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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    Default Wow...what's this stuff?

    Inspection Referral

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Spring City/Surrounding Philadelphia area
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    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    Rodent droppings? I see an open knockout on the bottom of the box. Just another reason why all those open knockouts should be sealed.

    "It takes a big man to cry. It takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man". - Jack Handey

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Knoxville, TN
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    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    What did it taste like?????


  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Santa Rosa, CA
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    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    Marc,

    It's white!

    Department of Redundancy Department
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Chicago IL
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    2,048

    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    I vaguely remember seeing some video sometime about electrical fusion/shorting something like that and it should that stuff growing in the process.
    Granted I could be out of my mind but it looks familiar from something like that. I realize this isn't very helpful though.

    www.aic-chicago.com
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    "The Code is not a ceiling to reach but a floor to work up from"

  6. #6
    Roger Frazee's Avatar
    Roger Frazee Guest

    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    Quote Originally Posted by Marc M View Post
    Creepy...
    Looks like that stuff next to the spiders nest in the movie Arachnophobia..... I think it is supposed to be the remains of bitten human victims. As the story goes the female spider tracks down anything that disturbs the nest and eliminates it as a further threat. Just thought I would share.

    My best guess is galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metal contact.

    How do you like your Ford Transit ??


  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    Snowbird (this means I'm retired and migrate between locations), FL/MI
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    4,086

    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    SWAGs:

    Homemade ant/termite bait (Borax plus sweet & low, ground powder fine and puffed in) since got wet; note rust in can.

    Plaster of Paris. This near (other side of wall perhaps an above floor level) a toilet, urinal, or bidet?

    Sprayed in wall insullation seeped up into unsealed flush box from interior cavity, or from exterior sprayed on Stucco, or synthetic Finish System overspray into box. Looks as some of the applied finish/paint from the wall oversprayed some too (white atop some).

    Dunno, you saw it in person, I'm just looking at 2-D photo. From this vantage looks almost like low expanding foam insulation (that white dap foam in a can) or white caulk forced up through dirt and debris with with surface paint overspray over/on top.

    Other SWAG, Bird or lizard droppings from above roost.

    Another SWAG, was the foundation pumped/jacked or the wall retro-reinforced/filled & vibrated?

    Looks like a lot of rust at the back wall of can and cover support tab and a lot of dirt/debris collecting. Doubtful clean contact/continuity to d/f cover.

    With out a clue as to its texture, hardness, etc. its tough to guess.

    Last edited by H.G. Watson, Sr.; 07-03-2011 at 03:17 PM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Southern Vancouver Island
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    4,607

    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann View Post
    What did it taste like?????
    That's the question, animal, vegetable or mineral?

    If it is guano on rust with mold growing on it, it is animal, vegetable and mineral.

    John Kogel, RHI, BC HI Lic #47455
    www.allsafehome.ca

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Fletcher, NC
    Posts
    28,032

    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    Not sure what that is, but ... it looks like there are two red ("hot"?) conductors going into the left conduit and two white ("neutral"?) conductors going into the right conduit, and ... IF .... (that is a big "IF") ... IF the white neutrals are part of the red hot circuits, then there will be some major eddy currents in the bottom of that enclosure between and around those two conduit entries ... and IF ... the above is a correct presumption of what is there, then it is wrong and needs to be corrected.

    Now, as to whether those eddy currents will cause corrosion, rust, or whatever, I don't have the answer to that. I can see the eddy currents causing something as they will heat up the metal, and they will set up a fluctuating magnetic field, and that magnetic field could (maybe?) allow or cause "something".

    Do you know where the conductors in those two conduits go?

    Jerry Peck
    Construction/Litigation/Code Consultant - Retired
    www.AskCodeMan.com

  10. #10
    Lou Romano's Avatar
    Lou Romano Guest

    Default Re: Wow...what's this stuff?

    Beside that "creepy" stuff, which I believe HG may be right about when he mentioned borax powder and rust, take a closer look at the right hand backside of this panel/box/whatever it is and you will see what looks like an opening with wiring running in front of and in back of a metal plate? It almost looks like part of the wall the box is mounted on? There may be more wrong than meets the eye at first glance here, certainly more than just rust and powder!

    I would like to see some more pictures if they are available.


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