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Might have burned the house down

C

Cal

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Joined
Feb 14, 2005
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3,598
Location
Southern SD
In-laws were here yesterday doing a little work to the house, like painting and cutting cement board to lay tile on. Anyway, had a DeWalt cordless drill 18v battery pack on the charger for probably 45 minutes, and it must have shorted out or something. Started smoking and got real HOT, and with new wiring and on a GFI outlet you would think something would have kicked a breaker...but nope. I grabbed the charger with battery in it by the cord and gave it a throw outside, but if nobody would have been around I can't imagine the outcome would have been good. So that's my warning for today, don't recharge your cordless drill battery in a house that doesn't have alot of insurance. :shock:
 
I've gotten so paranoid that I don't even place anything on a charger UNLESS I'm gonna be right by it while it's charging.

This leaving them to charge overnite like a lot of people do...NO WAY!!!!!

Lucky you were there when it happened!
 
we had a small fire in the kitchen several years ago from a plug in baby monitor. just shorted out got the counter on fire.

decided the kid could bawl till we heard him after that!
 
Over the years of fire investigating- besides the old milk house heater and heat lamps-- the 2 biggest fire starters were the little plug in candles and lights (like night lights) and coffee makers.....


I still get the arson/bomb investigator magazine-- and they are saying that the amount of problems is rising drastically--and mainly because of one thing-- the cheap imports- (mainly from China) that are being shoddily built and not being inspected...

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is too shorthanded (sound familiar) to test many of these things until after they get numerous fire, injury, or death reports...And besides all these major US companies outsourcing to foreign countries much of this stuff coming from China is not what it is portrayed to be--its counterfeit-- like selling stuff as Block and Decker, to make you think you are buying namebrand Black and Decker--Bell and Howel, to make you think its Bell and Howell--dewalt instead of DeWalt, etc... etc....

The best thing when buying electrical products-- from light bulbs to cords to whatever-- is to look for the Underwriters Laboratories UL stamp.....And a made in USA label....

The Chinaman that built that battery pack charger, probably is making his extra profit off using one size smaller wiring... :roll: :( :mad:
 
Thanks for the warning Cal. I have a drill like yours and have the charger set up in our old wood shop building. The drill is fairly new and we haven't re-charged it very many times yet, but have just walked away from it when we have. I will change our policy on this from now on. You certainly were lucky to have been there!
 
Thank you, Cal.
I'd heard about electric coffee pots and toasters starting fires even though they weren't turned on, but never would have guessed the others. I've passed these replies on to the kids.

You'd think all the hot words flying flying out on emails would cause computer fires :? but I haven't heard of computers blowing up...
 
nr said:
Thank you, Cal.
I'd heard about electric coffee pots and toasters starting fires even though they weren't turned on, but never would have guessed the others. I've passed these replies on to the kids.

You'd think all the hot words flying flying out on emails would cause computer fires :? but I haven't heard of computers blowing up...
Click to expand...

There was a big run on electric coffee pot fires-we had 3 alone in our little county- something in the switches that would automatically turn themselves on...I know for several years CPSC was advising that when not being used to unplug them.....I still do...
 
You better be careful boy...........you burn that new house down and that lil woman of yours will be after your ash big time :D
good luck
 
HAY MAKER said:
You better be careful boy...........you burn that new house down and that lil woman of yours will be after your ash big time :D
good luck
Click to expand...
I shouldn't admit this but, ya know, after all we've all shared so much on here at one time or another :wink: , but I almost wouldn't have been to upset if the damn thing would have burned down...am just so sick of it all can barely grin and tolerate it anymore and getting hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And contractors, I swear that they have alot in common with artists or women suffering from pms that get their feelings hurt easily. What they say about building or remodeling, that it takes a strong marriage to survive it, yeah, I'd have to agree even though we're handling it well together. If we had to do it over again, would probably have had something moved in that was already completed. Well, it felt good to share that with you all, thanks! :-)
 
And I thought it was JUST MY coffee maker that was possessed!! I've been standing right there after I turned it off and heard the "click" and the off button was back ON ---and that has happened on SEVERAL occasions!!

So now, I too, unplug it!!!

Cal...remodel and building new ---both rank right up there stress-wise with a death in the family. I NEVER hear anyone say they are GLAD they remodeled or whatever...it's always a long stressful story that "if they woulda knew...."

Hang in there!!
 
Hey Cal--don't know if this will help you or not, but my daughter and son-in-law did move one in...and they are having a lot of problems too.
First of all, somehow the basement got damaged...so the house had to sit
there all last winter and they couldn't live in it...and now there are problems with the house...so ain't nothin' easy...
 
Cal said:
HAY MAKER said:
You better be careful boy...........you burn that new house down and that lil woman of yours will be after your ash big time :D
good luck
Click to expand...
I shouldn't admit this but, ya know, after all we've all shared so much on here at one time or another :wink: , but I almost wouldn't have been to upset if the damn thing would have burned down...am just so sick of it all can barely grin and tolerate it anymore and getting hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And contractors, I swear that they have alot in common with artists or women suffering from pms that get their feelings hurt easily. What they say about building or remodeling, that it takes a strong marriage to survive it, yeah, I'd have to agree even though we're handling it well together. If we had to do it over again, would probably have had something moved in that was already completed. Well, it felt good to share that with you all, thanks! :-)
Click to expand...

Cal,it will be worth it in the end,I had forgotten about how building really does stress a marriage,had an ole builder tell me once about half the homes he builds have resulted in divorce.
You need to be in the half that did'nt..............good luck
PS lots cheaper that way :wink:
 
Cal, hang in there. My contractors have been friends and family, and they have the same easilly hurt feelings as any other contractor. They just really hate to admit they fly by the seat of their pants like the rest of us do.

I have basically been the general contractor on my house, I have a new respect for that job. Our's is a remodel/new addition live in the mess deal. The new addition is almost complete, so we can move into it while we finish tearing out the old part.

The Mrs. is always wanting it done yesterday, but she just thinks everything has to be clean during renos... not in the real world.

One thing is for sure... if done right it will last a lifetime. So pain now for a long term gain... just don't sell the land :wink:
 
I appreciate all the comments......but Jason, must be tough living in the work zone. Geuss I don't have much to complain about. Good luck, hang in there and take some pictures.
 
We had a full box of matches and tossed them on the bench in the shop and the next time we used the matches all of the matches that were facing the same direction were burnt and all the matches facing the other direction were ok. The inside of the box was black on the one side as well. We were pretty lucky but that was a pretty freak deal.

I am glad your house is coming along and you didn't have to start over.

have a cold one

lazy ace
 
Cal said:
I appreciate all the comments......but Jason, must be tough living in the work zone. Geuss I don't have much to complain about. Good luck, hang in there and take some pictures.
Click to expand...

Lots of pictures in those disposable cameras...wife will get them developed someday.

It is a bear living in the construction zone. Our living space has continued to shrink but maybe next week we will get some stuff moved into the new part while we tear up the old.

Finishing like carpets and tiles and lighting is more expensive than building the thing... and I haven't got the heating system even close to winterized. The wood stove is operable and might be the only heat again.
 
Jason wrote
Lots of pictures in those disposable cameras...wife will get them developed someday.

It is a bear living in the construction zone. Our living space has continued to shrink but maybe next week we will get some stuff moved into the new part while we tear up the old.

Finishing like carpets and tiles and lighting is more expensive than building the thing... and I haven't got the heating system even close to winterized. The wood stove is operable and might be the only heat again.
Click to expand...

I know how you feel we have been working on our house. It was a real basket case it needed a new basement and we needed more space. We have moved up to down stairs-down to up and back it has been a real challenge. For luck the Mrs is real understanding and understands how much it can cost and is willing to squeeze the budget till it squeeks... :wink: :lol: I get time later maybe I can post a few pics.

This whole deal with the charger really got my attention :shock: as I just bought a new Dewalt 4 pak of tool to do the home improvment project. Really changes my ways. Thanks for the heads-up...
 
Stretch said:
Jason wrote
Lots of pictures in those disposable cameras...wife will get them developed someday.

It is a bear living in the construction zone. Our living space has continued to shrink but maybe next week we will get some stuff moved into the new part while we tear up the old.

Finishing like carpets and tiles and lighting is more expensive than building the thing... and I haven't got the heating system even close to winterized. The wood stove is operable and might be the only heat again.
Click to expand...

I know how you feel we have been working on our house. It was a real basket case it needed a new basement and we needed more space. We have moved up to down stairs-down to up and back it has been a real challenge. For luck the Mrs is real understanding and understands how much it can cost and is willing to squeeze the budget till it squeeks... :wink: :lol: I get time later maybe I can post a few pics.

This whole deal with the charger really got my attention :shock: as I just bought a new Dewalt 4 pak of tool to do the home improvment project. Really changes my ways. Thanks for the heads-up...
Click to expand...

Stretch, we moved half our house of furniture plus closets to refinish floors, then moved the other half out for the same reason this past Spring. It is amazing how much we've accumulated and needed to go through and discard or pass on :mad: just couldn't get myself earlier to make all the decisions on my parents' belongings until lately when it occurred to me if we die our kids will get stuck with a very unpleasant job that I should have done. Now that much of it is over it does feel good :!:
 

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