Water leak/ Ceiling Box

[Anonymous]

I live in Massachusetts. We had an overflow from the boiler in the basement. The water leaked through the celing a small bit in my sons room. My concern is the water that came through the celing electrical box. I removed the light and killed the power to the light. It was not much damage, maybe a quart of water came out into the light fixture.


How long should I wait for this to dry out? The wire did not seem to be overly wet. The connections were very concealed with a wire nut and electrical tape. I will have to replace the light fixture. I was very lucky I caught this and we did not have a disaster.

Thanks MIke

[Wgoodrich]

If you have plastic insulation on wiring then you should be fine to re-energize tommorrow.

If you have waxed paper or cloth insulation I would wait a week to dry or even use a hair dryer to help it to dry daily for a week. Then feel of hte insulation to ensure dry insulation then re-energize. If paper or cloth insulation do not bend or move wires. Just let dry good before you re-energize.

Today's wiring is designed to take a certain amount of wet then when allowed to dry you are fine to re-energize.

Light fixtures if incandescent dry them and you should be fine.

If an exposed ballast not the enclosed ballast type but exposed winding ballast again dry well before re-energizing. Enclosed or sealed ballast should be fine minor moisture exposure after drying normally a day.

Hope this helps

Wg