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Sparks/Arcing coming from Air conditioner duct work.

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Sparks/Arcing coming from Air conditioner duct work. mark.gustavson 09-12-2007
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Posted by on September 12, 2007, 12:03 pm
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >>> > Last night at approx 1:30 am my wife and I awoke to a firecracker
> >>> > sound coming from the attic over our bedroom. It was very loud. I
> >>> > climbed up into the attic and saw sparks popping off of the main AC
> >>> > duct, looked like it was coming from an area that had been sealed by
> >>> > aluminum tape. We turned off the main breaker in the house and the
> >>> > sparks continued.
>
> >>> > It appears to be a chemical reaction of some sort, and not
> >>> > electrically created. If someone has ever heard of this or can give
> >>> > me some advice whether to call a Duct installer, or electrician it
> >>> > would be greatly appreciated.
>
> >>> > Thanks!
>
> >>> > Mark
>
> >>> Why do you think it's a chemical reaction?
>
> >> I turned off the main breaker and it still was sparking... there are
> >> no electrical wires near the location of the sparks unless there are
> >> wires inside the duct work
>
> > To me, this doesn't point to a chemical reaction, but hey...I could be
> > wrong. Let's see what others suggest.
>
> Only two things that I can think of...
>
> A wire has fallen onto the roof and is somehow grounding out on your
> ductwork. Not very likely though.
>
> The power supply on your A/C unit may have some large capacitors in it that
> could take a few minutes to drain after the power was cut.
>
> What did you do to finally get it to stop sparking?

It stopped on its own.


Special 468x60
Posted by Meat Plow on September 12, 2007, 1:14 pm
On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:00:17 +0000, mark.gustavson wrote:

> Last night at approx 1:30 am my wife and I awoke to a firecracker
> sound coming from the attic over our bedroom. It was very loud. I
> climbed up into the attic and saw sparks popping off of the main AC
> duct, looked like it was coming from an area that had been sealed by
> aluminum tape. We turned off the main breaker in the house and the
> sparks continued.
>
> It appears to be a chemical reaction of some sort, and not
> electrically created. If someone has ever heard of this or can give
> me some advice whether to call a Duct installer, or electrician it
> would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mark

If it really happened and the mains breaker was off then the only thing
that could cause it was some kind of static electricity discharge.
Otherwise maybe you just were dreaming.


Posted by Uncle Monster on September 12, 2007, 2:30 pm
mark.gustavson@gmail.com wrote:
> Last night at approx 1:30 am my wife and I awoke to a firecracker
> sound coming from the attic over our bedroom. It was very loud. I
> climbed up into the attic and saw sparks popping off of the main AC
> duct, looked like it was coming from an area that had been sealed by
> aluminum tape. We turned off the main breaker in the house and the
> sparks continued.
>
> It appears to be a chemical reaction of some sort, and not
> electrically created. If someone has ever heard of this or can give
> me some advice whether to call a Duct installer, or electrician it
> would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mark
>

Many years ago when I was an adolescent because of my
age, I lived with my family on top of a mountain in NE
Alabamastan. When I was in the basement, building one of
the many Frankenstein machines of my youth, I noticed
that large sparks would jump off the metal ductwork that
ran the length of the house whenever lightning struck
within 5 miles. The house was long and in line with the
ridge with the main supply duct about 65 feet long. I had
to assume that the EMP from the lightning was being picked
up by the ductwork which acted like a big antennae or a
longitudinal inductor. It was scary to be sitting there
and suddenly hear popping and arcing from the ductwork,
then a few seconds later I would hear the thunder.
Just a thought, if a home is close to high voltage power
lines, a similar thing might happen.

[8~{} Uncle Monster

Posted by HeyBub on September 12, 2007, 2:52 pm
mark.gustavson@gmail.com wrote:
> Last night at approx 1:30 am my wife and I awoke to a firecracker
> sound coming from the attic over our bedroom. It was very loud. I
> climbed up into the attic and saw sparks popping off of the main AC
> duct, looked like it was coming from an area that had been sealed by
> aluminum tape. We turned off the main breaker in the house and the
> sparks continued.
>
> It appears to be a chemical reaction of some sort, and not
> electrically created. If someone has ever heard of this or can give
> me some advice whether to call a Duct installer, or electrician it
> would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>

St Elmo's Fire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire



Posted by on September 12, 2007, 3:03 pm
> mark.gustav...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Last night at approx 1:30 am my wife and I awoke to a firecracker
> > sound coming from the attic over our bedroom. It was very loud. I
> > climbed up into the attic and saw sparks popping off of the main AC
> > duct, looked like it was coming from an area that had been sealed by
> > aluminum tape. We turned off the main breaker in the house and the
> > sparks continued.
>
> > It appears to be a chemical reaction of some sort, and not
> > electrically created. If someone has ever heard of this or can give
> > me some advice whether to call a Duct installer, or electrician it
> > would be greatly appreciated.
>
> > Thanks!
>
> St Elmo's Fire.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire

fixed! main for the AC is outside next to the package unit. I
followed the wires going into the unit and one of the lines was
rubbing against the frame of the unit and subsequently energizing the
duct work. After insulating with a piece of pvc and plenty of
electrical tape, all is well. Thanks for everyones help!


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