Transformer burnt- reasons?

BuriedCockroach · Aug 30, 2023

Hi I recently purchased(aug18) a house built in 1963 and about an hour before bed I smelt a burning smell in the hallway. I looked around and couldnt figure out the source. Fast forward an hour and I can still smell the same smell but stronger and thats when I figure Id check the attic as the pull down stairs was in the hallway. I got to the top of the steps and noticed the attic was full of smoke with the source coming out from a piece of plywood that was loosly sitting there, I moved the wood over and saw a transformer box in the insulation smoking and once it had free air after I cleared the insulation the smoke started getting worse quickly. My wife shut off the main breaker after I started yelling CUT THE POWER CUT THE POWER!!
Lol jesus it was abit scary for sure. Just thought Id try and get an opinion as to why after 11 days of being there it would start to overheat, Some of the wires outside the box looked pretty charred for some time so maybe its been overheating for awhile? The switch panel has a few buttons that dont work but still made the transformer hum when pressed so maybe I had too many in the ON position and it overloaded it? Suffice to say tye walls are getting opened up and Ill be rewiring the whole thing. Cant live here worringing about electrical issues.

BuriedCockroach · Aug 30, 2023

Thanks for the help! Ill go check out the GFYS forum!

newfutile · Aug 31, 2023

The wiring is atrocious and looks melted and most likely shorted out the transformer

Avo Mk8 · Aug 31, 2023

Looks like the sort of pink cable nearest the camera has been overloaded (outer insulation melted) and I imagine the transformer has been overloaded too.
It's possible that a circuit in your house was put in by the previous owner with this constant voltage?/isolation?/step up?/step down? transformer, and you have plugged something in, obviously without knowing this lash-up was there, that has overloaded the wiring.
If you could tell us what's written on the transformer, or provide a photo, that might give a clue as to what it was there for.

Megawatt · Sep 1, 2023

BuriedCockroach said:
Hi I recently purchased(aug18) a house built in 1963 and about an hour before bed I smelt a burning smell in the hallway. I looked around and couldnt figure out the source. Fast forward an hour and I can still smell the same smell but stronger and thats when I figure Id check the attic as the pull down stairs was in the hallway. I got to the top of the steps and noticed the attic was full of smoke with the source coming out from a piece of plywood that was loosly sitting there, I moved the wood over and saw a transformer box in the insulation smoking and once it had free air after I cleared the insulation the smoke started getting worse quickly. My wife shut off the main breaker after I started yelling CUT THE POWER CUT THE POWER!!
Lol jesus it was abit scary for sure. Just thought Id try and get an opinion as to why after 11 days of being there it would start to overheat, Some of the wires outside the box looked pretty charred for some time so maybe its been overheating for awhile? The switch panel has a few buttons that dont work but still made the transformer hum when pressed so maybe I had too many in the ON position and it overloaded it? Suffice to say tye walls are getting opened up and Ill be rewiring the whole thing. Cant live here worringing about electrical issues.

To start with the wiring is awful and not by code. Transformers have to have ventilation and not covered by anything so I’m going to assume that the heat built up is what caused the most damage.

nicebutdim · Sep 1, 2023

Doesn't appear as though the OP is returning as they haven't been back since deciding to check out the 'GFYS' forum instead.

If my guess about the acronym is correct, and the transformer wiring is their own work, that's pretty much what they almost did.