
I hope you get it sorted out with NO incidents.
Neil
Happy Holidays

you do have smoke alarms, right!

thanks neil.
and yep ron,i have them,its still hard to sleep,lol,but im kind of a worry wart,lol.john

john-gibson wrote:

thanks neil.
and yep ron,i have them,its still hard to sleep,lol,but im kind of a worry wart,lol.john

And with a good reason to worry John. We had the same thing happen many years ago. We discovered it just before leaving for work one morning. Scary.

How old is your house? Was there a UL label on it? If it had a label contact UL if not and it is possible to get in contact with the electrician who wired the house, to let him know. There has been alot of Chinese equipment ending up in the residential market, so much so, counties require UL listed devices.

unleaded,it had the ul stamp onit and was made in the usa,i think it has alot to do with design,when shutting it off there is a pin(leg)that pushes down on the flat copper band and that pushes it away from the connection,breaking the circut,but as they get older they get loose and dont snap compleatly off evertime,leaving a space close enough to arc a spark across the teminals,by the way the house is 11 years old,john

On the local news last week was a report of a house burned down due to an electrical switch.

My friend's house we found the contractor had not tightened the wires to the outlet in one room and it was causing problems.

Being observant is helpful.

Back in the day. (70s) They used to use aluminum wire for electric hot water heaters. They found out that is not good. Could cause fires.
I had one wired that way. It started to smoke and arc. Got that fixed quick with copper wire. I'm lucky I caught it in time.
Only thing that is on 220 now is the hot tub. And wired with copper.

thanks for the replys,i emailed the company and they want me to send them the light switch,but im keeping it out in the garage,just in case this happens again.then i have proof,john