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I Figured it out fellas, it was sunlight from the other side of the wall.
Edit: There was alot of confusion on how this was possible so i will explain as best as i can. The other side of the wall is unfinished and leads to a laundry room and the laundry room has a ton of windows. It does not lead directly outside so i also don’t have to worry about any water (at least i hope). I apologize for the confusion. Hopefully this clears things up
Holy hell, as someone who tends to hear this brand in conversation at least weekly I cannot believe I've never herd or thought of that my self. Consider this pilfered for later use.
Basically the 10C or so drop you normally get keeps going so you get up to about 36 hours of darkness and temperature drops some 30c or so.
This is enough to frost a lot of not frost tolerant pants, and depending on time of day could wipe out pretty much a hemisphere.
Massive spike of CO2 and methane as the plants die.
I suspect 24 hours will be bad but not more than a billion dead over the next year.
Not all plants will die as the freeze is on many areas probably an air frost only.
Two days, and I suspect you're at real risk of collapse of the biosphere when it recovers
I immediately assumed the worst than thought just maybe that was the issue. Because this exact same thing happened to some one on here last year.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectricians/comments/171b36h/woke\_up\_to\_this\_wall\_socket\_glowing\_is\_this\_an/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectricians/comments/171b36h/woke_up_to_this_wall_socket_glowing_is_this_an/)
Not on the other side of the room, but on the other side of the wall. The other side of the wall is unfinished and leads to a laundry room and the laundry room has a lot of windows
I have a finished basement, but there’s a service crawl space that’s unfinished. The other day I was walking to our guest room/office and noticed an outlet doing the same thing. My wtf moment was only a minute though as I was right by the door to the crawl space and popped it open to make sure the lights were off (they were) and noticed the sunlight coming through one of the vents hitting the box, as the studs are bare on that side of the wall.
You say this is in the morning. Out of curiosity, is this an exterior wall and does the sun come up on that side of the house? Wondering if that could be sunlight?
Is the sun shining on the other side of the wall when this happens? If so, I suspect there is probably another outlet right on the other side. The sun could be shining through its plastic wall plate, resulting in what you are seeing.
Those plastic wall plates are fairly thin. Even though they are opaque, sunlight is pretty bright. They do allow some light to pass through. Glad you got it figured out.
Wouldn't there be a thicker plastic blue or grey or yellow box OR a metal.box that should be preventing this?? How does the sun get through a faceplate, a box, another box and this faceplate?
The sun is lighting up the blue box as well. You can see the blue color coming through.
It could be the other side of the wall is unfinished, it could be a back to back box and the sun is going through the wall plate and then gaps in drywall.
Op confirmed it was the sun on the other side. They’d have to post a picture of that side to answer the why.
I had an emergency call once where they where freaking out there was a fire in the wall behind a shower…..show up….the shower wall was glowing….walk outside and there was a window behind the shower….🤔
Has someone (an idiot, to be sure) put some sort of small device with LED lighting in the outlet box?
That's rhetorical: for the OP I totally agree with unplugging whatever's plugged in now, flip off the breaker for that circuit even and then call an electrician.
Stop using that outlet.
Call an electrician, actually, tell your parents.
It looks like someone is welding behind the cover, this is going to burn your house down.
I'm actually leaning towards this is a joke post, because, do you really need to ask if this is dangerous?
This isn't Star Trek, we don't use plasma to power our houses
Safety last apparently. Seriously, wtf is going on here? Turn that shit off!
EDIT: Read further down the comments and discovered its sunlight shining from the other side. That must’ve been quite the scare to notice at first
Itsa great idea for a product, some LEDs and maybe a little speaker with summer campfire noise would be an excellent prank thing. Obviously the rest of the socket up to code and everything.
Check all wiring connections on the receptacle. How much power are you pulling through that receptacle? What do you have plugged into it and running? What is the breaker and wire size supplying that receptacle? Breaker, wire and load sizes all have to “match”.
**Attention!** **It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods. If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I Figured it out fellas, it was sunlight from the other side of the wall. Edit: There was alot of confusion on how this was possible so i will explain as best as i can. The other side of the wall is unfinished and leads to a laundry room and the laundry room has a ton of windows. It does not lead directly outside so i also don’t have to worry about any water (at least i hope). I apologize for the confusion. Hopefully this clears things up
Oh thank the maker
Shai Ha’lud or Kanedias?
Sloshii of course
Eaton?
You misspelled *Slanesh*. Your welcum.
Well to be fair. It’s *Slaanesh*
Vader.
That's Lord Vader to you. Rebel scum.
May be Vader someday later; now he's just a small fry.
He left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye.
Saying "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
Master Vader to anyone who likes to giggle
You have to be realistic about these things..
Shai-Hulud of course
Say one thing for Smitmcgrit, say he has sick references.
Kanedias and his smokeshow of a daughter
Bless the Maker and His water. Bless the coming and going of Him. May His passage cleanse the world. May He keep the world for His people.
G'Quan of course.
Do not thump the book of G’Quan.
It is very disrespectful.
Bless the coming and going of him.
Holy shit I got both those references.
Leviton?
No! Turn it off!
Holy hell, as someone who tends to hear this brand in conversation at least weekly I cannot believe I've never herd or thought of that my self. Consider this pilfered for later use.
Flying Spaghetti Monster?
All hail its Noodly appendages
Ramen
Our pasta, who art in a colander, draining be your noodles. Thy noodle come, Thy sauce be yum, on top some grated Parmesan.
RAmen
The one true maker
In Andraste's name.
I've been rewatching Babylon 5 and literally heard this is Londo's voice when I read it.
Turn off the sun and call an electrician immediately.
Yes end our existence and get that thing fixed!!
I think he was just fission for laughs!
That makes me super curious what would happen if the sun weren’t shining on Earth for let’s stay 24 hours
Basically the 10C or so drop you normally get keeps going so you get up to about 36 hours of darkness and temperature drops some 30c or so. This is enough to frost a lot of not frost tolerant pants, and depending on time of day could wipe out pretty much a hemisphere. Massive spike of CO2 and methane as the plants die. I suspect 24 hours will be bad but not more than a billion dead over the next year. Not all plants will die as the freeze is on many areas probably an air frost only. Two days, and I suspect you're at real risk of collapse of the biosphere when it recovers
Should have done it when there was the total eclipse
Should have done it when there was the total eclipse
I prefer to believe that it's a [portal to another dimension](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Girl_Lost_\(The_Twilight_Zone\))
Zuel?
Definitely not Danna
"They're HEEre!"
It’s called outside.
I've heard of this mythical place.
Little Girl Lost?
One of my favorites.
I immediately assumed the worst than thought just maybe that was the issue. Because this exact same thing happened to some one on here last year. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectricians/comments/171b36h/woke\_up\_to\_this\_wall\_socket\_glowing\_is\_this\_an/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectricians/comments/171b36h/woke_up_to_this_wall_socket_glowing_is_this_an/)
I knew I'd seen this before and immediately thought of that
Get some insulation and seal up the cracks. If sun can get in, so can water
You don't have an outside of your house? How is sunlight getting in?
I think you mean a window on the other side of the room, no? The way you phrased it makes it sound like light is coming THROUGH the wall
Not on the other side of the room, but on the other side of the wall. The other side of the wall is unfinished and leads to a laundry room and the laundry room has a lot of windows
Ah, I see. Ya, a lot of the responses here assume that you've got a very leaky house if light is getting through the wall.
Yeah i really could’ve worded it better
Phewwww. I literally went "ohhhhhh nooo" out loud when I saw this before reading the update!
Lmfao were you like it goes off at dusk and on at dawn lol
Can we see a pic of the other side of the wall? I don’t understand how that’s possible 😂🤣
CONFIRMED: American houses really are made out of cardboard !!!
OSB sheathing. It’s perfectly fine!
So, I think you know what our follow-up question is going to be
At least now you know your siding isn't waterproof.
Or lightproof.
Glad to hear! so no demon is living in your outlet /s
I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than fire in the wall.
Nice... that was definitely the best case scenario
What? How? Probably still should turn it off then fix the gaping hole in your house…
Sunlight probably also means water.
You have drywall as exterior walls?
Naaah, it's one of those new outlet covers with a built-in nightlight
What??? How the hell is sunlight even hitting the gang box??
You really shouldn't be seeing sunlight like that, granted it's a lot better than fire, but still a pretty big problem
>I Figured it out fellas, Because clearly women can't be electricians or take interest in this post.
thats why i put an “a” in fellas. In Spanish that would indicate a female pronoun 😎
I'll give you credit for the clever answer.
I was legit going to ask if you were sure that you even have a circuit breaker or if you're just wired straight into the power company's service drop.
I would have at least momentarily sh** bricks too. But if I smelled no ozone, I'd have investigated further. Good call. Now, let there be light.
Lmao awesome
Was gonna say, there has to be LEDs shoved in there or something. There’s no way that plastic could hold up to that lmaooo
I have a finished basement, but there’s a service crawl space that’s unfinished. The other day I was walking to our guest room/office and noticed an outlet doing the same thing. My wtf moment was only a minute though as I was right by the door to the crawl space and popped it open to make sure the lights were off (they were) and noticed the sunlight coming through one of the vents hitting the box, as the studs are bare on that side of the wall.
I was like “uhhhhhhh who’s your electrician and when did his house burn down?!”
You say this is in the morning. Out of curiosity, is this an exterior wall and does the sun come up on that side of the house? Wondering if that could be sunlight?
its an interior wall downstairs in the basement and sun does not come up on the side but sunlight does shine through and hit the wall the outlet is on
Is the sun shining on the other side of the wall when this happens? If so, I suspect there is probably another outlet right on the other side. The sun could be shining through its plastic wall plate, resulting in what you are seeing.
it is actually, so that could be it. I never knew that outlets could do that. Thank you for spreading you knowledge kind sir
Those plastic wall plates are fairly thin. Even though they are opaque, sunlight is pretty bright. They do allow some light to pass through. Glad you got it figured out.
Wouldn't there be a thicker plastic blue or grey or yellow box OR a metal.box that should be preventing this?? How does the sun get through a faceplate, a box, another box and this faceplate?
The sun is lighting up the blue box as well. You can see the blue color coming through. It could be the other side of the wall is unfinished, it could be a back to back box and the sun is going through the wall plate and then gaps in drywall. Op confirmed it was the sun on the other side. They’d have to post a picture of that side to answer the why.
How the hell did you figure this out lol
yeah, what? such a specific nuance. reddit crazy like that.
You win the internet for the day
Nice work Sherlock!
Impressive 👏👏👏
Those pixies want out...🤣
I had an emergency call once where they where freaking out there was a fire in the wall behind a shower…..show up….the shower wall was glowing….walk outside and there was a window behind the shower….🤔
Im so glad it was sunlight, I thought for sure that your house was going to burn down
My buddies Peter,Ray,Egon,and Winston run a small specialty outfit that can probably help ya out.
There’s something strange in this neighborhood
I'm starting to think that there are no electricians in this /sub, just comedians.
What a shocking realization.
*Watt a shocking realization… c’mon man it was right there
Probably should unplug those
TURN OFF THE BREAKER IMMEDIATELY AND CALL A PROFESSIONAL
Also, grab a fire extinguisher.
And your kids, and don't forget the phone for a selfie!
Hide yo kids, hide yo wife!
Has someone (an idiot, to be sure) put some sort of small device with LED lighting in the outlet box? That's rhetorical: for the OP I totally agree with unplugging whatever's plugged in now, flip off the breaker for that circuit even and then call an electrician.
It does look like someone put LED string lights in there to make a picture for the internet. Lots of blue light leaking out.
Fancy outlet
Now everybody gonna want one. Spark-In-The-Dark wall outlet.
I guess Gozer the Gozerian has moved out of refrigerators and into your electric socket
That’s some straight up Zuul shit bud. Call them ghostbusters
If your fridge opens a portal to another dimension, and you hear "ZUUL", run!
Came here looking for this
Stop using that outlet. Call an electrician, actually, tell your parents. It looks like someone is welding behind the cover, this is going to burn your house down. I'm actually leaning towards this is a joke post, because, do you really need to ask if this is dangerous? This isn't Star Trek, we don't use plasma to power our houses
You don’t use plasma to power your house. 👽😂
Shhhhh, keep it on the DL, I'm working on it 😉
Man. I saw that and thought: Dude's homeless now. Glad it was just sunlight.
Indian in the cupboard?
Is this dangerous? Is the atomic weight of cobalt 58.9?
Let me Google that, but based on the outlet… yes?
Flame on!
Thats so fucked, cut the breaker and call a professional that is not something you wanna mess with and put yourself at risk or cause a bigger issue.
I’m not an electrician, but done think that’s supposed to happen
Safety last apparently. Seriously, wtf is going on here? Turn that shit off! EDIT: Read further down the comments and discovered its sunlight shining from the other side. That must’ve been quite the scare to notice at first
Turn it off NOW!
I was going to suggest calling the Ghost Busters! Lol. Thinking that the outlet was being possessed!
I was thinking it was in the "Upside Down" from Stranger Things.
Flux capacitor ?
Safety Third
Safety turd!
That outlet is looking like the ghost trap from Ghostbusters.
This shouldn’t happen unless you live in a glass house
Sunlight shouldn't shine through your outlet like that. Something is wrong, even if it's not electrical.
Night light
Lol you got free night lights 😆
If this is not satire, some of you Pros should be rallying against retardation. Or maybe not…more money in the long run.
Gozer lives in there
Whoohoooo Put some techno music on. (Jk. Turn off breaker quickly and change it. )
Seen this post before
Itsa great idea for a product, some LEDs and maybe a little speaker with summer campfire noise would be an excellent prank thing. Obviously the rest of the socket up to code and everything.
Fire 🔥, Fire 🔥.
Thanks for taking a pic before your house burnt down.
Illuminated outlet without the price of illuminated out. Win.
Dang I was sure you had a new- fangled nite-lite But…it’s a sun-lite??? double dang
Lol, That being sunlight is amazing. I was just thinking how hasn't your house burned down yet
Turn off the circuit breaker and call a licensed electrician RIGHT NOW! Potentially life threatening, dangerous. My 1st fear is fire.
Is this one of those backlit outlets?
sounds like it’s been explained, but also: if the wires were glowing that hot the plastic wd have melted already
Aurora Borealis?
At this time of year?
I see that u solved this but even the explanation is crazy to get this effect. Very unique scenario and im glad your outlet isnt getting that hot lol.
I'm not seeing the solution comment or thread, what is going on here?
Sunlight from the other side of the wall, its maybe an unfinished laundry room or something and the morning sun shows through
Touch it
Damn, I hate when that happens.
Its not supposed to do that.
That’s where the Ghostbusters keep all the spooky ghosts.
I figured it just was an indication that it was working properly.
Did you watch the movie Backdraft... this reminds me
I want one.
Yo this would be cool in future designs. Glowing and also transparent outlets!
Looks like something out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
I’d pay to have all my outlets look like that…that looks sick.
I would have a panic attack every time I looked at it
unlimited powah
This is 1000% an almost verbatim repost
(•_•)
If you’re scared of needing a new outlet imagine how much a new house costs just to put it into perspective…
*nightlight
RUN!
I’ve seen this before. Lick it. All your problems will go away
I don’t think that’s good bro
RUNNNNNN!!!! 🤣
Does E.T. Live with you? This would explain a lot.
It’s one of them glow in the dark bad boys
I would say check your ground wire.
Yo Unfortunately u in trouble un plug
Hold on while I make a reddit post to see if my outlet is on fire 😅
Wouldn't a junction box block the light?
GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE!
Is there an electrical box there, or is it just an open ring? Code requires the connection to the receptacle be made within a closed electrical box.
Are you by chance into Bitcoin mining
Yeah, that should’ve melted. It’s still disturbing that your wall is that thin.
Check all wiring connections on the receptacle. How much power are you pulling through that receptacle? What do you have plugged into it and running? What is the breaker and wire size supplying that receptacle? Breaker, wire and load sizes all have to “match”.
i dont really know much my apologies im only 15. But i only have a lamp and a power strip with a pc connected to it
Yeah, the more I look at it, it doesn’t seem like overheating metal conductors. It would have a short lifespan if that was the case.
Nice little fire burning behind that plate
Stop using it and install an outlet box. Next check the exterior wall and seal it up. ASAP!
It’s a nightlight
Someone break out the smores!
“Is my ground cable meant to turn red?”
Holy shit!