going free!
New fridge anyone?
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cool......
Oh dear. There must be a story attached to that.
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Wasn't it a fridge on fire that started Grenfell?
Yes - they need 2 new cars and a new garage too - which fortunately was detached from the house
That's what has been suggested - so I'm guessing that this was the culprit
I've recommended that when this is all sorted out that the house smoke alarms are updated to a make that can be RF, and place an RF unit in the garage
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It staggers me that it is even possible to design a refrigerator in such a way that when it malfunctions it can catch fire and burn down a building.
We have a tumble dryer of a make that has been known to catch fire. We have a very simple policy of NEVER EVER use it when nobody is in the house, and we fitted a linked smoke alarm in the utility room (not required by building regs) so we should know if it is starting to go wrong rather than wait for the flames.
We have a tumble dryer of a make that has been known to catch fire. We have a very simple policy of NEVER EVER use it when nobody is in the house, and we fitted a linked smoke alarm in the utility room (not required by building regs) so we should know if it is starting to go wrong rather than wait for the flames.
Its scary how some modern appliances seem subject to bursting into flames .
Is'nt there a washing machine still out there that needs addressing ??
Years ago I agreed to look at one of those Twin Tubs for an old dear in our road . It seemed to function but would'nt spin . I wanted to look at the slipping clutch arrangement to see if the shoes had worn ...turned it on it's side ...then thought I'd try it .
The motor promptly burst into flames .
At the spares shop the guy said "Ah you didn't try to run it on it's side did you ?" 'Cos they do that !!! "
Is'nt there a washing machine still out there that needs addressing ??
Years ago I agreed to look at one of those Twin Tubs for an old dear in our road . It seemed to function but would'nt spin . I wanted to look at the slipping clutch arrangement to see if the shoes had worn ...turned it on it's side ...then thought I'd try it .
The motor promptly burst into flames .
At the spares shop the guy said "Ah you didn't try to run it on it's side did you ?" 'Cos they do that !!! "
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easy... stick it in an enclosure made form not flammable material, i.e steel, thay way itll never spread. oh, it already is. never mind
Same here. I added linked alarms when we bought the bungalow, hallway, lounge and utility room; just seemed sensible.
My tumble drier was exchanged as being an "at risk" model but we also have a strict rule to use the replacement only when attended. Further I've noticed that the OFF switch doesn't seem to be a mechanical switch, but an electronic control so now it's also switched off at the wall.
I had in mind a modern convector heater I repaired recently, electronic thermostat, timer, etc, permanently live and controlling the element via a triac.
Hence if the triac fails short circuit, (as they commonly do), the heater was full ON. That's not clever design in my book!
Did the same here when we did the refurbishment - then added 1 in the TV room and 1 in the garage when we did the extension - could also add 1 in the utility too which I may well do now - having 5 alarms make a serious noise, no chance of sleeping though that.
Did it not, in addition to that have a thermal fuse or "one-shot" wired in the main live in to the appliance to cover for thermostatic control failure?
I remember an incident in a cafe involving a fryer that caught fire, it had such protection so shouldn't have been able to do it. but It had been accidentaly switched on when it was drained down for cleaning (oil drain off tap on the front) but had greasy and crumb filled residue in. the sensing for the overheat condition was a small probe at the back between where the ends of the element came out, if course, it relied on the oil as a thermal conducting medium and was designed to prevent a load of oil being overheated, it was unable to detect an overheat in a drained down but greasy unit!. Luckily the staff had been given fire safety training by the H&S department and the cafe manager had the presence of mind to throw the fire blanket over it and switch it off.
Sometimes a condition manages to occur that hadn't been anticipated when equipment was designed!
There in lies another problem, the law includes a requirement for the OEM to prevent against issues which may be reasonably foreseeable.
I believe that the ones described by Evans & Phoenix are both reasonably foreseeable, and thus put the OEM of the equipment at fault under product law.
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That was good the staff acted quickly and the equipment for them to do so was there.
I think I told of a local primary school that burned to the ground last year. the fire started by a laptop computer catching fire (probably the battery) The staff correctly evacuated the children so nobody was hurt, but nobody made any attempt to extinguish the fire and by the time trumpton arrived it had taken hold.
Had I been there my instinct would have been tackle the fire while it was small with an extinguisher, or kick push throw or otherwise eject the burning lappy from the building.
Re the manufacturer not anticipating. An oil level switch would have prevented it operating when drained.
Manufacturers also have to account for stupid owners. Here is one I photographed in a rental. See the trail of fluff exiting the vent hose. The vent hose was completely full of fluff and no doubt backed up inside the machine probably all around the heating element. Do people not notice this sort of stuff and clean it out?
No doubt if this had caught fire, the manufacturer would have been blamed.
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Is not the present washing machine recall down to the door interlock?
heater and motor getting their feed through an underrated microswitch inside the door lock?....or may I possibly have made that up?
heater and motor getting their feed through an underrated microswitch inside the door lock?....or may I possibly have made that up?
Yes. There was a disc type cutout in series with the element. I don't know if it was a "one shot" type, but probably. I see that as a last line of defence though, which should be more protection if the vents are covered.
I just personally don't like an appliance which can switch itself on through a foreseeable fault condition, though it's presumably acceptable within the standards it was built to. I'm fairly sure this one had suffered a transient on the supply which had killed the triac and a couple of capacitors.
