Joe Griffin
07-25-2007, 04:22 PM
If I wasn't home last night, we probably would have lost everything we own. Writing a report last evening, I heard our Nighthawk CO Detector chirping. I pulled it out of the wall, reset it, but it wouldn't stop acting weird.
About that time, the wife asks if I can help her with our newfangled Plasma TV in the bedroom, she couldn't get it to come on. I turn on the bedroom light, and the light goes brilliant, and then pops. HMMMM......
Meanwhile, the TV is clicking on and off, on and off.
I proceed to the hall light, it does the same thing, heavenly light from a 40 watt bulb, then nothing. I then smell the unmistakable smell of an electrical fire upstairs somewhere. In my son's room, his 32 inch TV is smoking. I yell to the wife and daughter to get out of the house, I unplug the TV, and carry it out of the house.
I mistakenly assumed the TV was the problem, until I saw some lights upstairs still flickering, and going out one by one. I immediately shut the main and called the FD. They used an IR to shoot the walls of the affected rooms (4) and the attic. Nothing real hot, except one partially fried outlet.
Well the full tally is: Two window unit AC's, two alarm clocks, One 36 inch picture tube TV, one cable TV box, and my son's Computer. Hopefully we can scavenge the info on the hard drive. Not bad considering the alternatives. I just returned from a week's vacation this week.
Cause: A neutral sprung loose in the 1973 service panel in our basement and contacted a hot wire nearby. And yes, I tightened everything up in the panel today. Got lucky.
About that time, the wife asks if I can help her with our newfangled Plasma TV in the bedroom, she couldn't get it to come on. I turn on the bedroom light, and the light goes brilliant, and then pops. HMMMM......
Meanwhile, the TV is clicking on and off, on and off.
I proceed to the hall light, it does the same thing, heavenly light from a 40 watt bulb, then nothing. I then smell the unmistakable smell of an electrical fire upstairs somewhere. In my son's room, his 32 inch TV is smoking. I yell to the wife and daughter to get out of the house, I unplug the TV, and carry it out of the house.
I mistakenly assumed the TV was the problem, until I saw some lights upstairs still flickering, and going out one by one. I immediately shut the main and called the FD. They used an IR to shoot the walls of the affected rooms (4) and the attic. Nothing real hot, except one partially fried outlet.
Well the full tally is: Two window unit AC's, two alarm clocks, One 36 inch picture tube TV, one cable TV box, and my son's Computer. Hopefully we can scavenge the info on the hard drive. Not bad considering the alternatives. I just returned from a week's vacation this week.
Cause: A neutral sprung loose in the 1973 service panel in our basement and contacted a hot wire nearby. And yes, I tightened everything up in the panel today. Got lucky.