Hmm

Is that water or gasoline?

Don't know? But it does not look like they used liquid tight connectors, raceways and conduits! :)

Jamie

Reminds me of the classic Stooges

"A plumbing we will go"

Hydroelectricity?

Probably someone demonstrating the "water-electricity flow" analogy.

is that a conduit or a pipe?

Reminds of a neighbor in the '60's... electrical box on side of house catches fire... exploded actually, blew flame out into his back yard, which is what caught my attention,

By the time I got there he was hosing it down with a garden hose :-( ...Jim Thompson

Maybe that was what caused the explosion?

Magnificently bad wiring job.

ALL the homes in the neighborhood had electric heater wires in the ceilings.

The breaker box for those heater wires was connected directly to the mains... no mains breaker, should have been wired as a sub box :-(

Something shorted in the breaker box.

Since it was just spewing out into the yard, I had him stand back and let it burn itself clear... which it did before the fire dept even got there. ...Jim Thompson

I've seen more than one breaker box burning, and most were wired by union electricians. I had two burn on this property, both installed by a then out of business electrical contractor. I wonder what they changed their name to, when they moved to another county or state? One fire was the main breaker, on a wood wall. I had to beat the flames out with my bare hands before I could trip it by hand, or I would have lost the building. It burnt the rails where they were connected to the main breaker, which required replacing the box. The place reeked of burnt bakelite for months afterwards.

I've seen several industrial three phase panels overheat, or smoke from excess harmonics on the neutral

I had a circuit tripping out for no apparent reason, then I thought to "feel" the temperature of the breaker and replaced it. ...Jim Thompson

The clamping screw on the breakers only has so much preload. After the wires cold flow under repeated warm/cool cycles, the clamping pressure slowly decreases until the connection runs hot. You need to re-torque the screws every decade or so.

My dad had problems with lights flickering, and an electrician he called said "Oh, that's normal, don't worry about it." I went and retorqued the clamp screws, some of them were loose enough the wires could have been pulled out of the breakers. Well, that fixed the problems.

I don't do the socket head screws on the main feed, as the accident that could occur it the Allen wrench touched something would be rather bad. Those ought to be torqued, too, but I don't have a safe tool to do it with.

Of course, you may have been right, the breaker itself may also have been defective, but I've run into the loose clamping screw a number of times.

Jon

They make sets of plastic handle Allen wrenches for that kind of job. Since those wires carry all the current they are the ones that need to be re-torqued the most.

That is another time when a non contact I.R. thermometer comes in handy.

Yup, I'm aware of the clamping pressure relaxation issue. In my case it turned out to be the breaker mechanism itself.

I have a whole set of insulated Allen wrenches, with handles shaped like you'd normally see on an awl. ...Jim Thompson