10

I was doing some household cleanup in the storage room where my heat tank is located when I noticed a burn mark on the wall frame near the pipe that goes from the heat tank to the shower next room.

I'm of course not thinking that this is due to the hot water itself, so I can only believe that this happened during an electric short to the ground.

I have some questions about this:

  • How can I know if this is a recent burn mark or not?

  • Is this a sign that something is not grounded properly somewhere and that during a thunderstorm, similar burn mark may appear again?

  • How can I prevent that from happening again?

  • Should I call a plumber or an electrician?

Niall C.
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Pierre-Alain Vigeant
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2 Answers2

20

I'd say it's a mark left by the plumber's torch while soldering the copper pipes rather than an electrical problem.

Danny T.
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7

What Danny said - someone didn't use a flame shield while soldering the pipe.

The soldering process involves blasting the copper pipe with a hot flame until the lead solder melts:

enter image description here

A RESPONSIBLE plumber will use a flame retardant barrier while soldering. Whoever did your pipes just chose not to and nearly burned down your house.

Sorry, so to answer your questions:

  • How can I know if this is a recent burn mark or not?

Water pipes don't get hot enough to scorch wood. If they got that hot, your hot water fixtures would have started venting steam.

*      Is this a sign that something is not grounded properly somewhere and that during a thunderstorm, similar burn mark may appear again?

No, it's a sign you had an idiot working on your house.

*      How can I prevent that from happening again?

Don't hire that idiot plumber again (assuming you hired him to begin with).

*      Should I call a plumber or an electrician?

No - and its just a surface scorch so your wood is ok too.

The Evil Greebo
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