Several days ago, GFCI receptacle in kitchen blew while Windex'ing ants, because they were coming out of the prong holes. My middle name is not Darwin, needless to say. 20-40 second period of rapid clicking, followed by a pop sound, followed by a puff of smoke, but no odors of burnt anything. Removed cover plate, all looked okay. Not sure what else is on that circuit. Haven't plugged in anything. All other outlets and loads working 100% correctly (which is odd if something else is on that circuit).
If that GFCI were the only load/receptacle on that circuit (granted that is unlikely), how urgent, if at all, is replacement?
Edit from OP:
I plugged a floor lamp into the GFCI. The outlet works. I found the controlling circuit breaker. No other kitchen services are on that circuit. The circuit appears to be dedicated to that one outlet, however, ts just a normal wall outlet about 8" above the counter, under the upper cabinets. The microwave is above the range and is on a different circuit.
I'll still DIY replace the outlet, but my take at this point is the the GFCI worked as designed (clicking noise), and that the puff of smoke was not smoke, but shorting drop of windex vaporizing away, which leads me to conclude, in short, that there was/is no urgency and that replacing the GFCI is highly likely to be overkill.
Best Answer
As you discuss, the unit is fried and will not be usable, ever. Your question is whether it will start a fire if you defer replacement.
Windex is entirely made of solvent/volatile - it tends to entirely evaporate. It has to, otherwise it would leave streaks.
You can rely on the Windex being pretty much completely gone, and I wouldn't expect it to give you any trouble in terms of further deteriorating the device. Ant carcasses, no promises, but they'll be desiccated soon enough, and dry ant carcasses don't conduct electricity better than wet ones.
I think if it hasn't yet to burst into flames, it's not gonna. But out of an abundance of caution, if you are able to remove the failed device, do so - there's no reason to leave it in place. Do a good job taping over the wires (you don't want the tape sliding off, wire nuts alone won't do IME) and cover the works with a blank cover plate (50 cents). Electrical tape is about $4. Both are good things to have anyway.
The not tripping any other receptacles is a surprise. But lots of people wire up GFCIs so they do not feed downline receptacles at all. This gives them two benefits, first it allows them to comply with the piece of tape over the
LOADterminals which says do not mess with these terminals unless you really know what you're doing. Second, it gives them a TEST and RESET button on every outlet, which means even very dull real estate agents and inspectors can affirm they are GFCI protected. If your house is wired this way, then it would explain why there are no downline receptacles that are dead.