Almost Burned my House Down... Thoughts / Theories?

[hemiarch]

Two reasons:

1) Allows for a cleaner connection (main reason)…more room.

2) If I need to shut it off, I don’t have to walk all the way around the side/back of the property. (Not as important)

Number 2 is VERY important. See my post directly above yours.

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[NotMyTruck]

I am not an electrician, but here are my best answers:

1) 6 gauge wire
2)
3) 60 amp breaker
4) 400 amp service (Two 200 amp panels)
5) Two 200 amp panels with 1 Tesla Wall Charger on each panel
6) Separate Panels
7) I estimate maybe 40 feet tops
8) 48 amps
9) 48 amps
10)
11)
12)
13)

I answered the ones I could.

Here are two more photos of the carnage. They believe the culprit was the piece that is in my Wife’s hand and it arched.

Tesla installation instructions do not call for an emergency disconnect. I don’t understand the reasoning for this.

Two reasons:

1) Allows for a cleaner connection (main reason)…more room.

2) If I need to shut it off, I don’t have to walk all the way around the side/back of the property. (Not as important)

The picture you sent looks like sleeved romex. That should not be in a conduit. Review tesla installation instructions, I’m perplexed for the disconnect.

 

[Carlos Thomas]

The picture you sent looks like sleeved romex. That should not be in a conduit. Review tesla installation instructions, I’m perplexed for the disconnect.

Are you talking about the photo of the burned wires or the install photo inside the box? All of the conduit is running through the garage. Nothing is outside.

 

[NotMyTruck]

Are you talking about the photo of the burned wires or the install photo inside the box? All of the conduit is running through the garage. Nothing is outside.

Romex should not be in conduit. Anywhere. However, if someone with IEEE can assist, there is a caveat where you can install romex in a conduit assuming it has something like 50% expansion. I don’t remember the numbers but I am sure someone here can assist.

However, I do not think this was your issue.

 

[hemiarch]

I don’t about the disconnect. Mine wasn’t installed that way and was done by a very reputable company with tons of experience but just know you can’t rely on running to the breaker. It all happens too fast. Did in my case.

 

[CyberGus]

too many acronyms

TMA?

 

[CyberGus]

Then I started pointing it at pretty much everything.

Everything?

 

[Mal]

Everything?

Yep.

We probably shouldn't escalate this ....

 

[mongo]

Romex should not be in conduit. Anywhere. However, if someone with IEEE can assist, there is a caveat where you can install romex in a conduit assuming it has something like 50% expansion. I don’t remember the numbers but I am sure someone here can assist.

However, I do not think this was your issue.

NM-B is allowed to be in conduit for protection in dry areas.

 

[hemiarch]

Yep.

We probably shouldn't escalate this ....

Yeah. Not sure where this is going. Lol

 

[mongo]

As an update, they installed an emergency disconnect box and make a cleaner connection etc. Nothing happened to the Tesla Wall Connector, but they are replacing both.

Huh. The neutral doesn't need to go through the disconnected, but it can. However, the neutral doesn't even need to exist since the WC doesn't use it.

More concerning is that the disconnect doesn't appear to be grounded.

 

[mongo]

Here are two more photos of the carnage. They believe the culprit was the piece that is in my Wife’s hand and it arched.

The culprit is whomever installed a split bolt without a divider to separate the aluminum and copper conductors...
Looks like a copper-copper, not a copper-aluminum.

 

[cybercricket]

The culprit is whomever installed a split bolt without a divider to separate the aluminum and copper conductors...
Looks like a copper-copper, not a copper-aluminum.

Are these intended for this application in the first place ? There are those Polaris terminals that are insulated and can be properly torqued.

 

[Carlos Thomas]

So my problem appears to be that I have ROMEX 6/2 running from my panel, thru my walls to my Tesla Wall Charger. ROMEX 6/2 is only rated for 55 amps. So running a continuous load at 48 amps exceeds the capacity.

 

[mongo]

Are these intended for this application in the first place ? There are those Polaris terminals that are insulated and can be properly torqued.

Yes, split bolts were made for splicing conductors. Especially handy because you can put one in the middle of an existing run. Downside is the amount of overwatch tape needed and serviceablity. The new install used Polaris for the ground.

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