Just found out Romex has a maximum temperature rating of 90 degrees Celsius

I was reading the fine print on a spool of 12/2 yesterday and saw that little stat buried in the labeling. Has anyone ever actually run into a situation where their wiring got that hot in the wall?

3 comments

3 Comments

susan_wright342d ago

Buddy's shop wiring melted from a space heater running. That's 90C easy.

daniel_martin1d ago

Space heater got the wiring up to 90C? That's terrifying.

elizabeths511d ago

90 degrees C is basically boiling water temperature. That's not just hot, that's insulation melting and copper wire annealing hot. I've seen what happens when old wiring gets cooked like that - the plastic coating gets brittle and cracks off, leaving bare live wires touching things they shouldn't. A buddy of mine lost a garage to a space heater fire because the extension cord was undersized and the heat built up inside the wall over a few weeks. Scary stuff when you realize most people just plug these things in without thinking about what's behind the drywall.