Crazy Squirrel Wire Biters

To follow up, the electrician came out for a second visit on Thursday, this time to run a new circuit to the washing machine, officially putting us in Code. Apparently my wiring from about 4 years ago was deficient (oh, really), but back to my story.

As I said, my theory was that a fruit rat had chewed through the wiring--why else would the outlet go dead (and with no breakers tripped)? Fortunately, my electrician had a more practical mind, and while he agreed with me in principle (the line was definitely compromised in some way), he was sure that very few animals have ever, in the history of the modern world, chewed through heavy gauge wire. A goat could do it. A crazed squirrel, perhaps. When he suggested that we knock a hole in the wall, in order to be sure, I could not have been happier. What would we see--maybe a big fat electrocuted squirrel?

Like all individuals who abandon reason and science, once I had fixed on an animal as the cause, I was devoutly attached to the theory, and in no time at all I was dedicated to the Church of Crazy Squirrel Wire Biters, waiting to be proven right on judgement day. (I know I originally thought it was a Rat, but that was just nuts. A squirrel, though...)

But the hole in the wall simply reveled the wire heading back toward the junction box--no break in the line. "It's between here and there," the electrician said, gesturing to a small area where (for some reason that I will never understand) we had not yet looked. And there it was on the wall hidden behind a small door, a GFI plug with a circuit breaker. Had I just taken the time to look, I would have saved $300.

Anyway, the wiring is now up to code, and I've learned a lesson: the whole Squirrel idea was pretty kooky.