Close call, VERY lucky

[Greg]

As many of you know, a few years back we did a total rehab of a home for our daughter. Tonight right after soccer (rained out) I got a call to get down there NOW, there is a plastic burning smell. I got there about 30 seconds later and could smell it. In the mean time my grandson had said he saw the hall lights flicker, so I thought that would be the place to start looking. OK Kill the power at the mains first thing, drop the fixtures - NOTHING.
Tom (daughter's boyfriend) went outside and we could really start to smell it, We opened the back door and we had water spraying all over - NOT GOOD!! Tom ripped open the skirting to find an area about 5' of of burning insulation. 10 pounds of fire extinguisher later we found the heat tape had started the fire.
A few points were learned and need to be passed on. First, heat tapes should be unplugged for the summer, and checked VERY closely in the fall, any questions about them, REPLACE IT!!!!
Second KEEP A FIRE EXTINGUISHER HANDY!!!
If this had occurred 6 hours later I am sure the outcome would have been totally different, We got away with some melted water lines and underbelly damage. There is no doubt in my mind that had this happened in the middle of the night, AT BEST there would be a pile of ashes there.
So everyone please make sure your heat tape is OFF for the summer. Greg

[Mark]

Even if you have a thermostat on the heat tape, I'd still unplug it. I'd rather risk an early frozen waterline than a fire.

Mark

[Robert]

I look at heat tapes as a replace yearly item if they are needed.


Not where they can be checked regularly with ease and in very dangerous location if they go bad.


Cheap insurance to remove and replace yearly.

You can inspect them, but most wouldn't know what to look for.

If you're removing insulation wrap and heat tape to inspect, might as well just replace it.


Glad you found it in time.


Take care and best wishes,
Robert

[bell30655]

Heat tapes? What kind of animal doth thou speak of? Oh that's right, I'm too far south for such a creature.

[Greg]

I'll remember that when you are at 100* and the A/C can't keep up!! Greg

[Yanita]

Well Greg, the laugh is already on us...

Most of last week until today we have been in triple digits. I had not turned the air on at all for the season per see. Only once or twice for a few cycles.

Then wham, triple degree heat, high humidity. Saturday night was unbearable almost...called the tech, thankfully a friend of ours and had him come check the unit, freon, pressures blah blah blah where fine..

Well then after such great performance last year why issues this year, soooo early in the season, well upon an 11PM inspection of the ducting it seems that during the later part of the winter the field mice needed something to do...like destroy the flex duct under my home.

Larry had some choice words, LOL, none that I can freely say here, you get the idea...so, that savings account that I have been diligently paying every week...now gets to go to a supply house for duct work...

So with uncommonly high record setting temp so early in the year, and adding the watering of the plants, not sure I want to check the mail for the electric and water bill this month! Ugggh, July and August and 1/2 of September is when we are suppose to get our real hot weather.

Yanita

[JD]

It is the crossover duct that is readily accessible to mice and such. Usually you only need 8'-12' or so. I have replaced the flexible ducting with metal ducting for customers with critter problems. You can insulate the metal ducting better as well. Just a thought.

Glad the emergency worked out well for you Greg. Yes, that could have been real bad. You are very fortunate indeed.

JD

[bilbar25]

Glad you found it in time....


bilbar25



Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 40
Location: Archbold, Ohio
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 4:27 pm Post subject: RE: Not one frozen pipe this winter! Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post Report Post
I meant to reply to this topic when I first saw it, but never got to it.

I'm certainly NOT promoting NOT using heat tape----just relaying my experiences with preventing frozen pipes.

I live in an older home (1974) and have only had one year when we had our supply line freeze.

That was BEFORE I INSULATED all the pipes to within an inch of their lives !!! I put the slitted foam insulation over the pipes, then wrapped that with adhesive/metallic type tape---over which I wrapped 3" wide fiberglass insulation followed by plastic film...

Yes, my skirting is in place very well...although I do leave a few "vent" panels in place over the winter.

I have NEVER had to use heat tape...been over 20 years now and I live in extreme NW Ohio. Gets plenty cold here, and maybe I have just been fortunate...but I'm just not fond of "relying" on heat tape.

At any rate ...what I have done..."works for me"!

Bill

[lefties]

yep,,i took heat tape off of my old trailer yrs ago when I read the high percentages of fires caused by it. We couldnt afford to have our pets burned up while we are away working.

[Yanita]

Hey Greg,

Glad to hear that all is well with your daughter and the family.

Sounds like it was blessing that it melted the water lines, probably slowed down a bad situation.

The kids must of been horrified! Am glad that someone was awake and that everyone is safe!

Take care,

Yanita

[Demolition]

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully this will inspire others to do some Spring Cleaning.
Plastic... like that on wires... does age over time. Thanks again and glad everyone is OK.

[bell30655]

Greg, your voodoo worked... I had to purchase an 8000 BTU window unit because it was a 100 plus outside and I couldn't bring the temp down inside to under 80...

Silver Lining... Since I'm not home much I bought a programmable thermostat and I'm only running the house a/c a couple of hours before I'm due to get home. The window unit is in my bedroom and is also set to cool just before I get home.

I should save on the electric bill. On a side note... I'm from the north (Ohio) and I love the Rhode Island area. Due to a child custody issue I'm shackled to Georgia for the next 13 years. So I have to make the best of it.

Cost of living is much lower... See how I find the positives?

[Serena]

Greg, I'm glad you caught it in time and that it turned out as well as it did. Hope your daughter knows what a great Dad she has.

[DavidW]

No heat tape or much insulation around supply pipe necessary here in S.C.. I do plan on staying away from the that heat tape.

As for summer in the South, doing something different this year:

Life without A/C in the South.

Though the A/C is working at both my homes, I've decided to acclimate to the hot weather and not spend $600 - $800 on electricity this summer (total for both homes).

(2) $13 box fans @$.02 per day and take advantage of the cool air at night.

One thing I've noticed without A/C this summer is 100 deg weather doesn't bother me as much as it use to. Being from Northern Ohio, the summers down here are definitely hotter, and this adjustment will take some getting use to.

But folks in the South lived without A/C for centuries and survived.

IMHO, it's more a mindset. Just don't think about how hot it is.

[oldfart]

Greg I had to think about this a while before I came up with some cognizant thoughts. First off.... I've always been leery of heat tapes on pipes. Yup...I know in some areas there don't seem to be much choice. But anytime ya read about fires in a mobile home it's always "an electrical fire" and most times it's a heat-tape that caused it. Hmmmm? (the #2 cause is a dryer-vent!) One thing worked in your favor...plastic pipes. When the heat-tape over-heated it (presumably) burned thru the plastic pipe and caused a "self-extinguishing" service. I'm glad it went the way it did... but I'll still warn folks to know how a heat-tape works and what happens when it don't. First and foremost..stop wrapping heat-tapes around pipes! Heat-tapes should be run along the underside of the pipe and secured with tie-wraps every 2ft. "or-so." Don't spiral them around the pipes and most certainly don't allow them to over-lap! This is a fire looking to happen! Also..if it's possible... avoid heat-tapes entirely. I'm on a well..not public water. Where my supply-line pokes up thru the ground I installed a 4in. sched.40 pipe that my 1 1/2in. water supply line goes thru. 4ft. below ground level. I wrapped the incoming line in insulation all the way to the house. I've never had a freeze-up in this area. And I've never had a heat-tape on it. Yup...I've had pipes freeze up inside the home...temporarilly. Usually the toilet. No problem..I ain't bashful and I've got excellent spincter control. Just wanted folks to be aware and beware of heat-tapes is all I'm saying. Audie..the Oldfart....