This site has been such a great help I though I would ask you a question about an electrical problem we are having. I have a home that is 2 years old and noticed from day one that we had some light switches that would arc slight when they were turned on. It turned out that the were wired using the back stabbed method and that seemed to be the problem, but a couple of switches still make a slight popping noise. All the wires are tight at both the switch and the breaker. I notcied that some of the wires actually had paint on them. It looks like the painters were careless when painting the walls and go some on the wires. Do you think that this might be causing the slight arcing? Also, is this a potential fire hazard? The switch never gets hot or warm to the touch.

The arcing is most likely the switch itself. AC snap switches are made to open and close (make & break) quickly to separate the contacts quickly and eliminate the inevitable arcing. As switches get older, the spring weakens and the contacts get pitted, which causes the arcing you hear.

The paint on the wires is not any cause of any problem, unless the paint contains corrosive solvents, which I doubt.

This is not an immediate problem or hazard, but the arcing will get worse and the switch will eventually fail. Time to change the switches with new one, Try to use the screw terminals and not use the "Quik-Wire" or stab in the back. These connections are popular causes of loose connections.

I have this problem myself. I have heard one of my light switches doing this so I figured it was time to swap it out. However, my wife was concerned this evening when she heard it pop and she said it smelled. I went up and smelled the switch and I could smell a burning smell. I flipped it a couple times and it popped some and I could smell the burning smell again. Then my throat/lungs got irritated. Now I'm thinking I inhaled some kind of metal vapor from the arcing. Should I be concerned about the exposure I had to whatever was in the air that may have caused irritation?

Just to let everyone know I had an electrician come out yesterday to take a look at the switches. He couldn't find anything wrong with the wiring and said the switch was burning from the inside due to it being a poor quality switch or a loose connection. The only thing that irritated me was that he replaced the current switches using the back stabbed connections. It makes me feel better to know the wiring was OK, but you would think a quality electrician would use the screws for the connections.