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Yesterday, I was asked to get a few backup servers online in a new rack. Power should have already been run, I just needed to run ethernet from our router, connect power plugs, and make sure nothing jostled loose in transit from the other office by testing that the servers boot. No problem...until I discover that one of our remote controlled power module that plugs into the NEMA L5-20 plugs under the floor and has 8 standard wall outlets on the back isn't powering up. When I pull up the tile, I see that all but one of them has power. Great. So I pull up a few tiles looking for another power cable, nudge one of the nearby power cables with my elbow and *BANG* one of the plugs sparks loud enough to make my ear ring. O_o
After tracking the cable down and shutting down the server it's on (thankfully just the one server), cutting the breaker, and checking things out, the RPC's plug looks like it was recovered from the titanic. The brown wire's insulation has rotted off and the wire is so corroded it disintegrates if you touch it. The black wire is rotting, but isn't gone completely, just enough to make things all sparky if the wire is moved. The photo isn't that great, but it shows the damage:
Brown wire is on left, black on right. There is no insulation on the brown wire at all. That's rotting copper. I'm REALLY glad I caught this before it got to be a big problem. Rather than trying to find a good section of cable and cut off the bad as instructed to by a supervisor, I just swapped the power module out entirely. I'm not trusting the lives of coworkers and other offices in the building to that wiring damage. No way. No how.
After tracking the cable down and shutting down the server it's on (thankfully just the one server), cutting the breaker, and checking things out, the RPC's plug looks like it was recovered from the titanic. The brown wire's insulation has rotted off and the wire is so corroded it disintegrates if you touch it. The black wire is rotting, but isn't gone completely, just enough to make things all sparky if the wire is moved. The photo isn't that great, but it shows the damage:
Brown wire is on left, black on right. There is no insulation on the brown wire at all. That's rotting copper. I'm REALLY glad I caught this before it got to be a big problem. Rather than trying to find a good section of cable and cut off the bad as instructed to by a supervisor, I just swapped the power module out entirely. I'm not trusting the lives of coworkers and other offices in the building to that wiring damage. No way. No how.
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