[Bigfoot2112]

Greetings,

I have been visiting this site for a while but this is my first post.

About 6 months ago I hung a TV under our upper kitchen cabinets.
I ran a new outlet inside the cabinet and tapped it into the outlet on the counter below this upper cabinet.

I cut out the old work box and replaced it with a new work box when I installed the new outlet.

Fast Forward 6 months:

I am no the process of installing a tile backsplash. When I installed that new work box I over tightened it and crushed the drywall a bit. Enough that the box was a bit loose. I decided that I would replace this box before tiling. I cut out a 7"x8" area of drywall around the box. When it was out I saw that one of the Romex sheathings was discolored and that there were 2 scorch spots on the paper backer of the insulation.

The scorched line is the one that feeds power to this outlet (as well as the 1 that I tied into it).
I left this line disconnected and turned the circuit breaker back on. I can find only one other outlet that is not working with this hot line disconnected. So it seems that this scorched line feeds 3 outlets.

I am at a loss as to what to do now, and I am supposed to start tiling tomorrow.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

 

[brric]

Looks like something done by a torch from a careless plumber. From what I can see there is no significant damage to the cable. Non-issue in my opinion.

 

[jlhaslip]

No Copper???

Wrap it in Tape and good to go...

 

[Bigfoot2112]

This house has all PVC plumbing. There is a shower on the other side of that insulation. I suppose a torch could have caused the scorch as the shower inlets are soldered.

There is no exposed copper wire on the romex.

Is it safe to say that if the romax had overheated that the sheath would be more damaged ? From the heat coming from the inside out ? rather than the outside (torch) ?

Is there anything else that I need to do to check this area for safety before I close up the wall and tile it ? (other than wrapping the romex in electrical tape)

Thanks again for the replies !

 

[Speedy Petey]

I have seen this many times. That is not overheating or even scorching. It is staining from the insulation paper. For some reason this can happen and the cable gets black tar like stains. You can cut back on the sheathing but I bet you find no evidence of burning or over heating.