They don't break unless there is a short, or overload. Burning a bad
connection in half doesn't necessarily mean either.

--
Steve Barker

"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in message
...
Sounds like something shorted inside the male plug. Breakers don't always
trip as quickly as we'd like them to


"Jethro" wrote in message
...
I did a stupid thing - but I am curious.

Someone lent me his air compressor on which he had a 3-prong male
plug. He had clipped off the ground, leaving the other two. I
carelessly plugged the thing into a wall receptacle without paying any
attention. That's the stupid part.

I turned my back on the receptacle to flip the compressor on switch
on.
I heard a strange sound, turned around, and a little black smoke was
coming out of the receptacle where I had plugged the male plug in.
Needless to say, I immediately removed the plug. When I did, one
metal prong pulled out of the plug remaining in the receptacle. I
turned the circuit breaker off and removed the prong.

I think I must have plugged the thing in backwards, since the ground
was missing on the plug to prevent that. Dumb! Anyway, I now am
curious as to why the goof did not trip the 15A breaker. I think it
should have. Maybe the breaker is bad?

Agree?

I will replace the compressor plug of course.

Thanks

Jethro