Close call with a fire this morning!

MeEsH BaKkA · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:10

cheets64 said:
No, everything was contained, wiring is fine, just neutral wire that had come lose and it was arcing.

Had firemen, leccy board, Eon and a sparky all visit today.

Was only 5 hours from calling fire brigade and sparky getting electric back on, so food in fridge/freeze is fine.

Had you not put that, my first question was going to be was it the neutral.

For some reason people never tighten the neutral as tight as the phases, I have seen loads of these sorts of burnt boards.

A neutral carrys as much current as the live, shame ****head sparks can't understand this.

And AGAIN I'm going to ask for Can electrical help threads please be banned on this forum, they are as dangerous as medical threads and can injure more than one person.

Mat · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:11

cheets64 said:
Looks like it was a just a loose wire thats worked its way out.

How would this happen? :confused:

cheets64 · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:16

MeEsH BaKkA said:
Had you not put that, my first question was going to be was it the neutral.

For some reason people never tighten the neutral as tight as the phases, I have seen loads of these sorts of burnt boards.

A neutral carrys as much current as the live, shame ****head sparks can't understand this.

And AGAIN I'm going to ask for Can electrical help threads please be banned on this forum, they are as dangerous as medical threads and can injure more than one person.

Same with plumbing ones, anything like that should be done by a professional, guy that fitted it was a fully qualified spark.

Mat said:
How would this happen?

Well sometimes when lights blow they trip the RCD, so you have to un trip it, that could cause wires to loosen.

MeEsH BaKkA · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:16

Mat said:
How would this happen?

If a cable is not quite tight enough then it can arc, the reason this can get as bad as in the OP, on lager amp CCts as the cable begins to arc it slowly burns away the metal and the gap gets larger and so does the arc, this then leads to a large amount of heat being generated (much the same principle as welding, intact the same) this inturn gets so great a fire can start.

bledd · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:17

MeEsH BaKkA said:
And AGAIN I'm going to ask for Can electrical help threads please be banned on this forum, they are as dangerous as medical threads and can injure more than one person.

When you brought this up previously, the thread was removed/edited if I remember correctly. It's sensible advice though. I did pass it on.

@cheets, thank god for your smoke alarm!

I'm not sure if this is just in Wales, but you can get smoke, fire and CO2 alarms installed for free by your local fire station. Enquire asap

Tibbz2 · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:22

Fire is great in some situations...

But not not in situations like this...

Draeger · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:24

bledd. said:
I'm not sure if this is just in Wales, but you can get smoke, fire and CO2 alarms installed for free by your local fire station. Enquire asap

No, we offer this free service nationwide. See post #9.

And people, we really, really advise against switching on a tumble drier, washing machine or dishwasher in the evening and then going to bed. Likewise, don't do it if you are just about to go out of the house. The amount of albeit small scale domestic fires we attend involving kitchen appliances such as these is higher in numbers than you would think. There is a national database in place to keep track of makes and models of these type of appliances in an endeavour to investigate whether there is any sort of pattern or not.

G|mp · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:32

Gutted.

MeEsH BaKkA · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:33

Thanks Bledd.

Cheets64 glad your ok and goes to show how important smoke alarms are. I bet your home smells lovely with that mix of charred wood and plastic

bledd · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:34

G|mp said:
Gutted.

Were you hoping for a worse outcome? :confused:

G|mp · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:41

bledd. said:
Were you hoping for a worse outcome?

It was a play on words as in fire damage > gutted.

cheets knows how I feel about him, I wouldn't have to hide behind veiled insults

monkeyspank · 27 Oct 2011 at 19:14

Lucky ewcape there cheets, that bit of wood looks really burnt!
Did your mum get excited with all the firemen around?

Psymonkee · 27 Oct 2011 at 19:56

Draeger said:
No, we offer this free service nationwide. See post #9.

And people, we really, really advise against switching on a tumble drier, washing machine or dishwasher in the evening and then going to bed. Likewise, don't do it if you are just about to go out of the house. The amount of albeit small scale domestic fires we attend involving kitchen appliances such as these is higher in numbers than you would think. There is a national database in place to keep track of makes and models of these type of appliances in an endeavour to investigate whether there is any sort of pattern or not.

I'll second that kitchen appliances thing!

Our dishwasher stopped working recently and we called the guy out to repair it. On taking the front off and examining the old circuit board there were 2 distinct burn marks on it and he refused to repair it until he could get a whole new board in!

Close call indeed!

darael · 27 Oct 2011 at 20:00

Draeger said:
There is a national database in place to keep track of makes and models of these type of appliances in an endeavour to investigate whether there is any sort of pattern or not.

Is this a database available for all to see online?

GTO656 · 27 Oct 2011 at 20:40

Lucky mate 7am in the morning wow.

Draeger · 27 Oct 2011 at 21:01

darael said:
Is this a database available for all to see online?

Sorry, nope. You have to be current serving fire and rescue staff to view it. The FINDS system shares info between fire and rescue services as well as other partner agencies. It has many different facets, not just the national database of fires involving white goods. Rest assured though, any info that could help prevent incidents like the one cheets has been involved in is passed on to the relevant people and / or bodies.

cheets64 · 27 Oct 2011 at 21:10

G|mp said:
Gutted.

G|mp said:
It was a play on words as in fire damage > gutted.

cheets knows how I feel about him, I wouldn't have to hide behind veiled insults

GTO656 said:
Lucky mate 7am in the morning wow.

Yeah, glad I was already awakeish but still running around the house putting some clothes on and thinking "wtf do I do"

Only two sets of neighbours came out to help, next door didn't come out at all, :mad:

idiots

Tefal · 27 Oct 2011 at 21:14

fireboard does it's job brilliantly if your wall isn't damaged

cheets64 · 27 Oct 2011 at 21:28

Tefal said:
fireboard does it's job brilliantly if your wall isn't damaged

Does what it says on the tin, thank god we have regulations

Danthus · 27 Oct 2011 at 22:03

Draeger said:
Sorry, nope. You have to be current serving fire and rescue staff to view it. The FINDS system shares info between fire and rescue services as well as other partner agencies. It has many different facets, not just the national database of fires involving white goods. Rest assured though, any info that could help prevent incidents like the one cheets has been involved in is passed on to the relevant people and / or bodies.

Sounds like a great system for protecting the public.