Heat tape causes fire

bid_time wrote:

Georgew48 wrote:

bid_time wrote:

ronniedean1234 wrote:
I was in the plumbing business years ago and in the crawl space on a home was piped wrapped with heat tape, then news paper, last but not least burlap over that held on with string, went there to thaw pipes out and found that a section had already caught fire at some point in time and smothered it self out I guess, definitely a fire waiting to happen......you can't fix stupid I guess...

Why does it have to be "Stupid"? Maybe it was someone that thought they were doing things right or even better but was mistaken. So they made a mistake, does that make them stupid or human? I myself have learned many a lesson by doing it wrong the first time. That doesn't make me "Stupid" that makes better educated - lesson learned. Maybe some people that think they have never made a mistake and can call someone else out; need a reality check.

Sorry, but some things are just stupid. Wrapping anything electrical in newspaper and burlap is just plain dumb. Someone that picks up a gun and looks down the barrel without checking to see if it's loaded is just stupid. There is a difference between stupid and just making a mistake.

90% of the electrical wire in my house is copper electrodes wrapped in paper with a cloth covering. Been like that for about 60 years. So I guess you can call me stupid, I bought the house anyways.

Why do you think house wiring is not made that way anymore? Knowing what we know about that type of wiring and continuing to use it in modern houses would be stupid. I just read the owners manual for my heat tape and it says not to wrap it with anything due to it being a fire hazard, If I go ahead and wrap it anyway then my camper catches on fire, I would have to say I was stupid because it sure would not be an accident.