scrubby Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 5:30am this morning daughter wakes up saying she had a nightmare.wife goes in get her to sleep as she walks back to our room she smell something burning. not your typical wood burning smell but plastic.so she wakes me up, we do a walk around and we figure out it is coming from the basement.could not find the source so we called 911, as she talkin with the dipatcher i go snooping around the fish tank and find all the wires melt togther in my powerbar with a hole burnt threw it ... so i tell my wife that i found it but the firemen came anyways and they told us another 15 min and it would have been POOF so hopefully the rest of my day goes better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T&J Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 (edited) Wow, that's a close call for sure. You daughter must have a nocturnal sixth sense for impending disaster. Edited September 7, 2008 by T&J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrubby Posted September 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 so the only wire remaining that looks ok is for my filter everthing else is F@#CKED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 That is scary , good thing you didn't take it for granted. Was it an oder power bar, what do you think went wrong with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snaggle Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 so the only wire remaining that looks ok is for my filter everthing else is F@#CKED Thank God you found it in time, I would rather have to replace some equipment then my hole house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrubby Posted September 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 5-6 yrs old and i have no idea what went wrong fire dept took it and ill give them a call to see what they found and ..... there was no battery in the smoke detecter so i have a busy day shopping today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 Go buy yourself a lottery ticket while you're out shopping. :thumbs: Thanks for the reminder about smoke detectors- I've been meaning to replace mine. I found out a while back that they're only good for about 10 years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrubby Posted September 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 Go buy yourself a lottery ticket while you're out shopping. :thumbs: Thanks for the reminder about smoke detectors- I've been meaning to replace mine. I found out a while back that they're only good for about 10 years... just got back from walmart 180 bucks fire safety and some quick replacement heaters and power bar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 scrubby, were the wires wrapped together or folded over on themselves? Heaters draw a lot of current and that can creat heat within the cord, if the cords are wrapped together or coiled, it creates a heat coil effect and this can melt the cords and even start a fire. Working in my garage last winter I had an electric space heater plugged in for a while. The extension cord I was sing was wrapped in an enclosed coil. After a few hours I smelled a burning plastic / rubber smell and looked at the cord coil to see it smoldering. I quickly opened the garage door and tossed the whole thing in a snow bank. After it was cool I looked at the cord and a whole bunch of it was melted down to the bare wire! I'm sure a few more minutes and it would have been up in flames, maybe my whole garage too! Anyway, now I keep all my cords seperated and not coiled up. Also, instead of a regular power bar, get a surge protected one and that will eliminate any issues with power surges and protect your equiptment as well. Glad it didn't turn out worse. Boom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrubby Posted September 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 scrubby, were the wires wrapped together or folded over on themselves? Heaters draw a lot of current and that can creat heat within the cord, if the cords are wrapped together or coiled, it creates a heat coil effect and this can melt the cords and even start a fire.Working in my garage last winter I had an electric space heater plugged in for a while. The extension cord I was sing was wrapped in an enclosed coil. After a few hours I smelled a burning plastic / rubber smell and looked at the cord coil to see it smoldering. I quickly opened the garage door and tossed the whole thing in a snow bank. After it was cool I looked at the cord and a whole bunch of it was melted down to the bare wire! I'm sure a few more minutes and it would have been up in flames, maybe my whole garage too! Anyway, now I keep all my cords seperated and not coiled up. Also, instead of a regular power bar, get a surge protected one and that will eliminate any issues with power surges and protect your equiptment as well. Glad it didn't turn out worse. Boom no it was all melted together at the power bar the inlet juust the ends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 I am glad your daughter woke up your wife, who in turned woke you up, although you probably wished you were sleeping and it was your nightmare, I am certainly glad all ended well. When Lisa and I were kids, it was us that woke up my parents to our moble home burning to the ground, we were only 2 at the time, but because of us our family is alive. The trailer burned to the ground. Our fire detecter is electric, and that damn thing goes off every time there is a power surge or the power turns back on... good thing is we don't have to replace batteries, bad thing is it's annoying beep when the power goes out... last year a squirrel or cat was electricuted and that caused a power outage, woke us up cause the dang fire detector went off.. Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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