Black Copper Wires.

Ok… Unattached garage, with a sub panel. There is zero drywall in this garage so Chinese drywall is not suspected…

What else could cause this much corrosion on the wires in the panel? The house which was about 20 ft away had pristine wiring, and plumbing.

Chemicals in garage. Pool acid and chlorine

I’m leaning towards chemicals in the garage… (or maybe some meth manufacturing).

This was a townhome. No plumbing in the garage, so no sewer gas. No drywall in the garage (OSB), so no Chinese drywall. No swimming pool.

The guy did own the building company that built the entire community. So I suppose it’s possible that he had something stored there… But I don’t know what it could have been.

Kind of strange… I hope the client has me come back out to test for Meth.

Do I see aluminum wire there? I did a panel like that once and was stumped. An electrician told me it was oxidation due to the presence of aluminum.

a multistrand. but it wasn’t touching anything copper… Copper and aluminum are in panels together all the time, and this never happens. Maybe if they were spliced together or something.

Chinese Dry Wall?! :wink:

Chinese OSB perhaps.

Darin, are you saying that OSB manufactured in China is off gassing to the point it would corrode copper?

Was a joke actually. Forgot the :).

But who knows. I am now researching the chemical compo of OSB to see if there are any similarities to Chinese Drywall.

My understanding is that it’s due to the bonding of the panel. If not properly buried on exterior this occurs to the wiring. I have seen it in newer homes here in my area and talked to an electrician friend of mine who told me what it is.

hmm…why would having the conductor outside buried have this effect on the conductors inside that are always going to be exposed perse’? I may be wrong here but I don’t believe bonding a panel enclosure would have any effect on this.

probably due to one of the reasons given above…sulfer content on the area, chemicals in the area…and so on but I don’t believe it would be caused by bonding…just my opinion as I would love to hear the electricians explanation of how this reaction happens.

So is his solution to “unbond” the panel…I sure hope not…:slight_smile:

Well, the long and short of it was that I suggested that an electrician take a look at it. The owner of the home, is the contractor who built it, and the entire PUD. Here is what the buyers agent said in response …

"The electrician from … Homes check out the panel. He did not point to an exact cause but stated that high temps in the garage and fluctuations in humidity may have caused the exposed wire to tarnish. He peeled back some of the insulation on a wire and found bright copper under it.

He did say the panel looked okay and that there was no evidence of arcing or shorting. And that no moister appeared have penetrated the panel."