Sparks seen in Baseboard heater

I live in a Condo Apartment. It has quite old baseboard heater. It was quite loose and displaced from the wall so I was trying to tighten its screws and then found that it sparks when it moves. Its working fine. Does it need to be fixed or any fire hazard?

Reply to
Kashif
Loading thread data ...

I live in a Condo Apartment. It has quite old baseboard heater. It was quite loose and displaced from the wall so I was trying to tighten its screws and then found that it sparks when it moves. Its working fine. Does it need to be fixed or any fire hazard?

Reply to
Tony944

You need to get it fixed. Sooner rather than later.

It is probably a poor connection, poor connections get hot and could cause a fire. It could also have been caused by one of your screws in the wrong place hitting the wire. I got a whiff of something overheating in my home on several successive days, but only a whiff, I couldn't track it down. Finally I tracked it to an outlet behind a TV and stand. The wire came to the outlet and made a connection, then left and went on to a couple of freezers. Because of the poor connection, when the freezers ran the connection on the outlet got hot. This caused the outlet housing and cord plugged into the outlet to get hot. I took the paneling off that section, the outlet housing fell apart when I started to replace it. the wire running to and from the outlet also had been overheated with burned insulation. I consider myself lucky that it didn't cause a fire. Mikek

Reply to
amdx

Fix it ASAP, it is certainly a fire hazard. Poor connections generate heat and oxidize the metal (making the connection worse) and cause the insulation to break down, all contribute to fire hazard.

If it is well-designed your last line of defense against a fire is the metal and other fire resistant materials present in the construction. The hope is that these elements will resist the heat and arcing long enough for the wires to vaporize or the circuit to short and blow a breaker. (fail open or fail shorted) "Accidents" are usually the result of a combination of failures culminating in a catastrophe.

It is most definitely NOT WORKING FINE, it just hasn't failed catastrophically... yet.

Reply to
default

replying to default, Kashif wrote: Thanks for the reply and important information.

Reply to
Kashif

The good thing is that the sparks will stop as soon as the house burns to the ground. So you have two choices. Wait until the Baseboard heater starts a fire, or set the house on fire right now, and take care of the problem permanently.

The easiest way is to just toss a burning match into a pile of shreaded newspaper on top of your couch. Pop a can of beer, and watch till the couch is completely burning. Then go outside and watch your house burn to the ground.

Best of all, you'll save a lot of money on home repairs

Reply to
internet-user

top of your couch. Pop a can of beer, and watch till the couch is completely burning. Then go outside and watch your house burn to the ground.

Too Funny!

Reply to
Sam

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.