Improperly wired cord cap

Richard Graves, owner of Graves Electric in Corpus Christi, Texas, has been a licensed master electrician and contractor since 1986. He was called out to look into a problem with a heat lamp circuit that was a part of a commercial food-warming table in a pizza parlor. The customer said that every time the heat lamp cord was plugged into the wall receptacle, fire would "shoot out of the receptacle" and the circuit breaker would trip. Upon arriving at the scene, he made sure that the power to the receptacle was turned off and removed the receptacle from the outlet box. The receptacle was wired correctly, but it was fried like a sausage.

Richard replaced the cooked receptacle and removed the cord cap that was attached to the Type SO cord coming from the food warmer table/heat lamps. This was the first time he ever saw a cord cap wired in such a manner. When asked, the head pizza man said one of the persons that worked in the kitchen had wired it up. He worked as an electrician once for a shoemaker.

It was lucky that no one got hurt. The cook was warned that the next time that person is seen with a screwdriver and a piece of electrical apparatus, to please redirect that person to the pots and pans instead.