house fires

[TRAILRIDER]

In the past week there have been 3 house fires on our road. I have been told one was caused by "an electrical surge". Can anybody tell me what that means. I'm pretty sure this house was not very old, and probably very well maintained. It sure didn't look like a fire hazard. Is it luck of the draw? The other one I saw was a very old, not well kept mobile home. The third I haven't seen yet.

[Bearfootfarm]

"an electrical surge"

That's a large fluctuation in the voltage coming through the line.
Too much power for the wiring

[TurnerHill]

I'd be surprised to see a modern, code-built house burned down by a power surge. That's what breakers are for.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see an old trailer burned because of a power surge, though. Lots of them have cheap aluminun wiring and old fuse boxes that people put jumpers on.

[Darren]

Bearfootfarm had the answer. A true surge is an over voltage condition that can have many causes. The end result is that the wiring and everything connected to the electrical system sees a voltage that can be as much as 100 times what the system is designed for. That doesn't take into consideration a lightening strike which will far exceed that. The end result is the stuff in your house was never designed for that and it melts and or burns. Or heats up enough that things in close proximity ignite.

BTW, the surge arrestor built into some of those mutliple outlet strips can cause a fire. Some of the following is technical but it lists the causes of surges originating with the utility.

http://www.rbs2.com/fire.htm

[TxAprilMagic]

An Electrical Surge is orginated from the Power Company and that Transformer box (not your breakers) that everyone has for their house is put on that pole to stop and prevent that much electricity from entering your home. If it is written up as a True Electrical Surge for your insurance company then the insurance company should be able to recover the cost from the power company. You would be stunned at how many houses are burned down due to the Power Companies. The Power Companies have insurance to cover such things that they cause you just have to pursue it. They will do everything they can not to pay for it but it can be done.

[Toads tool]

3 fires on 1 road = Arsonist
My first thoughts.

[cfabe]

A true electrical surge is like people have described, a extreme over-voltage condition. I think this is actually pretty rare and would be caused by a high voltage primary line (4000-12,000 volts) contacting a secondary line (the 240V to your house) in a storm or during line work. I suppose it could also be due to a faulty transformer.

It's also possible that they are using the term to describe a fire of some unknown electical origin. Maybe faulty wiring in the house, maybe an overloaded circuit with the wrong breaker. Maybe an extension cord used improperly. I have often heard that many unknown origin fires are blamed on electrical causes to remove fault from the homeowner.

[TRAILRIDER]

"BTW, the surge arrestor built into some of those mutliple outlet strips can cause a fire"
really? Why is that?

"3 fires on 1 road = Arsonist
My first thoughts. " Mine too.

I tried to burn a pile of brush (limbs from a downed tree from last winter) used 2 1/2 gal of kerosene. Couldn't even get the fire to go All I could think is how come one cigarette tossed out a window in CA can burn 12000 acres. And I can't even keep the darn match lit? I guess I was not meant to start fires!

With it not being that dry here, its a wonder there are 3 fires along a 5 or 6 mile stretch of road???

[Darren]

If it's an arsonist, it's a stupid arsonist. That's happened before. One of the reasons I don't look forward to winter is the house fires caused by people trying to stay warm.

Why can surge arrestors in outlet strips cause a fire? Read the info at the link.

[Billin]

Yes, overvoltage can cause an electrical fire. The local news has even made the statement that "the cause of the fire could not be determined as the electricity had previously been disconnected" With that out of the way let me say that the listed cause of a fire may be or may not be the real cause depending on the skill of the fire inspector. One of the more common causes of overvoltage is a neutral problem, lighting is probably the other. Overvoltage can be caused by a "fault current"- similar to the what happens at the spark plug of your car...

You might want to look at your incoming service for messenger problems (the bare aluminum neutral conductor), check your panel for heat, maybe put a meter on an outlet, and check your ground connection for integrity and signs of heat. If you are really worried you could see if you have any friends with knowledge.

I really would see if I could find out more of the details cause I'm sure there are more than one inspectors that blame everything on electricity. I would probably spend more time working on the arson issue myself- but that's just me....

[Bonnie L]

One of the most common causes of house fires I've seen around here is people putting hot ashes in a paper bag, cardboard box, or plastic bucket, then leaving it on the porch.

[ronbre]

we lost a house to a fire in 2002, lightening hit the tree next to the house and traveled into our attic and down through all of our electrical wiring..our wiring was well grounded and we had a lot of surge protecters and gfi's and it was wired well..but lightening is a dangerous thing..that was our 3rd expereience with lightening hitting the house hard enough to blow out a wall..no kidding..our phone box was found 200' away in the neighbors driveway.

unfortunately electricity is a very harmful thing..

our new home has surge protectors and gfi's everywhere too..but we aren't stupid enough to think that is enough protection from mother nature.

but also people do tend to over load an outlet..which will cause an electrical fire..when you plug in appliances or things to a load on your breaker box..the box itself will tell you by the size of the breakers how many watts you can put on one load..if you overload you are in trouble..

try to keep larger use appliances on their own breaker, like a freezer, oven, air conditioner, furnace, etc..and be careful not to put too many smaller items on one load either..

people don't use common sense any more..

each appliance will tell you on the sticker how many watts it uses..even hair dryers..etc..add them all up and they should be below the wattage that your load will take.

if you aren't sure, ask the elc co to evaluate your home for you..they may do it for free.

if you add something large..consider having an outlet wired specifically for it.

don't just willy nilly add space heaters all over your house either..they are fire traps.

[knight88]

I am a firefighter, arson investigator trained, 3 fires on 1 road in a short time? I would be seeking an arsonist, trying to nab him before someone is killed. Take notice of strange vehicles, take photos of strangers, etc. I just do not believe in coincidence.
We had one of those lowlife types hit our area a couple of years ago, he burned 2 houses, & 3 vehicles before we caught him. All of the fires were a bit different but they were along his route of travel. Be very careful, your home could be next...

[MushCreek]

We had a bizarre electrical surge once. A crew was tunneling in the yard, and hit an underground feeder line. This caused high voltage to backfeed through the ground. About half of our breakers popped, and many of our appliances were fried. The CATV junction box for our block caught on fire and melted, since they had (incorrectly) connected the CATV ground to the electrical ground. The fire department said they were surprised that no one's house caught on fire. They were also lucky that the guy operating the torpedo wasn't zapped as well.

[highlands]

On one of my brothers' houses the neutral came off at the meter. This resulted in voltages of 60VAC on one leg and 180VAC on the other leg of his incoming system. Very bad. It fried a lot of his equipment.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop

[TRAILRIDER]

http://www.rbs2.com/fire.htm
Thanks Darren, lots of info, little hard to understand. But I get from it...surge protector strips may not be made well enough, especially if they are made of plastic, and might catch on fire themselves. I use one to connect to my antique radio, nothing else. But I think I will replace it with a newer model housed in metal or just disconnect it altogether?

I agree with you knight88, its just spooky to me. I'm very careful about the electric, especially since I have a very old house. I had a new fuse box put in and some wiring added, all the bigger things have there own fuses etc. But there's no way I can protect against arson.

[o&itw]

Originally Posted by MushCreek

We had a bizarre electrical surge once. A crew was tunneling in the yard, and hit an underground feeder line. This caused high voltage to backfeed through the ground. About half of our breakers popped, and many of our appliances were fried. The CATV junction box for our block caught on fire and melted, since they had (incorrectly) connected the CATV ground to the electrical ground. The fire department said they were surprised that no one's house caught on fire. They were also lucky that the guy operating the torpedo wasn't zapped as well.

It is code now that all phone and CATV entrance boxes have ground wires tied directly to the electrical earth ground. The "common" ground has proven to be one of the best saftey techniques ever devised.