Caught a basement receptacle in the process of arcing. A night light was in it flickering and when I pulled the night light, the arcing continued inside the outlet. I pulled the fuse and it stopped, so I removed the receptacle and found some good charring had occured. Is replacing the 30+ year old receptacle sufficient or is further repair needed? How often do receptacles need to be replaced? Had a similar situation happen with an electric kettle a few years ago that melted the kettle plug. I just replaced the receptacle that time, but now I'm wondering if I should be concerned about any bigger problems. House is 36 years old with 60 amp service.

Hi, I work for a newspaper. Our 1 ton electric chain hoist that we use to lift the paper rolls onto the press was noisey and now doesn't work, we're using our back up. The noise it makes is a grinding noise when it would go up or down. When theres no weight on it, it goes up and down but still grinds. When a paper roll (about 500lb) is on it, it just sits there and grinds. It's used a lot, is it worth trying to fix or just get another one? Thanks, Joe