Frank Stevens introduced me to a very nice gentleman in Nac for work at a local shop. He does not post to the Forum (though he monitors it) so I will share. Frank has his own electrical story I hope he will report.
As we three visited, the fellow said that his wife smelled what seemed heat or light odor of smoke or such. They stopped, could not find a problem....at first. Upon further inspection, he found the plastic cover over the ATS was melting. Opened the box, found some evidence of melted insulation on a wire, extreme heat. Loose connection was the culprit. It seemed a bit more and a serious fire or system failure would be on them in the next miles.
The danger of corroded or loose electrical connections has been reported before I know.....the need to check for good electrical connections. I never moved into action to check the boost solenoid and the ATS connections (where they are, safe to open, etc), so I asked Clide to guide me through looking at those, judging if ok. I know how and where to look now (under the bed of course).
I will pay more attention to that in hopes that it does not demand my attention in an event!
Good advice. The neutral in our 300's ATS melted. Probably should open the ATS up once in awhile and make sure the connections are clean and tight.
jor
Yup, loose connections at ATS and breaker panel is their number one cause of failure.
Checking/tightening the connections once a year is a very good idea.