Preliminary results on the residual d‐c conduction and space‐charge polarization in n‐hexane and n‐heptane under highly inhomogeneous field conditions (thin wire in coaxial cylinder) are presented. A residual current is observed under high applied voltage for either polarity of the test cell. At 20deg;C the current is one order of magnitude larger when the wire is the positive electrode. As temperature is increased, the residual current for the wire positive decreases and for the wire negative increases, until at 50°C it is about the same for both polarities. By heating only the wire, observations supporting and extending these findings were made. The gross features of the current‐voltage characteristics can be explained by dissociation of polar impurities in the region of high field strength. The dependence on polarity can be explained by space‐charge distortion of the field. For negative wire, field emission appears to occur from the wire, surrounding it with a current‐limiting space charge.