[Mike AA]

Ryan,

As an electrician by lisence and someone who works retail sales hearing this numerous times I can give you better advice and more correct information.

I would HIGHLY reccamend that you get an electrician (look in a phone book there are likely dozens).

That small wire was probably from some other home owner that hadn't a clue as to what they were doing for someone in the future. A 16 gauge wire can only handle about 13 amps, definately less than the rated circuit breaker. The smallest wire should have been 12 gauge. The likely reason there was a small piece of wire different than the rest is due to splicing. I have had numerous people that want to add an outlet but dont want to spend the money on the right size wire. A piece of 16 may only cost 5 cents per foot vs. a piece of 12 could cost 40 cents per foot. This shows how cheap some people really are.

If you look at the GFCI it will say either on the face behind the faceplate or on the back, 15AMP 20AMP feed through, you can put ANY 15AMP outlet on a 20AMP circuit (The NEC (National Electrical Code) allows this but some local codes may make a difference)

In many houses I have worked in this is what happens and no one knows until it fails. The wire could last for years, being that the wire was on the load size that meant that it was feeding everything from the GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter), which is why it melted. The wire may have actually melted years ago but just failed now from a truck passing by or the wind blowing, I kid you not something as simple as that can cause something bad to get worse. As that wire heated and cooled the screws and connectors also expanded and became loose which did the damage.

DO NOT reuse the 16 guage wire no matter what your dad thinks. The next thing you know your house could burn down.

-Mike