RC fire...no reason?

[jerseyjim]

2 days ago....a 1993 Class C...for no apparent reason, caught fire. The point of damage was in the battery area...with a wiring harness scorched. Severe damage to the front drivers side exterior, it was caught, fortunately, by a keen eyed passer-by with a fire extinguisher, then followed up by the local fire dept., before any interior or "great" damage could be done. I figure a 50-50 shot the insurance company will total it. The motorhome has not been moved in quite a few months...I don't even know if the motor had been started since last fall.
Just wondering what might have shorted, or gotten so hot just sitting....

[Daveinet]

Are your batteries in parallel? IF you are running 2 12 volt batteries in parallel and one of the batteries has a cell that goes bad, the battery will likely explode, which could cause a fire. I had that happen, although it did not catch fire. I was about 15 feet away when it exploded - then I was 20 feet away.

[BobsYourUncle]

It does happen and seemingly for no apparent reason.

3 years ago a neighbor banged on the door of my stick and bricks screaming your cars on fire.

Well, my sons 2002 Hyundai Accent was sitting there parked and it suddenly burst into flames in the dash area. Within a minute it was one big fireball as my son and I watched in dismay as windows exploded and the thing destroyed itself.

By the time the fire dept put it out, it was gutted.

And it wasn't arson.

I examined it before they towed it away and could tell it started in the dash area, near the steering column.

Chalked it up to a wiring short in possibly the high beam lever.

It can happen easy enough. All it takes is a defective switch, abraded wire or something similar.

[Bill_Satellite]

I saw a similar thing with an Alfa class A. No one home, coach parked for an extended period of time. Grabbed my fire extinguishers as did another RVer and between those and the sites water hose we got it out before it went beyond the battery compartment (well, huge smoke, and likely smoke damage, inside). You could see where the battery wires went through a metal opening and the shield on these wires looked to have worn through eventually causing a short and the fire (I speculate).

[John_Wayne]

I heard some where that the new covering on wires is now made with a corn base product and thats why the critters like to eat it.

[J-Rooster]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Long term park..critters chewing on wiring......exposed wire shorted..FIRE

Dang critters LOVE wiring insulation for some reason.

Can't get squirrel to eat a nut in a trap....but it'll gnaw on wire insulation all day long :H

Tell me about it Biscuit a squirrel chewed my wiring harness in my Winnebago several years ago and I caught it before the fire started. Rodent damage is not covered if a fire starts in a RV!

[Old-Biscuit]

Long term park..critters chewing on wiring......exposed wire shorted..FIRE

Dang critters LOVE wiring insulation for some reason.

Can't get squirrel to eat a nut in a trap....but it'll gnaw on wire insulation all day long :H

[Larryect]

Obviously 100% speculation.

Sounds likely to be an electrical failure of some sort.

Batteries can internally short and get very hot. I have seen them cook, but they usually have a source like an alternator still feeding them. Don't know if one sitting for months would do that, or have enough juice to cause a problem.

Another possibility would be rodents chewing on the wiring, causing a short. Most likely in my opinnion.

[rgatijnet1]

Naturally it could be arson. It also could have been a battery damaged by freezing temperatures that shorted out.