Heard a 30-year avionics guy drop a truth bomb about wire chafing yesterday

I was just chatting with Phil down at the hangar in Tulsa, and he mentioned he's finding chafed wires behind the same access panel on 737s maybe once a month now. He said he's started pulling that panel on every inspection since he caught one that was down to bare copper. Has anyone else noticed that spot getting worse lately, or is it just his fleet?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_susan1mo ago

Buddy of mine out in Denver found one so bad it had already welded itself to a bracket. He said it was pure luck the thing hadn't started a fire yet.

gray_morgan1mo ago

Man, @the_susan your buddy got super lucky. I had a similar scare with an old space heater a couple years back. The plug was all warped and the prongs looked kinda burnt. What worked for me was just replacing the whole cord with a heavy duty one from the hardware store. I stripped it down and rewired the heater myself. Took like 20 minutes and cost maybe 10 bucks. Way cheaper than a new heater and definitely safer than using a melted plug. Now I always check for any discoloration or weird warmth on plugs before I even turn them on.

paige_owens51mo ago

Oh man, "welded itself to a bracket" is exactly what I saw too. I had an old electric heater in my garage that I pulled out one winter and the cord was actually fused to the plug. Like the plastic had melted and resolidified into one solid piece. Scariest part was I had been using it for weeks without noticing anything wrong. When I finally yanked it out, there was this black crusty char all around the outlet. My buddy whos an electrician said I was lucky the whole wall didnt catch fire. Now I check every single cord before I plug anything in during winter. That stuff is no joke.