You might get off cheap, David. Many outlets have the safety ground screw only a fraction of an inch from the hot lead to the outlet. The safety ground is bare copper wire. If it was loose on that screw it only had to move a fraction of an inch - such as might be done by wiggling the outlet slightly inserting/removing a plug to make it touch the hot lead and make some rather unnerving sparks!
I certainly second Don's suggestion. Check all the outlets in the house. 73, Ron AC7AC --------------------------------- Hi Don, Well, it is the outlet. I just heard a pop and some pyrotechnics from my outlet!!!! I bought the AC line tester at Wal-Mart. I first plugged it in at my power strip on the desk. It showed a n open ground. I then tested it at the outlet at the surge protector. OK. I then removed the surge protector, and plugged the tester into the main outlet, and that is when I had the pop and pyrotechnics. Thank God I was wearing shoes and only touching the tester, and the circuit breaker tripped!! As for my workbench, it is made of MDF board. I hope I did not kill any components from this issue. However, I was able to power up things for the initial power on tests. I am ceasing all work down there until I can get an electrician to check the outlet and wiring. This house is only 22 years old, so it should be up to code. We had it inspected when we bought it, and the inspector found no problems with the electrical. We know the builders cut corners when they built this place. I hope they didn't cut any with the electrical. Thanks & 73, David KC9EHQ ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
