Sticky Black Coating On Cu Grd Wires IN Panel

[Pete Campbell]

1996 house in Palm City, FL. The drywall is original. Anyone know what might be on the bare grd wires?

[Robert Meier]

Since it's bare copper it's some sort of reaction. At first I thought of Chinese drywall but I don't believe that the problem goes back to the 90's.

[Jeffrey Moore]

Where is the panel located? Any corrosive material stored nearby?

[Joseph M. Whitt]

Originally Posted by pcampbell

Anyone know what might be on the bare grd wires?

Something Black? Did I win?

[Greg W. Mathias, CCHI]

Originally Posted by jwhitt

Something Black? Did I win?

No, you didn't call it sticky!!
On a side note, I ran into this a while back and asked the same question on the MB. Came to the conclusion that because it was in the laundry room the bleach and other corrosive products were attracted to the bare metal.
Check it out:
http://www.nachi.org/forum/f19/black...n-panel-75479/

[David A. Andersen]

I would think that generally it would take some electrical current to generate this type of thing. There is all kinds of exposed copper in laundries with no black sticky stuff around!

My want to have the ground checked.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Copper Oxide

[David A. Andersen]

Caused from?

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by dandersen

Caused from?

Could be a simple as a battery backup sump pump.
I think this also could be from Washing chemicals .

A cat litter box or possible manufacture of illicit drugs???

[William Blackmon]

Chlorine bleach is a strong oxidizer.

[Pete Campbell]

The 2 main panels were in a garage mounted on an exterior cmu wall with drywall partition on the int.

There was no evidence of any corrosive items stored, and the laundry room was in the house.

The immediate area adjacent to the panels was prev used for cabinet fabrication.

So, we have unfortunately gotten nowhere yet on this one.

[William Blackmon]

Originally Posted by pcampbell

The 2 main panels were in a garage mounted on an exterior cmu wall with drywall partition on the int.

There was no evidence of any corrosive items stored, and the laundry room was in the house.

The immediate area adjacent to the panels was prev used for cabinet fabrication.

So, we have unfortunately gotten nowhere yet on this one.

Then it probably is down to sampling and testing.