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[Home Owner] Replacing kitchen outlet and black wire sparked even though breaker to outlets were turned off... What happened?
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mtothej_ is in Home Owner
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Iā€™m in the United States.

Photo of kitchen setup here.

Outlet needed replacing so I turned off breakers to the kitchen.

During replacement, one hot wire came into contact with that metal bracket at the bottom of the receptacle and there were sparks (I assumed it was the hot wire that created the sparks, b/c when I inspected the wires and receptacle, I saw that both one of the hot wires and the metal bracket had burn marks).

After retreating and trying to figure out what I did wrong, I recognized that I never switched off the breaker to the stove (did not realize stove had its own switch).

Might this have caused the sparks? If not, what may have caused sparks since breakers for the outlets were off?

EDIT Based on first responses that came in, I definitely did NOT turn off the right breaker. I feel like a complete idiotā€¦

Is it possible for that current to harm you even if youā€™re not grounded? I didnā€™t feel a ā€œshockā€ sensationā€¦

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3 years ago