Heat tape causes fire

Francesca Knowles 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,

But-
Surely you don't mean to say that there's something wrong with this arrangement!?!?!?!?

We Few True Red-Blooded Amurricans still manning the don't-tread-on-me Bulwarks of Freedom heap foul scorn on the notion that we can't burn down our houses by whatever means we choose!!!!!! :M


.....................................................................;)

And don't call me Shirley..........................................:W

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Deb and Ed M wrote:
One December, I walked into the cottage that we had purchased the previous spring - to discover the ceiling on the floor and everything drenched and ruined. What the heck???????

As our builder tore things apart to do a rebuild, he discovered a water pipe that went through the attic and was wrapped in heat tape. It was laying under a layer of fiberglass insulation, so explains why we weren't aware of it. It seems the heat tape shorted out and started a fire; the fire melted the solder at a pipe joint, so the pipe came apart and flooded the house (putting out the fire). Eventually, the water shorted out the pump circuit breaker, shutting it off.

I have no idea how old that heat tape was - it could have been correctly installed and just shorted out due to old age and brittleness?

that's why I always turn the water off at the road when I am not using the lake house.
bumpy

One December, I walked into the cottage that we had purchased the previous spring - to discover the ceiling on the floor and everything drenched and ruined. What the heck???????

As our builder tore things apart to do a rebuild, he discovered a water pipe that went through the attic and was wrapped in heat tape. It was laying under a layer of fiberglass insulation, so explains why we weren't aware of it. It seems the heat tape shorted out and started a fire; the fire melted the solder at a pipe joint, so the pipe came apart and flooded the house (putting out the fire). Eventually, the water shorted out the pump circuit breaker, shutting it off.

I have no idea how old that heat tape was - it could have been correctly installed and just shorted out due to old age and brittleness?

Not to fear....we all know that there is a sign for stupid people...just hand them the sign.

Several years ago when the 700 club was into their literacy across America program I was doing some painting at a service station and had placed 5 wet paint signs at the entrance, at pumps and on the door into the store. I was finishing up painting lines around the building walkway when a late model crew cab truck pulled into the pump lane. A well dress young man got out and looked in my direction and we made eye contact. He started pumping his fuel and I finished up my painting.

I went inside and was standing at the counter talking to the manager when the man can in, and as he did he looked at me and said, "I believe I stepped in your paint." He was making paint tracks into the store. I said to him, " It is interesting that you did that because they are telling on TV that 40 percent of the American adults are illiterate."

He very belligerent said in a loud voice to me, " I have you know that I read your signs." To which I replied, "Now that is interesting." :)

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.

lakeside013104 wrote:
A neighbor of mine ran out of heating fuel oil and the town would not buy him anymore..(snip). his house was on fire.

Let me guess.. the town was asked to take up a donation because he didn't have fire insurance.

lakeside013104 wrote:
A neighbor of mine ran out of heating fuel oil and the town would not buy him anymore. He kept blowing fuses while using an electric heater trying to keep his pipes from freezing. He blew his last fuse and placed a copper penny behind the fuse so that his heater would work. Within a short time he had all the heat he could stand because his house was on fire. Was his actions “stupid”? Did he apply good “common sense” when he put a penny behind the blown fuse? What say, you?

Lakeside

Not stupid,....A SPECIAL kind of stupid.

Stupid is as Stupid does! And yes, I've done stupid thongs.

A neighbor of mine ran out of heating fuel oil and the town would not buy him anymore. He kept blowing fuses while using an electric heater trying to keep his pipes from freezing. He blew his last fuse and placed a copper penny behind the fuse so that his heater would work. Within a short time he had all the heat he could stand because his house was on fire. Was his actions “stupid”? Did he apply good “common sense” when he put a penny behind the blown fuse? What say, you?

Lakeside