An electrician's nightmare.

[Industrial Toys]

Actually, the Poor critters probably got between the contacts, got fried and left residue on the contacts. What else could it be?

But, those must have had to be pretty small ants.

 

[riptides]

Wow, I searched "ants in switch" and found tons of articles. This is a bad problem.

Ants in Your Outlet? Here’s How to Get Rid of Them | George Brazil(R) Plumbing & Electrical | Phoenix, AZ

Yeah...I was sarcastic in my earlier comment. "What's with ants...". I have been in battles with them on my property for over a decade. The original owner once commented he thought it was built on top of an anthill.

They are in LOVE with my pool pump. Chem warfare yielded poor results. They adapted and overcame. LOL.

 

[MarkF48]

Were these switches of the old 'silent' type that use a bulb of mercury or did they actually click on to off?

 

[CADplans]

Our house was built 1978-79,, the guy used first class EVERYTHING,, except the electrical switches, and outlets,,

They were all the same brand (started with "S",,,) and,, the metal was weak.
The lamp plug would simply fall out of the outlet,, the same thing with the switches,, the weak metal would not make contact,,

We bought the house in 1982, three years old,, within 4 months, I had to replace every switch and outlet that we used.
there might be one or two not replaced, but, they were never used ( the basement outside light comes to mind, never had a reason to turn it on)

So, yes, I can see a slight over voltage surge destroying 5 switches at once,, if they were like the ones I owned.

If you want to talk about a failure waiting to happen, in a 30+ year old house,,,
go around and remove the light fixtures like closet lights, bathroom lights,, ceiling lights,,

Look at the wiring,, over 30+ years of being heated by the incandescent bulbs, the insulation degrades,, and falls off.

I replaced EVERY such light fixture in 2010,, but, now, they have low heat LED bulbs,,

 

[Diggin It]

I'd be spraying the stuffing out of that wall with ant wipeout stuff.

They'll be back, if they aren't still there.

 

[k0ua]

Well, shoot.. now we will never know for sure what killed those switches all at once. But the ants are surely suspect.

It reminds me of a service call in a prison kitchen. Dead wall phone. I opened the phone and it was full of cockroaches. Some dead and wedged into the hookswitch contacts and many alive. I drug it by its handset cord to the nearest dumpster. didn't really want to touch it but it was too late. I am not sure I have ever seen so many roaches in such a small space.

 

[riptides]

... I am not sure I have ever seen so many roaches in such a small space.

Some government buildings where I work...due to age and building restrictions have huge roaches and really big rats in certain places. They adapt and thrive very well.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I too have had the pleasure of doing electrical maintenance work in apartment buildings and certain units were just infested with roaches.

 

[tallyho8]

Were these switches of the old 'silent' type that use a bulb of mercury or did they actually click on to off?

This is the type switches they were: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton...le-Light-Switch-White-R52-01451-02W/100026991

 

[k0ua]

Another service man tale. When I was a kid I worked at a Television sales and repair shop. I ran a call in Monett Mo. and the house was so nasty and smelled so bad, I wanted to get out of there and decided to take the set in to the shop, hoping for a better work environment. Bad idea. When we opened it up hundreds of roaches ran out and everywhere all over the shop. The owner called the exterminator, (many times) and even weeks later we were using freeze spray to kill roaches on the bench. Finally after many weeks of exterminator spraying we seemed to have won the roach war.

Freeze spray for those that don't know is a fluorocarbon in a pressurized can with an plastic applicator straw like WD40 has. If you crack the valve slowly a drop of the liquid would form on the end of the straw and fall off. If you aim was good this would drop onto the back of a stationary roach killing it instantly as the liquid evaporated and lowered its temprature to -40 degrees F or so. Of course it's legitimate usage was to stress test electronic components.

 

[k0ua]

This is the type switches they were: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton...le-Light-Switch-White-R52-01451-02W/100026991

yeah that is not a mercury switch. It doesn't cost enough. it says quiet, but quiet is in the ear of the beholder.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Another service man tale. When I was a kid I worked at a Television sales and repair shop. I ran a call in Monett Mo. and the house was so nasty and smelled so bad, I wanted to get out of there and decided to take the set in to the shop, hoping for a better work environment. Bad idea. When we opened it up hundreds of roaches ran out and everywhere all over the shop. The owner called the exterminator, (many times) and even weeks later we were using freeze spray to kill roaches on the bench. Finally after many weeks of exterminator spraying we seemed to have won the roach war.

Freeze spray for those that don't know is a fluorocarbon in a pressurized can with an plastic applicator straw like WD40 has. If you crack the valve slowly a drop of the liquid would form on the end of the straw and fall off. If you aim was good this would drop onto the back of a stationary roach killing it instantly as the liquid evaporated and lowered its temprature to -40 degrees F or so. Of course it's legitimate usage was to stress test electronic components.

That's what I did for years was running TV service calls! What an amazing experience as kOua knows!
Here's a cockroach story I swear is true. I had a service call on a Magnavox console tv in a bad part of town, guy said tv was dead. When I arrived porch was full of cockroaches. Now today...I would have left...but I was in 20s...knocked on door. Guy opens and I'm looking at stairs going upstairs and they looked like a waterfall. As many roaches running down as up. Hundreds of thousands, climbing walls, etc. Guy says tv is here, room off to right.
I had toolbox, always had Xcelite 1/4" nutdriver in pocket. I zipped back off in a minute...tv unplugged I grabbed a.c. glass fuse I saw was blown. Popped in another, back on (had the cheater cord in it)...plugged in, prayed, tv came on!!!!!
Guy was happy, paid cash, I got the you-know-what outta there!
At my van I was stomping my feet, brushing them off my pants. YUK!!!!!

 

[MossRoad]

This is the type switches they were: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton...le-Light-Switch-White-R52-01451-02W/100026991

Well there's your problem....

68¢

Should have gone with the 75¢ ant-proof model.

 

[cqaigy2]

We've had problems with those little ones called sugar ants. Couple of GFCI outlets full of ants and outside plastic "sealed" electrical box with some electronics in it. I went to the box to unplug a piece of gear, to reboot it and when i opened it, it had a nest with eggs, in it, ants on and inside some of the gear. I cleaned everything off, including the inside of the box, with isopropyl. Put some jelly with boric acid mixed into on pieces of tape inside the box. Used the jelly in the past, and the number of ants have really reduced.

 

[Alan W.]

Our first home was a mobile home and it was terrible for ants in the light switches. You could tell when they were starting to build in the switch box because of the arcing sound and the faint smell of cremated ants.

 

[YLee Kioti]

This is the type switches they were: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton...le-Light-Switch-White-R52-01451-02W/100026991

LOL...Soooooo here we go........in 1998 here in south Texas both our parents homes got flooded out. So after the big rebuild of them both I looked at the switches. (horrible condition). Again 23 years later one of the houses gets rehab again after Harvey...

This is not a mystery and the ants get to much credit.

Buy another one of those 63 cent switches and buy one of the 2 dollar switches. Take them apart; or just hold one in each hand and 'feel' the action of each one. They may be rated for the same application 15 amps, but the internals have a big difference.
Personally I would replace them with a 20 amp rated switch. The lever action is quite stiff but the contacts have a sharp snap. Take a listen closely when flipping the light switch under the right (noise wise) conditions you can hear the contacts crackle. That is the sound of current passing through poor surface contact pressure. The 20 amp units, no problem. Those puppies slam fast and hard. So no matter what the future holds the switch can handle a few more additions easily.

You get what you pay for. The contact surface is less them 2.5mm, the leaf spring movement is weak and contact pressure is minimal at best. It's a wonder they survived 20 plus years. The switches and receptacle I replaced after Harvey were the same BB store 68 cent switches. Maybe three of the 12 to 14 switches replaced fell apart in my hand during wire removal at the terminal. The contact (such as they were) areas were very pitted so in reality had very little current carrying capacity with reduced surface area. Arcing burns reached up to the inside portion that made the termination.

You got more then your money's worth.
Spend the 2 or 3 bucks, per unit, get better quality switches and call it done, for the next 20 years.:drink:

 

[Industrial Toys]

I certainly wouldn't want a 20 amp snap action switch in most places. Sounds too much like lights out in the BIG House.

Man, those old mercury filled switches were "HIGH QUALITY". I guess you could always get specification grade or hospital grade switches too. IF it was ants though, unless those better switches are sealed, that same thing can happen again on expensive switches.

 

[YLee Kioti]

Yah gets what ya pays fo'....68 cents last more then five years call it good.......there are better quality 15 amp switches for 2 bucks or so.

I bought the 20 amp because I plan on adding four more shop lights to the same breaker circuit.
With only five shop lights, I could hear the cheap 68 cent model sizzle.....arrgh....nah ain't staying.....

 

[Industrial Toys]

In reality, I would say, I have had far more issues with inexpensive receptacles. Man, you buy a spec grade, one for your high amperage appliances on the kitchen counter, and you can feel the quality. You can feel the quality in your hand, just installing them.

 

[Mat4644]

You've heard of carpenter ants before. Well these are electrician ants and they were going to fix it.