Home maintenance question

[Wasatch Rebel]

So our swamp cooler sparked at the switch and then the breaker blew and we're coming up on some of the hottest temps of the year beginning tomorrow, or maybe even today. I took the switch plate off the wall and somehow water has gotten inside the conduit wire that powers the switch, so it's arcing, thus causing the sparking. After looking inside the cooler itself, I don't see how water could be getting inside--the conduit itself is covered in a plastic sheath as most conduit is. Well, I tried drying it with a hair dryer, but of course, that only dries the open end at the switch, not the entire length of the conduit (about 6-8 feet). There's got to be water inside the whole length.

Well, I don't know whether calling an electrician will solve the problem. Unless he can figure out how the water is getting in, putting in new conduit might only be a short term solution. Any suggestions?

[DOSS]

Well to dry out the conduit you could try to blow air through the length of it - an air compressor may help but if you can just pull the wire up and then swab it out with something would be your best bet (IE tie a rag(small enough to fit through the pipe) onto a rope and pull it through).

the water can only be coming in from the top - so either something is splashing into it, running down one of the wires or overflowing to get into it

[Wasatch Rebel]

Well to dry out the conduit you could try to blow air through the length of it - an air compressor may help but if you can just pull the wire up and then swab it out with something would be your best bet (IE tie a rag(small enough to fit through the pipe) onto a rope and pull it through).

the water can only be coming in from the top - so either something is splashing into it, running down one of the wires or overflowing to get into it

Well, it's not in a pipe, so if I pulled out the wire, I'd have to rethread it through the walls. That's not something I want to try, mainly because I don't know how to do it and keep the wires coming back through the holes, and there are a couple of right angles. It's just really coated conduit wire--I'm not sure on the correct terminology--but it starts at the switch and ends at the top corner of the cooler. I'm thinking that it brushed against a soaked pad and water trickled down on the outside, but I have no idea how it got inside. Maybe it didn't and just looks like it because the water is pooling at the switch end and running off the end of the conduit---maybe it's flowing up a little at that point making it look like it's inside the entire length--and then maybe there's a crack in the coating somewhere allowing it to seep in. The wire and house are both 24 years old, so maybe my best bet is to get an electrician to put a new wire in it.

[DOSS]

Well, it's not in a pipe, so if I pulled out the wire, I'd have to rethread it through the walls. That's not something I want to try, mainly because I don't know how to do it and keep the wires coming back through the holes, and there are a couple of right angles. It's just really coated conduit wire--I'm not sure on the correct terminology--but it starts at the switch and ends at the top corner of the cooler. I'm thinking that it brushed against a soaked pad and water trickled down on the outside, but I have no idea how it got inside. Maybe it didn't and just looks like it because the water is pooling at the switch end and running off the end of the conduit---maybe it's flowing up a little at that point making it look like it's inside the entire length--and then maybe there's a crack in the coating somewhere allowing it to seep in. The wire and house are both 24 years old, so maybe my best bet is to get an electrician to put a new wire in it.

Ok.. I assumed when you said conduit that it was in a second conduit.. You could just pull new wire by hooking the new wire onto the old wire :).. it wouldn't be easy but it is doable.. -- or you give it some time to dry and run a extension cord up to it in the meantime and be all sorts of redneck but with AC :)

[moab mark]

If there is no new water I would just dry it out, put in a new switch and watch it.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Ok.. I assumed when you said conduit that it was in a second conduit.. You could just pull new wire by hooking the new wire onto the old wire :).. it wouldn't be easy but it is doable.. -- or you give it some time to dry and run a extension cord up to it in the meantime and be all sorts of redneck but with AC :)

Ha ha. Yeah, I meant "wire" or "cable" instead of "conduit". Gotta learn my lingo, I guess or my explanation is messed up. Yeah, I like the redneck idea. I can't figure out how to get the extension cord through the side of the pads, but it would definitely work if I could figure that one out. I think I'm going to pull more wire through, but isn't there some kind of grade of wire that is more suited for wet conditions?

[Wasatch Rebel]

If there is no new water I would just dry it out, put in a new switch and watch it.

I think that's going to be my first response. I ran it last night for a little while and it had no problems, that I know of, though after I had dried out the end with a hair dryer, there were only some periodic tiny sparks, not the big ones that my wife heard from the living room just before the breaker blew.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Update: I'm thinking now that it may be a condensation problem. As the cable leaves the outlet box in the cooler, it drops down the air shaft, then goes out through the side and into the attic, eventually going straight down to the switch box. I'm thinking that while it's in the shaft, it's capturing the moist air from the cooler, which is running down the outside of the cable, and down to the end in the switch box. If this is the case, all I probably need to do is put some kind of sealant where the cable leaves the air shaft and goes into the attic.